Saturday, November 13, 2010

"This Little Light of Mine" and The WeeHands Challenge!



Celebrating the Gift of Communication...for all children, of all abilities...everywhere!

Visit our website for more information:

http://www.weehands.com/challenge.htm

Who? Parents, teachers, librarians, speech language pathologists, early childhood educators and their children. We'll be counting the number of children involved, the number of locations and event the number of countries involved.

If you'd like to organize a WeeHands Challenge in your community on December 7th, please email: info@weehands.com. You don't have to be a WeeHands Instructor to organize a challenge in your area!

The WeeHands Challenge? Groups across North America will organize and meet in their own communities to sign and sing this year's song "This Little Light of Mine". This is a free event for families, teachers & children!

This fun event is a challenge for which geographic area (province or state) has the most children signing and sing this year's song at 11am local time.

The Challenge: 11am local time. Some sites will include a few signing parents/caregivers and their children who get together to "be counted" and others are much larger events with live music, speakers, prizes etc.

When?: the event will occur across North America on Tuesday December 7th at 11am (local times for each location).

Where? Organizers will seek out and set up their own locations, e.g., libraries, speech clinics, early years centres, community rooms, mall or any other venue. We anticipate that schools and child care centres will also participate.

Why?: to celebrate the gift of communication for all children, of all abilities, everywhere! A chance for education and peer support in a fun social way.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Graduate Study Request

Just had this request come in...

"My name is Dena Valentino and I am a graduate student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. I am working on my thesis, which is about teaching people how to use baby sign language with their children in their homes.

Parents or caregivers of children ages 6-24 months and on solid foods may be eligible to participate in this study.

Participation will involve:

  • An initial meeting (lasting 30-45 minutes) to complete an informed consent procedure, meet with you and your child, and discuss the study and questions you may have
  •  Scheduled sign-training sessions based on your availability- each training session will not last more than one hour
  • A scheduled follow-up session 1-2 weeks after training that will last between 30 and 45 minutes
Compensation for completing the study: Baby Signs (book) by Joy Allen

Participation is anticipated to take approximately 10 weeks. Participants are free to withdraw from the study at any time, no questions asked!
All parts of the study will take place in your home.

If you are interested in learning more about this study, and to see if you are eligible to participate, please call Dena Valentino at
847-553-1890 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              847-553-1890      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email dav1816@ego.thechicagoschool.edu