I've been doing 'baby sign' with my 17 month old daughter Molly to help her communicate. I've always been a big believer in its effectiveness, but now I have proof with my own baby!! It's been going amazingly well with Molly. She can tell us what she wants to eat, what she sees in the world around her, and she's starting to be able to share her feelings with us. (see below for a growing list of Molly's current signs).
For those of you who think that signing with babies delays speech, I have NO worries in this area. Her language development is wonderful. She does have about 10-15 words that she speaks (Mama, Dada, her grandparents, park, pasta, paper and others), but remember, speech is not 'language'! The other day, she saw a picture of herself as a tiny baby with Mark (her daddy). She was wearing a little newborn hat in the picture. She was not only able to tell me (with her voice) that it was 'Dada' in the picture, but in sign language, she was able to tell me that MOLLY was the BABY who was wearing a HAT because she was COLD.
Cool, no? (The picture shows Molly signing "please").
Because I'm so into this and believe in it so much, I've recently become a certified and licensed WeeHands Instructor! WeeHands is the world's leading children's sign language and language development program for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
If anyone is interested in starting a class (maybe 'hosting' for a mommy/daddy group in your home), then get in touch!! It will be a blast!
SIGNS MOLLY KNOWS AS OF AUGUST 16, 2011
Molly’s signs: (58 signs)
-milk
-water
-cookie
-cracker
-baby
-bug
-wind
-rain
-bath
-hat
-cold
-food/eat
-ice cream
-music
-kiss
-apple
-banana
-go
-ball
-bed/sleep
-telephone
-bird
-book
-bunny (personalized sign)
-butterfly (personalized sign)
-cat
-cry/sad (personalized sign)
-dirty
-duck
-flower (personalized sign)
-eye
-nose
-fan
-finish
-fish
-hair
-mine/mine/me
-monkey
-star
-more
-please
-thank you
-share
-snow
-hot
-grass
-friend
-clean
Cari Haim is Molly's mom, a Specialist Teacher of the Deaf, and a newly minted WeeHands Instructor! She is looking forward to starting to teach families the benefits of signing with their little ones.
1 comment:
Growing children required more attention. They must want something new and attractive. They like music and in everything they sing. So, cartoon and Educational DVDs are the best way to give them full enjoyment. Through Learning DVDs they learn more and do same as they watch.
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