Okay, I need to know everything you know about teaching a baby sign language.
We are getting Adelia a sign DVD and some books for her birthday. I've never taught any of my other kids sign before, but am hoping it will lessen the tantrums that happen because of the communication barrier. I'm also looking at/thinking about teaching all the kids (and therefore myself) sign as our foreign language.
So there you go...spill your beans.
6 comments:
I would recommend Signing Time and/or Baby Signing Time. They are pretty expensive but really good. Josie loved watching these movies. I was surprised with her vocabulary after watching them. I would sit with her and watch it together (it didn't really work if I didn't sit with her). I also noticed that she became a lot less frustrated after she knew a few signs.
Try to get them at your local library. This is the way I did it. If you still want to own them, then sometimes, Babysteals.com and/or Kidsteals.com will have them at 50% off. Or if you want to play full price Signing Time has a website you can order from.
You could also get the Sign Language for dummies from your library. It gives you a basic signs you can teach your child like more, milk, please, etc. This was really helpful for me.
We did it with Aria and just started with some basics like "milk" and "more". You just keep doing it over and over and over and over every time they want those things until they get it. Then you can start adding other ones. We just kept adding a few every so often and she had about a dozen signs she knew...I'm not sure past that because I didn't keep teaching them once she was talking....
Good luck! Sounds fun!
p.s. We went to the Splash Park and loved it! Thank you for the info!
I did 3 years of sign at BYU and loved it. Sign really helped the tantrums at our house....at least no more grunting when she wants something, just the please sign. I also like "more" and "help". Good luck. Post your progress on your blog so we can see how things worked out for you.
I borrowed baby signing time with Addie, and I loved it. She loved the videos and it helped with communicating a TON. I have wished that I owned it SO MANY TIMES with Claire. She screams and grunts and screams... but I just haven't afforded them yet. Addie also talked sooner, not sure if it was related to signing or not. I have finally taught Claire more and please, because I know she knows what I want her to do, she just isn't SAYING the words.. so that's helped... but still, I wish I had the videos. I think even your boys will love the songs (they will get stuck in your head) and they can't help but learn. They'll love it!
I've taken lots of ASL classes so I know all the signs. It really helped my boys and plan on doing it with Austin too. I did a book report of Baby Signs. I think Linda Acredlo is the author... something like that. Good luck!
Ok, I posted this on FB, but I will post it on here too. The KEY to teaching your kids sign language is to get them talking. SAY the word every time you sign it, and try to teach them to SAY it too. It's great that kids can sign before they can talk, but if you let them just sign it always, they will never learn to SAY it. My Sister-in-law is a speech therapist, and over half her patients are not kids with speech problems. They are kids who grew up being taught to sign, and never learned to speak. It is becoming a huge problem for Speech therapists. But it is a great tool for kids at a young age and I think very worthwhile :-)
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