I’m on a kick about grandparents, probably because I’ve been able to spend lots of time with my 18-month-old twin grandchildren over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Of course, I’m too young to be a grandmother—aren’t we all? Fortunately, the grandmother image I grew up with has slowly given way to a new view. When I was a child, grandmothers, including my own, were typically frail women with white hair drawn up into a bun, solid black laced-up old lady shoes, and flowered dresses about as form fitting as a garage around a car. Nowadays, grandmothers are vibrant women still right in the thick of things, with or without gray hair—but very seldom in a bun!
One thing, however, hasn’t changed and never will. Grandmothers of any era relish the first time a grandchild reaches out with a smile and murmurs some version of her name, be it “gamma,” “mimi,” or “nana.” The wait for this memorable event is often long—sometimes not until a child is over 2 years old—because learning to say words is such a struggle for young children.
Fortunately, there’s a way around this frustration and the need for guessing. The solution is helping babies and toddlers use signs to communicate with those they love. And included in these sign vocabularies for many children are signs for grandpa and grandma that function exactly like names. Here are some fun examples from our files:
• 13-month-old Claire used a rocking motion as her name for Grandma because Grandma frequently rocked her in a rocking chair.
• 12-month-old Kai picked up on the way his Grandpa always threw him up in the air and began raising his arms up high whenever his grandpa arrived—or even when he saw a picture of him.
• 15-month-old Sadie would enthusiastically do her version of the ASL sign for Grandma (thumb of open hand on chin, arched forward two times) when Grandma entered the house.
Being a grandparent is one of the sweetest experiences on earth, and now it’s easy to make it sweeter still. Check out the Baby Signs Program, start signing with your grandbabies today and you'll soon be enjoying the sense of connection and love that being able to communicate brings.
Showing posts with label b. Show all posts
Showing posts with label b. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
One Family's Baby Signs Experience
When I visit a blog myself, I often read the main entry but only rarely follow through and also read the comments. Because anyone doing that here would miss the wonderful comment contributed by Shawna about her daughter's enchanting experience with baby sign language, I've decided to just go ahead and reiterate Shawna's comment myself. I think you'll see why the word "enchanting" fits so well!
Shawna said...
"I was thinking more about how signing went beyond meal times and really impacted our lives. There are three specific things that came to mind.
One is related to the "decrease in tears and tantrums", HELP. When Madison learned to sign HELP she would work on something, a puzzle or climbing a step, and I would wait for her to sign HELP before stepping in. I learned quickly to do this because it allowed her to ask when she was ready for help and avoided a potential "fit" because she wanted to do it. While she doesn't sign it, I know she asks for help when she needs it because the concept was taught to her so early.
Second are the comments I have received about how polite Madison is. Folks are so surprised when she signs/says THANK YOU, PLEASE, YOU'RE WELCOME. We started these signs when she was only 6 months old at the end of each Sign Say and Play class. Once they took hold, they were there to stay. It warms my heart now when she says "Tissue Please" or we are playing and I hand her something and she says "Thanks". Waitresses are always commenting when they ask her something, not even thinking she is old enough to speak and she says "Yes Please" unprompted. She is articulate and polite because of signing.
Third is my favorite. I think the feelings signs we learned in the first class of More Sign Say and Play have taught her to have compassion for others. The feelings and the colors taught in that first class are my all time favorite, while the most difficult for us to master, once we did, we had a great time exploring our world with them. At a mere 11 months old while flying on an airplane she heard a baby crying and immediately looked worried, signed CRYING BABY and wanted to stand up and look around for him. Now at 21 months she extended this compassion to a pinata at a birthday party. She was not pleases that the kids were beating up this perfectly pink tiara and while she had no idea there was candy involved, she cried when they finally busted it open, not from fear but from being upset. She kept saying "Broke it" over and over. She picked it up and tried to put it back together. She showed more compassion for this object than some people do for other people. I am so PROUD (She loves this sign too especially during potty time)
I am so very proud of her, proud that we were able to experience this signing adventure with our Baby Signs Instructor Beth Roland. Madison still signs everyday even though she can say everything she can sign now. At 12 months she had over 150 signs and wasn't speaking much. Boy when the words came they flooded in and now she is a chatterbox. Sometimes we play a game where I do the sign and she says the word. It is fun. Sometimes she will just out of the blue do a sign she never did as a baby, like DADDY. She started saying it before she was able to sign it so we stopped that one. Then one day I went in her room and she signed DADDY. I LOVE YOU took a long time too, difficult I think, but we never stopped that one and she finally got the pinky involved!
I sure wish I had more videos. I do know that seeing is believing because 3 families have already done the SSP classes because of seeing Madison (one in a restaurant, a lady came up to me and said "Are you talking to her? Is she talking to you? I explained what we were doing and how and she signed up that very week!) and three more are planning to when the babies get older.
My Dad thought we were crazy when we started but when he was able to actually talk to her about things she was interested in, butterflies, birds, trucks, worms, colors, he was hooked!
I am a believer for sure and appreciate this opportunity to share my story with you. Thank you so very much for all your dedication and research and passion for our babies. Your work has truly impacted the relationship I have with my only child.
Sincerely, Shawna and Madison"
Now, wasn't that lovely?
Happy Signing!
Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
The Baby Sigsn Program
Shawna said...
"I was thinking more about how signing went beyond meal times and really impacted our lives. There are three specific things that came to mind.
One is related to the "decrease in tears and tantrums", HELP. When Madison learned to sign HELP she would work on something, a puzzle or climbing a step, and I would wait for her to sign HELP before stepping in. I learned quickly to do this because it allowed her to ask when she was ready for help and avoided a potential "fit" because she wanted to do it. While she doesn't sign it, I know she asks for help when she needs it because the concept was taught to her so early.
Second are the comments I have received about how polite Madison is. Folks are so surprised when she signs/says THANK YOU, PLEASE, YOU'RE WELCOME. We started these signs when she was only 6 months old at the end of each Sign Say and Play class. Once they took hold, they were there to stay. It warms my heart now when she says "Tissue Please" or we are playing and I hand her something and she says "Thanks". Waitresses are always commenting when they ask her something, not even thinking she is old enough to speak and she says "Yes Please" unprompted. She is articulate and polite because of signing.
Third is my favorite. I think the feelings signs we learned in the first class of More Sign Say and Play have taught her to have compassion for others. The feelings and the colors taught in that first class are my all time favorite, while the most difficult for us to master, once we did, we had a great time exploring our world with them. At a mere 11 months old while flying on an airplane she heard a baby crying and immediately looked worried, signed CRYING BABY and wanted to stand up and look around for him. Now at 21 months she extended this compassion to a pinata at a birthday party. She was not pleases that the kids were beating up this perfectly pink tiara and while she had no idea there was candy involved, she cried when they finally busted it open, not from fear but from being upset. She kept saying "Broke it" over and over. She picked it up and tried to put it back together. She showed more compassion for this object than some people do for other people. I am so PROUD (She loves this sign too especially during potty time)
I am so very proud of her, proud that we were able to experience this signing adventure with our Baby Signs Instructor Beth Roland. Madison still signs everyday even though she can say everything she can sign now. At 12 months she had over 150 signs and wasn't speaking much. Boy when the words came they flooded in and now she is a chatterbox. Sometimes we play a game where I do the sign and she says the word. It is fun. Sometimes she will just out of the blue do a sign she never did as a baby, like DADDY. She started saying it before she was able to sign it so we stopped that one. Then one day I went in her room and she signed DADDY. I LOVE YOU took a long time too, difficult I think, but we never stopped that one and she finally got the pinky involved!
I sure wish I had more videos. I do know that seeing is believing because 3 families have already done the SSP classes because of seeing Madison (one in a restaurant, a lady came up to me and said "Are you talking to her? Is she talking to you? I explained what we were doing and how and she signed up that very week!) and three more are planning to when the babies get older.
My Dad thought we were crazy when we started but when he was able to actually talk to her about things she was interested in, butterflies, birds, trucks, worms, colors, he was hooked!
I am a believer for sure and appreciate this opportunity to share my story with you. Thank you so very much for all your dedication and research and passion for our babies. Your work has truly impacted the relationship I have with my only child.
Sincerely, Shawna and Madison"
Now, wasn't that lovely?
Happy Signing!
Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
The Baby Sigsn Program
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Baby Sign Language and Learning to Talk
By far the most frequently voiced concern about encouraging babies to use signs to communicate before they can talk is that doing so will slow down verbal development. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Baby sign language actually speeds up the process.
How do we know? With a grant from the federal government, Dr. Susan Goodwyn and I compared verbal development in babies using the Baby Signs Program with that of non-signing babies. In test after test the babies who signed were more advanced than the non-signers in language skills. (Click here to read the published study by Goodwyn, Acredolo & Brown, 2000.)
We really weren’t surprised because we had already observed the following ways in which baby signing spurs language skills.
1. Signing is to talking as crawling is to walking. In other words, just as crawling excites babies about getting around even faster by walking, the excitement of being able to communicate with signs motivates babies to figure out ways to communicate better—and the most obvious way is with words.
2. The experience of baby signing teaches babies useful lessons about how language works (like using symbols to label objects, etc.). These lessons speed up the process of learning to talk once 3. The natural reaction to a baby’s use of a sign is to “bathe” the child with words, and the more words a child hears, the faster he or she will learn to talk. What’s more, signs enable babies to pick the topic of conversation, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will listen attentively to the words parents say.
4. Every time a baby successfully uses a sign to label something, circuits in the brain are strengthened; circuits that then make learning words easier.
5. Signing makes book-reading more fun for babies because they can actively participate, and book-reading increases a baby’s exposure to vocabulary items.
So, the next time someone suggests that your use of the Baby Signs® Program is going to keep your child from talking, just smile knowingly, roll your eyes, and say “Oh, that old wive’s tale!”
Happy Signing!
Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-founder, the Baby Signs® Program
How do we know? With a grant from the federal government, Dr. Susan Goodwyn and I compared verbal development in babies using the Baby Signs Program with that of non-signing babies. In test after test the babies who signed were more advanced than the non-signers in language skills. (Click here to read the published study by Goodwyn, Acredolo & Brown, 2000.)
We really weren’t surprised because we had already observed the following ways in which baby signing spurs language skills.
1. Signing is to talking as crawling is to walking. In other words, just as crawling excites babies about getting around even faster by walking, the excitement of being able to communicate with signs motivates babies to figure out ways to communicate better—and the most obvious way is with words.
2. The experience of baby signing teaches babies useful lessons about how language works (like using symbols to label objects, etc.). These lessons speed up the process of learning to talk once 3. The natural reaction to a baby’s use of a sign is to “bathe” the child with words, and the more words a child hears, the faster he or she will learn to talk. What’s more, signs enable babies to pick the topic of conversation, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will listen attentively to the words parents say.
4. Every time a baby successfully uses a sign to label something, circuits in the brain are strengthened; circuits that then make learning words easier.
5. Signing makes book-reading more fun for babies because they can actively participate, and book-reading increases a baby’s exposure to vocabulary items.
So, the next time someone suggests that your use of the Baby Signs® Program is going to keep your child from talking, just smile knowingly, roll your eyes, and say “Oh, that old wive’s tale!”
Happy Signing!
Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-founder, the Baby Signs® Program
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