Adult Classes
Baby Classes
Sign supported
speech classes
for families
dealing with adult onset hearing loss. Watch for classes coming
this fall.
it is a gift of communication for all families
and their babies!
An
amazing gift for you and your child:
Imagine,
if you were able to
ask
your baby why (s)he is crying. (S)he makes the sign for "hungry' or
"hurt"
or"cold". You will then know how to help. This gift of communication
during
the often-frustrating, pre-verbal 12 - 20 month age group, is beyond
measure.
The
gift of communication months before babies learn to talk:
Babies
can often begin using
sign
language to communicate by the time they are 10 months old, and studies
show that toddlers often use multiple signs effectively up to one year
before they can speak clearly. The ability to communicate with a
pre-verbal
child helps to reduce family stress and frustration.
Once
you have learned one language, it is easier to learn another:
The
research shows this
clearly.
In addition, there is evidence that babies who learn to sign early in
life
often speak earlier and have more to say at a younger age. Studies also
show that a 7 year old child, who has learned sign, frequently scores
higher
on IQ tests.
"Infants are born with a hunger for your communication. They are continuously searching for ways to express themselves. They are looking to you for clues to help them communicate their needs and express their feelings."*
"Babies control their hands long before they can speak" *
"Using (sign language) with infants can help build a solid foundation for mutual understanding, dramatically contributing to the bonding process" *
It
is recommended that parents begin working with their babies
at
7 - 8 months old.
"Baby
sign language is a
wonderful
tool to enhance the parent - child relationship. As first - time
parents,
we were very nervous about our need to provide for our child. With the
sign language, our daughter quickly learned how to communicate basic
needs,
and thereby, alleviated a significant amount of potential frustration.
By the time she was nine months, simple signs for "more", "milk", and
"all
done" were mastered. This quickly grew to a vocabulary of twenty signs
by the age of 12 months. We even feel the signing fostered earlier
verbal
skills. The effort is fun and the rewards are great. Without any
hesitation,
we would highly recommend learning and teaching sign language to a
child."
**
