Sometime before I had Hannah, my Father-in-law bought the first Volume of Baby Signing Time. He had gotten the recommendation from one of his secretaries and thought we might be interested. I watched the first one and LOVED it!! In the past, I had heard stories of moms that taught their children some basic signs to help with the frustration of not being able to communicate in speaking at a young age. I thought that it was pretty interesting... and just put it in the back of my head as an idea. But when Chuck gave me this dvd, I thought it was such a great idea. The video looked like something that a child would love, and Mommy and Daddy could sit and watch it too and also learn sign language.
I've always been interested in sign language but unless I have to use it everyday, I'm sure I'll never master it! But just to have some basics is great! Every now and then, we will have a deaf patient on the unit... at least now I can ask him his name, and where he hurts :) When Hannah was able to sit in her Bumbo, we started watching at least once a day. I know, TV is not good for little ones, but I disagree for this show! At about 9 or 10 months, I became more determined to signs when I spoke to her, even though she was a couple of months away from being able to say one word. But before I knew it, she was signing more! And from there her language skills took off!
By the time she was one year old, Hannah was able to say 5-8 words and could sign over 10 words. Soon she was learning a few words a week. By the time she was 15 months we were well over saying 25 words and signing 15 new words, and able to say some 2-3 word sentences. Usually when she can say a word she drops the sign, but there are some basic words that she still signs... more, please, all done! Sometimes we won't watch a video for a few weeks, and some how in the back of her mind, she will remember a random sign and start signing that word! She's so smart!!!
Now at 21 months, her vocabulary has expanded to well over 100 words + some signs, she can say 3-4 word sentences, and she will try and say or sign almost anything we ask her too. Her speech is becoming more clear and sometimes I think we are actually able to have a short conversation!
Do I attribute all this to Baby Signing Time? Definitely NOT! I do think that God is the giver of language, and He is the one who developed it so quickly in her head... but I do think that Baby Signing Time gave her the opportunity to learn it!
Baby Signing Time leads into the series of Signing Time... which is more for older kids. In a matter of fact, a lot of parents and teachers use this as part of their school curriculum to teach a second language! Luckily, our Library carries the series... because the complete series alone costs well over $800.
If you get a chance, you must read or watch the story of Rachel Coleman and why she started Two Little Hands productions ( http://www.signingtime.com/aboutus/our-story/ ). I can't imagine having to have to learn another language in order to speak to my child... but I'm so glad she was able to look past her difficulties and share her gift with us!!
So, now Sam is 5 1/2 months old and starting to notice the TV... so I've gotten out the dvd's again and we are watching them daily. It's hard to use ASL in your daily language when you are not use to it, but I am to make a conscious effort to use as much of it as I can... please, thank you, more, all done, when talking about animals, when counting, when learning colors!! I'm so excited to hear Sam's little voice and know what is going on inside his head... but most of all I can't wait to communicate to him :)
But more than anything, I would be absolutely THRILLED if one of my children learn it as a second language and use it in some way to bring glory to God! There are ministries that need help and lives that need to be reached to know the King of Kings and Lord of Lords... how awesome would it be if someone came to know Jesus all because it started with more, more, more :)
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