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Signs of Intelligence 2009 Signing With Your Baby The desire for enrichment classes geared towards babies and toddlers have become very popular in the United States. Teaching sign language to children as young as 6 months, and in some cases younger, is a growing industry, and the demand for baby-signing videos and classes have gone up a over 200 percent over the last few years. Signing for infants and toddlers is offered as a way for parents to communicate with children who are too young to communicate, a way for the infants and toddlers to express wants and needs that parents and care givers mostly have to guess at in response to crying. I had signed with my day care children for many years and my older two children at a young age, but not as much as I should have, apparently. When my son was born in February 2007, the research was very prevailing, and I wanted to give him the advantage from birth. At 18 months, he now has 200 words, combined signed and spoken, but mainly spoken. He also has multiple 2-5 word sentences. He produced his first sign younger than 6 months of age. Like an increasing number of parents, I wanted to make the most of my infant’s natural urge to communicate — capitalizing on a window of opportunity in which infant’s gesture long before they talk. Such gesturing is a natural part of any baby’s development. Even without prompting, a baby offered food when he is not hungry might shake his head vigorously; a baby whose mother leaves the house might wave her hand. By actively teaching their pre-verbal babies to express themselves with sign language, parents are taking such gesturing a step further. For example, babies could learn to ask for a book by placing their hands together (palm to palm) and then opening the hands while maintaining contact between the pinkie fingers or to ask for food by rubbing their tummies. (Some baby-signing programs recommend using only gestures from American Sign Language; others believe children should be allowed to create their own gestures.) Babies exposed to true ASL signs regularly from an early age can generally begin using them effectively by 6 or 9 months or younger — even before they can say them, much sooner than those that use mere gestures, and even sooner then those who used no signs what so ever. Advocates of ASL believe that its signs are easy for babies to learn and that it offers the additional benefit of being widely known and understood. You want your child to learn another language correctly, just as you want them to speak correctly. You would not teach your baby made up words for things, so why would you want to teach them made up signs? Look for programs that only use ASL, if you want your child to have the highest level of benefits. Signing provides children with far more than just rudimentary communication skills. Signing can improve a baby’s intellect, increase self-esteem and happiness, reduce fussiness and temper tantrums, improve problem-solving skills, and help toddlers get along better with each other. It also strengthens the bond between parent and child, as you are able to communicate effectively with your baby. Signing has also been proven to enhance early language and literacy skills, enabling children to speak sooner and develop larger vocabularies. Some even attribute significant increases in IQ to early signing. Signing with children with special needs is also very beneficial. Since many children with special needs will have trouble speaking for quite some time, teaching them to sign will lessen the chances of tantrums and frustration (on both sides!). There have been many parents with special needs children, especially those with children with Downs Syndrome, Autism, and Apraxia, saying their child learned to sign and all of a sudden had a language explosion, much sooner than they would be expected to. Research conclusively indicates that babies who sign tend to have a stronger command of verbal language and often begin speaking at an earlier age than babies who do not sign. Countless parents and caregivers have confirmed these findings with their personal experiences and observations. In addition, many Speech-Language professionals, pediatricians, and educators are supporting the use of signs to encourage early language development. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health and reported in 2000 endorsed the contention that signing yielded verbal benefits. “The study showed signing facilitates learning to talk,” says Linda Acredolo, a professor emeritus of psychology at UC Davis and the report’s coauthor. Until age 3, children who had been instructed in signing had an advantage over non-signing children in language development. “The study also found that signing offers an intellectual advantage,” says Acredolo. At 8 years, children who were taught to sign were found to have IQs 12 points higher than their non-signing counterparts. The study’s authors offer a variety of theories for this apparent benefit. They suggest that the observed IQ advantage associated with signing might be the result of “jump-starting” a baby’s intellectual development. They also speculate that the social and emotional benefits of signing, such as higher self-confidence, can have long-term effects on IQ. When looking for a sign class for your child, make sure to look for the following items: - ASL background of the instructor(s)
- The program is American Sign Language based, and not mere gestures
- Past class participant satisfaction
- Instructor(s) education level
- Whether or not the instructor has had success with their own child(ren)
It is very important, especially in this electronic age that parents and young children interact face to face, instead of letting their children spend hours in front of a television set, computer or video game system. References: The Baby Signing Book by Sara Bingham, owner of www.weehands.com Guest Blog Post (Similar to the above, but written for a blog a year before) 2008 Guest Blog Post Within the United States, and beyond, there has been an increasing amount of mommy and me type enrichment classes for children as young as newborn up to kindergarten age. Among these are Kindermusik, Music Together, Sign Language, gymnastics, Gymboree, and more. In fact, it seems that the number of these classes have grown an average of 200% or more just in the last 10 years since my first born took his first Kindermusik class at 1 year of age! Among these classes, there has been a great demand for sign language classes for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. These come in a few forms: integrated, such as Kindermusik (Signing Smart) and Gymboree (Signing Babies), and on their own, such as Wee Hands and now Signing Time. These classes will run like your average Kindermusik class…about 45 min to an hour of fun, signing, singing, and learning. (But no instruments J) Many parents are resistant to using sign with their children. This stigma is usually the product of years of association of American Sign Language and the Deaf culture. Luckily, with the rise in these classes, many parents are no longer using this association, and learning that, by using sign language with their pre-verbal children, they are not only NOT hindering verbal communication, but providing children with rudimentary learning skills. signing enhances self esteem (since they can ask for what they want and not be discouraged), there will be less tantrums, increase in IQ and intellect, enhancing a life long love of learning, encouraging early reading (Reading with your child is something you should do every day! But when you read AND sign with them, it promotes early reading skills and a LOVE of books), activating multiple learning centers in the brain, associated with language, reading, and learning skills. Most programs will not let you start until your baby is at least 6 months, but research shows that, when started earlier, and even from birth, that your baby will start communicating with you that much earlier. (My 3 year old started signing 2-4 word sentences at 6 months, after signing from birth, and my 14 month old started with 2-3 word sentences at just 3 months!) Many parents are thrilled when their 6 month old starts ASKING for MILK, a BOOK, or that BALL in the corner, or their 1 year old can stop mid tantrum and start signing and even speaking what they want and why they are upset. When you know what your child wants, and you can get a “window” into their mind, things can run much more smoothly. And remember, it is very important, especially in this electronic age that parents and young children interact face to face, instead of letting their children spend hours in front of a television set, computer or video game system. Child Abuse Prevention (personally worked with and edited by Dr. Harvey Karp, MD of The Happiest Baby on the Block) 2007 Cary News, Cary, NC; 2008 Syracuse.com Blog April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. As a parent educator, mother of three children and former preschool teacher, I am appalled by the growing rate of child abuse, neglect, maltreatment and murders in our country and even in our own state. According to state statistics, abuse against children has increased almost each year, by as much as 40 percent or more. Nationally it is even higher. Why is it that in a country such as ours, where we are always trying to do better by our children, where people are required to obtain a license to drive a car or get married, that anyone can have a child with no proper education on how to care for infants and young children? We have seen some disturbing instances, such as a mother kidnapping her children and taking them out of the country, mothers and fathers leaving their children in cars reaching over 100 degrees so they can go gamble or to the mall and newborns being beaten because they are crying too much. Most of us think that being a parent comes instinctually and that as soon as our baby is born we will know what to do. But once we get that little bundle home and we see how much he or she depends on us and puts trust in us to be a proper caregiver, many parents become overwhelmed and many are pushed beyond lines they swore they would never cross. Parental frustration leads to child abuse. The most common form of infant abuse is Shaken Baby Syndrome. The violent movement pitches the infant’s brain back and forth within the skull, rupturing blood vessels and nerves throughout the brain and tearing the brain tissue. The brain strikes the inside of the skull, causing bruising and bleeding to the brain. Of these tiny victims, 20-25 percent die as a result of their injuries. Most of the rest suffer permanent damage. Shaking of babies respects no boundaries. It occurs in rich and poor families and in families of all colors. In the United States there are over 1,500 cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome per year. It is likely that many more babies suffer from the effects of SBS yet no one knows because SBS victims rarely have any external evidence of trauma. A University of North Carolina study estimates that we may only be diagnosing 1 percent of all babies who are shaken. Reducing just these incidents, by educating more parents on how to calm a crying and colicky baby and how to take a break and ask for help, would save almost $2 million in medical and legal costs. That prevention just may be possible with a new approach to baby calming. There are some cultures around the world where babies rarely ever cry. One should wonder how, in a sophisticated society such as ours, we do not have the proper education and training to take care of a fussy baby, yet others in underdeveloped countries have the knowledge to keep their babies safe and calm for nearly 23 of 24 hours in the day. In the nationally certified program The Happiest Baby on the Block, developed by renowned pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp, hundreds of certified educators all over the United States have been trained to help parents before and after the birth of their babies. In this program, parents are taught age-old techniques that have been long abandoned and replaced by wives’ tales, which tell us we will spoil our young infants if we love them too much. The core of this program is to teach parents five calming techniques that when put together correctly trigger an inborn calming reflex in their babies. Parents learn that in the first six months after birth babies still need that comfort they had for nine months in the womb. When given this extra comfort, babies are less likely to be colicky, there will be less crying and fewer incidences of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Shaken Baby Syndrome, marital stress and breastfeeding failure as well as increases in father involvement. This is something Dr. Karp calls the “missing fourth trimester,” and it has been proven to work with thousands of babies across the country. In order to stop these innocent babies from dying, being abandoned, neglected or other forms of abuse, parents need to be trained on how to care for their precious newborns. It is time we petitioned to have mandatory parent-education classes implemented in our hospitals, birthing centers and child-care facilities in order to prevent the deaths of any more babies. Asking for help will not make anyone think less of you, in fact, you will be thanked by your baby in the future!
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