Background
Our program follows the guidelines of author and academic Joseph Garcia. He worked as an interpreter in the late 1970s with deaf parents who had hearing children and developed the world renowned SIGN with your BABY Program® www.sign2me.com.
Benefits
- There is little doubt that early communication reduces mutual frustration, raises baby’s self-esteem and bonds young children who sign with their parents and others in a delightful way.
- Just watch babies signing to see how much pleasure they get from it. Teaching Signs isn’t magic, nor is it cramming or forcing your child to ‘learn’, it is based on love, patience and huge amounts fun, and is taught by simple repetition in everyday situations, often with a good helping of laughter.
- Less time is spent with children crying and adults playing the ‘guessing game’ to try and meet their needs, allowing more time to be spent positively interacting. Children can have a 2-way conversation at a much earlier age.
- Signing serves as a language bridge for children who speak two or more languages, particularly those from bilingual families and children with English as an additional language.
- Children can direct the topic of conversation and express their own individual interests and desires from a much earlier age.
- Signing gives children confidence that they can communicate successfully with their peers and the adults in their lives.
- It is appropriate to sign with ALL children but in particular it provides a means of communication for many children with additional communication needs, especially those who are deaf and hearing impaired.
- How often have you wondered ‘I wish I knew what my baby was thinking?’ or ‘I don’t know why he is crying today?’ This is where signing with a baby can really help. Your child will be able to communicate his or her basic needs, usually starting to do so between about 10 and 13 months, sometimes earlier.
Sign2Me research article >>