To sign or not to sign THAT is the question

Well I guess we have been thinking whether or not it is a good idea for Hailey to learn more sign language. On ocassion Hailey sometimes says partial words, for example: When I ask her if she wants to read a book she used to comment “a boo” not totally finishing the word but everybody new what she was trying to say. Earlier on we learned a few words in sign language so that ultimately Hailey’s frustration level would be down a bit and also so we could open up the lines of communication, and to give her more choices. It seems since she has learned the sign for book, she no longer says “a boo”. This causes concern for my family. We have to ask ourselves if this is something we want to continue doing. We do not want her to use sign language INSTEAD of trying to use her voice.
Last night we had Christine come to the house, she taught us the alphabet in sign as well as a lot of different signs that might be helpful to Hailey. It was so much fun to learn (my fingers hurt). She has been working with children who have autism for over 10 years and she also had some great ideas to help with speech development and motor skills as well. Christine did such a wonderful job showing us how to sign and she even let us videotape her so that I could share it with all my blogger friends who have children that have a hard time communicating verbally. I hope that some of you can also benefit from these short clips.
In addition to learning sign I also learned that although we were initially nervous about signing preventing her speech development, research suggests very strongly that this is not the case. In fact the opposite occurs, as signing seems to positively encourage speech development.

Tell me your thoughts about American Sign Language and share your experiences with us.

I can paint your child

Well, as it turned out I have been getting many requests for painting children since my last post!
Partly because people like to see something that they can relate to, and partly because who wouldn’t want to take advantage of this special opportunity? But also because Caryanne from http://aboutthesmallstuff.blogspot.com/ was kind enough to write a post and put a link to my blog on her blog. Thank you Caryanne. One mother is ordering 3 paintings, 1 for herself and 2 for her parents for Christmas presents, what a great idea! Christmas in July, why not, it may take me that long to keep up with these commissions anyway. This picture is of Caryanne’s twin boys, Daniel and Ben. Ben also has Cerebral Palsy and those of you who know me well, know that I like to put a small green Cerebral Palsy awareness ribbon hidden somewhere in my paintings. This time I thought it would be appropriate to put the ribbon right over Ben’s heart. Thank you Caryanne.
If you would like one for your family, please email me www.harrold.janet@gmail.com

Stay tuned for videos of our sign language lessons. Christine has come to our house for the past two weeks to teach us sign language, because she has been working with children who have autism for over 10 years, she is pretty well rounded in child development and has taught us a lot of good ideas and tricks to help with motor skills,. She has given us lots of ideas to apply to everyday activities as well as encourage speech development. I can’t wait to introduce her, I hope you will find these videos of signing helpful. Please comment kindly about whether or not you think American Sign Language helps your child communicate better or if you believe that sign language will somehow hinder him from trying to vocalize. It is a question we ask ourselves everyday, any input with your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

"My Paintings of Hailey"

The weather has been so beautiful around here lately, there is no way you can stay indoors. Today I had the pleasure of going to the pond with Hailey and Natalie. Hailey really enjoys exploring and playing in the grass. I thought I would make her laugh, I said “watch Grammy, i’m going all the way to the top of the hill and I’m going to roll down o.k.” Hailey sat on her mother’s lap while she anxiously waited for me to get to the top. When I get there I said “ready, here I go” and as I begin to roll ( all the while hoping I don’t break something) I hear Hailey laughing. It is music to my ears. She is, as I expected laughing hysterically. She enjoyed my hideous attempt to roll down the hill so much that the little daredevil wanted to roll down the hill too. So, I thought I would humor her by bringing her just a wee bit up the hill and laying her down, but no, she’s not having it, I try and lay her down and she keeps pointing to the top. I’ll tell you, I can never get over on Hailey, she is a girl who knows what she wants. Before I knew it all 3 of us were rolling down the hill. My only regret is that we didn’t get any photos of this fun yet ridiculous act. Natalie did however get some nice shots of Hailey in the grass. They were so cute I just had to paint them.

I was pleased with the results (the pictures don’t really do them justice, I can never seem to get them without a glare). Anyway, if you think that these are just so cute that you might like me to paint one of your child, now is the time. Since I am painting to raise money for Hailey’s Conductive Education Fund, for a limited time I would be happy to paint a 16”x20”’ oil on stretch canvas for $100.00 Typically I would sell these any where from $500.-$700. For information please contact me www.harrold.janet@gmail.com I would be grateful if you would post a link to this blog on your own blog or facebook status. Thank you for your continuous support.