Baby sign language

I found this resource through Kidz, a great blog written by many talented woman (including myself) I am honored to be part of the kidz krew. Thank you Tara for sharing.
babysignlanguage Now, don't let the title fool you. Though this is helpful for many babies even babies who do not have special needs, it is a place for any person who would like to learn some basic sign language. So many people can benefit from learning sign language, just to list a few, sign language not only benefits individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, but also those who are non verbal. This could mean people with Autism, people with Cerebral Palsy, sometimes after having a stroke, people find themselves with speech impairments, teachers can benefit from learning sign language as well. The list is really endless. You never really know when you are going to need sign language.

The website contains these free digital resources, among others:

Free printable Flash cards
Free printable wall chart
Free Tutorials
Free video dictionary
Facebook Community
Learning just a few signs can cut down on the level of frustration you may have when communication is compromised. You don't have to be an expert in sign language to benefit from using it.
So hurry on over and start learning baby sign language today! Why not equip your child with many different ways of communicating! Leave a comment about who you think may benefit from sign language. Thank you for reading!

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.