Baby Sign Language Class Saturday, March 23rd, 2002

Denise Meyer

Denise Meyer gave a 1½ hour introduction to baby sign language. The class attracted 11 adults and 6 infants. After introductions we watched a short video about the practice and theory of sign language. The instructor excelled at engaging the class and the kids, mixing humor into her presentation. She inspired a high level of participation from the attendees.

Reasons to do sign language.

• Top reason is that the second year of life can be the most stressful for parent and child. The ability to sign alleviates much of this stress.
• If done in conjunction with verbal repetition, speech may come earlier.
• Since a baby's mind is especially absorbent, learning enhanced by communication can begin before speech. By waiting until speech begins, we may miss this chance to take advantage of capacity to learn.

• the sign for "no"

  The communication gives us insight into their world and their perspectives. The example used was a parent watching out a window as her child used sign language to comment on the bees he was watching to no one in particular.
• You will communicate with sign language long after babyhood. For example, a child may wave the sign for "toilet" across the room instead of yelling, "Dad, I gotta GO!"

• Best time to start signing is 11-13 months.
• Learning Sign language is not as difficult as learning another language because hand signals are often imitations of what the word means. For example, imitate squeezing an udder by opening and closing a fist several times. You're now asking for more milk!

• the sign for "milk"

  Tots pick up signs at different rates. Signing from multiple caregivers speeds up the process.
• Child development specialists discovered and investigated the ability of 1 year olds to communicate effectively by signing mostly in the last 10 -12 years.
• One 9-month-old baby learned and used 75 signs. The same child could only understand 6 verbal words.

Dad seems ready for "sleep". Baby... well, what's the sign for "say cheese"?

The style and energy level of the instructor made for high retention of a huge amount of information. We learned the entire alphabet in addition to about 50 signs for things from "mother" and "father" to "cheese" and "grapes", mostly through visual clues and repetition. I was very surprised to find most of these signs still in my brain two days later. I noticed that the instructor and material grabbed the attention of many of the toddlers. Some kids were imitating the hand movements of the instructor and others were paying close attention. Still, the tots gave out after a time and began to pursue other interests. The kids cruised the room and pushed chairs around the floor while the parents watched the teacher.

I must note that learning the signs is just the half of it. Teaching sign language to a toddler takes a great deal of work. As I have found out in the days since the class, you will get a lot of blank looks from a one-year-old before he or she repeats even a single sign.

Tim McGuire lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Kate, and their two children. He grew up in Western Massachusetts and came to the Twin Cities to attend Macalester College where he earned a degree in Biology. Tim works as a web and database programmer for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He is a member of the Twin Cities Oracle Users Group and Twin Cities PHP Users Group. He found St. Joan of Arc Church in 1989 while volunteering to collect signatures for some forgotten organization and has been back many times since. He now volunteers in the nursery and does web reporting when he can sneak off to events or bring the kids.

All told, it was a great chance to meet other parishioners with children and get inspired to learn.

Links: More information about Denise's work is available on line at www.sign2me.com/classes/dMeyer.htm The work of Joseph Garcia, a leading baby sign evangelist is also presented at sign2me.com. It features materials to buy, classes to take, and cute pictures of babies using sign language: www.sign2me.com/default6.htm A portal of the sign language community includes sign of the day with photos depicting the signs: www.handspeak.com