dancing with your hands...

so often, i've heard (and said) that signing is so much more than saying words with your hands.  it's not just about using your hands to label something, whether it be an object, an emotion, or an action.  it's obvious, when you see people signing, that it's not just their hands moving, but their faces, and their bodies.  so much is said beyond the hands. 

for babies, signing is a key to unlocking a world of communication that might not otherwise be opened until many months later.  babies learn the importance of non-verbal communication by cuing into facial expression, body language, and even the feelings that come along with communicating. 

i recently was told an amazing comment after teaching a baby signing class.  this mother explained that learning and using sign language is more than what she expected... that she can actually feel what she is saying... essentially, that signing is emotional.  she compared it to dancing.  she is a dance teacher, and related the movements of dancing to communicating with signs.  it's not just about the movements... it's so much more than that.

(and thank you to that wonderful mommy... you know who you are :)  )

Zoë signs over 200 signs in 5 minutes

Look what we found in our old home videos!

If you ever wondered about whether YOUR family can still sign, this is a MUST-SEE! It's a video of our little girl Zoe signing more than 200 signs at only 3 years old! But not only that, she's signing on command, in both Hebrew and English!

After watching this video,  How many signs have YOU counted?
Post your count on Facebook or YouTube.

Let the Sign Shine,
etel


Etel Leit, M.S.
Founder & Owner www.SignShine.com
Publisher www.BabySignShine.com
Respond here or on YouTube....

an Experience that will Leave you Speechless

Baby Sign Language is not only about a few signs that you can learn and then teach your child. That is what I learned on my recent trip
overseas, to my homeland, Israel. During my visit, I visited a fascinating children museum exhibit! The walls were monochromatic. The rooms were bare and sparsely furnished. Our museum guide was completely silent.
Sign Language and a museum?! What do they have to do with each other?!

Sign Language is easy to learn. Well, would you believe it was one of the most integrative and amazing museum visits I and my kids have ever experienced? The exhibit is called 'Dialogue in Silence.' Can you guess what was the theme? As you guessed, the tour explores the world of a deaf or hearing-impaired person. This tour's goal is to give the visitor the real experience of how it feels to be deaf or hearing impaired. It is a true hands-on
exhibit. So, how can you really empathize with a deaf person? The answer is --- experience what he or she feels… The SILENCE.

Let the Sign Shine,

etel

Etel Leit, M.S.

Founder & Owner http://www.signshine.com/

Publisher http://www.babysignshine.com/

Engaging and Repeating... Even with Diaper Changes

How many times would one think you could hear "change diaper" during one mere diaper change. Well, apparently many many times.

I honestly can see educationally speaking how repeating a word helps children to remember it, but this can also help calm a child down as you engage with them. Signing to my children has given me the opportunity of forming a habit where I am able to not only sign what we are doing but to repeat the words being signed. This is particularly useful when signing expectations or daily routines.

As seen on the video below, my son finds a connection with what is going on. And although he is not seen upset here, I recall just three months ago when he was two months old, I laid him down on the bed to change his diaper. He began to cry. I began to sign.

Within seconds his eyes were fixated on what my hands were doing as I found myself repeating the words change diaper in a very enthusiastic manner. I was engaging with him.

If I would not have been signing, I don't believe I would have chosen to speak in a consistent manner where my voice, although possibly annoying to the outside world^_^, was able to bring calmness. And my hands became a distraction from what was seemingly upsetting at the time.
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As stated in my previous post, I feel encouraged to sign by choosing three signs for a particular routine and then having the choice to add to those signs.

The three words I sign when changing a diaper are change, diaper, and wet or dirty.

I then add all done and all clean at the end.

Enjoy the journey of engaging with your children through the power of signing... even if it is in those moments of diaper changes. You never know what may be remembered as precious memories when looking back.^_^

Transparency and Babies' Understanding of How Language Works

In sign language, nearly all the signs for body parts are made by pointing to the specific body part. For example, 'nose', 'eyes', 'mouth', 'arm', 'hair', 'ear', are all signed by pointing to the specific body part. These body parts represent the meaning of transparent. You will often see a baby point to his various body parts when you ask him/her, ‘Where is your nose? Where is your mouth?” This is an example of the beauty of a language that has signs that are transparent and/or iconic. When the sign actually looks like the meaning of the word, or in this case is the body part, it is easier for a baby to process and comprehend the way language works. So when a baby points to objects or body parts, s/he is actually saying ‘this is my nose’. This is visual transparency.

When a baby learns the sounds that animals make, this is auditory transparency. He actually hears the cat say 'meow' or the dog say 'woof woof', so s/he often assigns those corresponding sounds to those respective animals. Sign language takes these animals and assigns a visual sign that is closely linked to the meaning of the animal, again reinforcing the benefits of learning sign language which may initially consist of many visually transparent or iconic signs.

Scarlette's Growing Up

Thank you to everyone who posted well wishes for Scarlette's little hands, she is healed perfectly now and thank goodness, she managed to get away without any permanent damage or scarring.

In Australia, Baby Sign Language is not as prevalent as it is in America, Canada and Europe. Toddler Interpreter are doing their bit to raise awareness and momentum is growing, however I wish that it wasn't such a mystery here.

Next week we are sending Scarlette to day care for two days a week to give her some variety.
I know that she will be the first toddler that they have had in their care that knows and uses Baby Sign Language.

She has such a big personality, and for her age, her language skills and comprehension are unbelievable so I am confident that it will take no time at all for her to teach them. As a back up of course we have provided them with a copy of our Baby Sign Language Book and Chart and we will be doing some classes with them as well.

Scarlette is 22 months old and this is the most fabulous age for baby sign language. She uses it daily along with the words, it has been a blessing. Sometimes I just wouldn't be able to understand that her little word that sounds more like 'phfsstd' is actually 'finished' if it weren't for the little hands signing 'finished' that help me work it out.

The most adorable signs are those when we are out and about. Yesterday we were at a friends place who currently has a new litter of kittens and Scarlette knows as soon as we get there and furiously signs for 'pussy cat' while 'meowing' all the way to the front door. I wish I could capture all of these precious moments on film so I could treasure this age for ever.

By far the most useful and most used baby sign is 'more'. Scarlette uses this for everything. We might be playing a game with her and she asks for more, this one she knows both the word and the sign and uses them together. She will often ask for more juice, more milk or more apple too, putting both signs together with the words as best as she can. When we are out playing on the swings, she signs more to ask for us to push her higher...she is a bit of a dare devil.

Come on Australia, join in the baby sign language movement and enjoy these precious times with your little ones, just as we are!

3 Steps to Signing Expectations

Here are three steps that help me sign with my children or children that are in my care^_^. When I am able to sign what is to come next, the child and I are both able to feel more secure in striving for the expectation at hand.

1. List daily routines
2. Choose Three Signs for each routine
3. Don't be afraid to add signs to those routines

While thinking of the routines that occur daily with your child, also think of "what is to be expected." This will help you recognize routines. Then go from there in choosing three signs that correlate with the routine. If another sign comes to mind, welcome it, and keep signing away.

For example, as I watched my 1 year old niece yesterday, I was not sure which signs she has learned over the past six months. I was given the direction to lay her down with a sippy cup to have her drink milk before laying her down to sleep.

I decided to sign three different signs to help her focus on the goal- which was to drink most of her milk before retiring to nap time.

The three signs were "drink, milk, sleep" as I would say, "Drink your milk, then we'll go to sleep." I said this a number of times, and then all of the sudden, she let go of one of the sides of the sipper cup (with the handles) and began signing milk as she observed her own hand opening and closing.


A way that another sign could have been involved is after she drank her milk, I could have encouraged the goal by signing and saying, "You drank your milk, now we're going to go to sleep" and adding "let's go get your blanket," signing blanket.


And if by chance the expectation at hand isn't met, well, you know that at least you met your own expectation of signing with your child.^_^

Written by Shawna Tran