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What are you most surprised about in your experience?
We were surprised at how quickly we could learn, remember and apply what we were learning in class. The pace and delivery of the content were just right. Having so many songs really helped us to keep signing between classes. How would you describe my personality or your experience with me as a teacher? Enthusiastic, knowledgeable and knows what to do to ensure that learning is taking place and content is being absorbed. Your use of stories and years of experience made it easy for us to learn from you. What sort of measurable progress did you make over the past 6 weeks? We know tons of signs that we apply all day, everyday! While our daughter is still learning, she likes the additional level of interaction and is curious about what we are doing when we sign to her. What would you say to other people who were considering taking a class but they weren't sold on the online experience? Not having to take a baby anywhere! In our situation, the online class spared us a 30+ minute trip into the city and allowed us to keep our bedtime routine. For busy families, you can’t put a price on this convenience. I didn’t realize that the class was truly for mom and dad to learn, then teach throughout the week. We were more attentive and focused as parent students than if we would have also been supervising an active baby. The video quality was excellent and nothing was compromised in terms of learning the signs via Skype. I wanted to share a lovely email I received on Friday <3
Hi Melody! I hope you are doing well. I wanted to give you an update on our daughter as I brought her to the class when she was 6-7 months. She started signing milk at 9 months. She is now a year and everyday learning a new sign, she says and does the sign for “up/wanting to be held”, she says and signs more and says and signs all done. She is creative where when she is done with a person or place (like if we are at a mall) she turns and says “all da” and does the sign motion! Haha Thank you for all the great songs and signs. I am excited to see her sign more everyday. It’s super interesting to see that she learns the sign first but within a few days will also say the word with it :) ~AK~ Come take our baby sign classes online! You get the same great service but from the comfort of your own home. Classes are taught via Skype (you can join from your computer or on your phone). Both parents are encouraged to join to get the most out of each session. 6 week class $115 + shipping, includes award winning, full colour manual and digital downloadable music. Each session includes a full-color manual.
Wednesdays May 1 - June 5, 2019 7:00-7:45pm MST Contact [email protected] to register. I started using a few signs with my daughter in the first few weeks of her life. After taking the Level I course with Melody when she was 4 mths old I learned a lot and was signing as much as I could every day. I was so frustrated and almost ready to give up when she didn't seem remotely interested in any of the signs at 8 months old. Melody told us it could take a while, but my patience was dwindling. At 8.5 months she waved for the first time. I had to laugh - it was a sign I didn't focus on in the slightest. She must have picked it up from all the people waving to her at Christmas. But a couple weeks later she was signing "more", and soon after she signed "ball", "all done" and "fish". Now, at 11 months old she can do nearly a dozen signs! It has been so delightful to see her sign and to know we are communicating.
~Charla V. Do you have a HOCKEY fan in your home? The #ASL word of the day is HOCKEY! - #babysignlanguage #babysigning In my level 2 class today we are working on colours! Check out this awesome video from My Smart Hands The most important thing for parents to do to help their child pick up signs faster is to be consistent in their signing. It is more important for parents to sign each and every time they say a word than to sign 30 words once in a while. I always tell parents to start with a few signs that they are comfortable with and use on a regular basis, such as the word ‘milk’. Every single time you say the word ‘milk’ make the sign. The baby will pick this sign up faster than if you only sign it ever few times you say the word. You can sign as many words as you want and introduce as many as you’d like however, make sure you are consistent. It is also important to keep in mind that all babies are different, some are going to pick it up faster than others. I started signing with my daughter when she was 2 months old but she didn’t start signing back until 9 months. However, I’ve had parents in my class who started signing with their baby at 3 months and within a few weeks they started signing back! Others have not signed until 15 or 16 months.
I get this question often, it is probably the most common concern that people have surrounding signing with children. The answer to this is 100% no! There have been zero studies that have shown signing to hinder language. In fact, all of the studies on signing with children show that signing accelerates language in many cases. People confuse speech and language. A child who signs is using language, more language in fact than a non-signing child. Speech is the ability to form sounds to produce the language. Some children don’t develop the ability to speak until much later than other children. The reality is babies want to talk, they babble all the time. When they are able to talk, they will. It is not easier to sign than talk. It is much easier for a child to talk. However, when you don’t have that ability then signing is easier and a great bridge until speech does develop. I think this concern came from a number of places. People not having full understanding of the language and are afraid that children will be lazy and depend on signing. I’ve always heard that someone has a friend of a friend whose child was signed to and they didn’t talk until they were 2. But the reality is that child wouldn’t have talked until they were two anyway. The one thing does not equal the other. I have a colleague who has two boys and they both didn’t talk until they were two. She said she wished she knew about signing when her boys were young because it would have reduced a lot of frustration in her household. Imagine, you have two children and they both don’t talk until they are two. You sign with the first child and not with the second. The first child is able to easily communicate with you and use 50 plus words easily, all while building more and more vocabulary until the age of two. The second child is only able to use pointing and sounds to let you know what he wants. When both children start talking at two, who did you think would have the larger vocabulary? Obviously the child who was signed to because he’s used language in a more advanced way through his two years of life. Plus the adults around him are probably talking to him in more advanced sentences than the second child because we know that the child comprehends what we are saying.Parents should have zero concern that signing would have any hindrance in their child’s language development.
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