Quite some time back, we caught an episode or two of a children’s show with a focus on American Sign Language. It was well put together, entertaining, and enjoyable for all of us. Then the local PBS station stopped airing it.
We eventually discovered Signing Time at the library and have since borrowed every episode at least once. These are fantastic videos! Each episode has a theme and focuses on several signs for each topic, each signed by children and the host, Rachel. And the songs will get stuck in your head forever.
Eddy, our five year old, discovered that if he signs the things he wants, we have to actually look at him, and pay that much MORE attention to him. hmmm….
Ruth, at 18 months, is obsessed with Baby Signing Time aimed at kids “3-36 months.” She’s picked up so many signs in just the short time we had it checked out and is now very good at communicating. Her pediatrician says that at 18 months her cognitive level is on par with many 2 or 2 1/2 year olds!
Update
At 19 months, Ruth can say (pretty closely anyhow) the following:
Mom, Dad, Eddy, “Owie”, stuck, butt, asleep, red, fish, eat, “B” (for Ernie), “B” (for bird), mine, please, thank you, me, no shoes, toes, down, help, woof-woof, meow, wet, poop, hop, oops, wow, ear, noes, eyes, soup, shirt, juice, bottle, book, read, hi, bye-bye, moo, ball, hello, push, pull, hot, “ah-ah” (for count), fall, snow, nope, teeth, beautiful, back pack, pea, bite, food, stop, go, share, Here you go, hat, baby, frog, swing, uh-huh, boy, “elephant noise”, “rooster noise”.
She can sign:
Owie (hurt), asleep, red, fish, eat, bird, lease, thank you, shoes, food, stop, share, hat, baby, frog, boy, blanket, sorry, blocks, more, build, bear, car, paper, draw, bunny, cracker, potty, brush teeth, sad, awake, grumpy, bath, “StarWars (made up sign), “bottle” (her own sign), cheese, apple, candy, cold, milk, cookie, caterpillar, monkey, gorilla, tiger, train, popcorn, dirty, pig, surprised, all-done, school, play, penguin.
There’s a lot of crossover words between the two lists, and we were never worried that signing would make her speech delayed.
Since Ruth keeps asking for Baby Signing Time again and again, I had to break down and buy them.
Allison has really taken to signing with Ruth, as well. Actually, Ruth and Eddy know more signs than I do! I guess I’ll have to watch more with them to figure it before they start secretly communicating amongst each other.
See if your library has a set, or if you can find it on your local PBS station. Or browse the Signing Time Store.I hope you love it as much as we do.
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