sing and sign classes anyone? (sign language for babies)

melancholly

i saw see hear on the bbc late one night this week and they an article about baby signing lessons - there are a few comments on their message board here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbouch/F2322274?thread=3504486
it looks the orignal airing date was sept 23rd - i don't know how to get hold of the programme online but it was really quite interesting if anyone knows how to.

jaxhen

I've been doing sing and sign classes with my daughter since she was 6 months old....she is now 2. We stopped going last term as I thought it was too expensive and I brought the DVD instead.
However she really missed the classes so this term we have started going again. The signing was great fun before she could talk, but she talks now (quite a lot...I'm sure signing helped). The main benefit for her now is the social side of it and the singing, however I didn't enjoy toddler groups and I couldn't find any other music groups in my area.

Cinders2001

As I do BSL (Bitish Sign Language), I thought I would teach my girls some signs too.
They picked it up well, as young ones tend to do, but know they rarely sign to me.
One advantage I think it has, is that it helps with gestures, and gestures help you become more expressive.

Makaton is used by Dave Benson Philips on his videos and on the telly progs for children, and with those with learning disadvantages.
Its like a simplified English words in sign or Sign Supported English - SSE, Sign Supported Language - SSL.

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If the cost of these baby sign lessons is a bit steep, then you might find that getting a book from the library will help you teach your children yourself.

If you can make it appear fun (by your attitude and facial expressions) then they will learn very well.....and without the distraction of other children (maybe?).

It's just a thought.

jellyhead

we've been to 3 classes now and i'm really enjoying it. roo loves it, i think the songs are making it much more enjoyable for him because he loves singing. some of the people in our class have already done a term so i don't know if it's the same songs again. our teacher recommends it being suitable for up to around 18 months, but whether that's more to do with teaching in a tiny broom cupboard that's not big enough for active toddlers i don't know. roo is the oldest newbie at 14 months, and the oldest in the class is only 2 weeks older than roo but did last term too.

he is signing 'milk' to me, and 'pig'. no more signs from him yet but he only learned to clap last week so maybe as he gets better at using his hands there will be more signing. he understands some of my signs such as 'no' and 'finished' but my husband and family use a different sign for 'finished', a different sign for 'hot', different 'dog' etc.

i'm picking some signs up, so it has been worth it. i can't seem to learn from books or watching family sign. maybe the baby course is best because there's only one sign per sentence? there have been a few times this week where he's been hungry and i haven't realised what he's crying about (he's just starting to want snacks between meals) so hopefully as we get into the classes more he will sign for being hungry etc. because he isn't saying words yet. his repertoire of animal noises is impressive and it's nice that we know the signs for the animals.

Chell

Jodie1975 wrote:

I used to do a few signs with my son when he was a baby. It was really handy for him to be able to tell me he wanted more food or drink before he could speak by signing it to me.

I'm pregnant again and intend to learn more about signing for this baby. I found this great site https://www.chelltune.co.uk which has lots of useful info and very reasonably priced goods for signing.

Good luck with it, it's so rewarding!

Many thanks Jodie:D

Sadierhianne

I have bought from chelltune before, i have just entered into a competition on their website. Their books are great, so i have ordered more for Christmas presents because i know quite a few mums who sign with their children. I have books for me to learn sign and teach but not seen books for children before, i struggled with sign but the children's books make it seem so much easier - read into that what you will ;-)

I think that every school should have these books on their shelves - infact i am going to ask nursery next week if they have any sign books - and if they have none i think that i might have to tell them to get some, i am going to put it to the headteacher at my daughters school too. More and more children with hearing difficulties are joining mainstream school, it is so isolating for them if they can't communicate and be understood - if other children learned just the basics in school, like they do languages, just had a letter home for Spanish after school club, why not sign after school club? If my children were hard of hearing and they went to school and no one could communicate with them i'd feel so sad.

This has to be one of the most worthwhile sites that i have seen in a long long time.

shirlgirl2004

I did signing with https://www.babysign.co.uk. My daughter (now 26 months) learnt nearly 150 signs so was able communicate with me really effectively before she could speak. Her speech is much better than her peers, both in clarity and quantity.

Babysign does an online course (as well as lessons) so it's a cheaper alternative than classes but you can ask questions if you need to so you know you're doing it right which is something you can't do with books.

Lillibet_2

I think a few people are getting cofnused about this. Everyone should note that signing for babies is not like the British sign language for the deaf, they are completely different things. Although baby signing does have it's roots in the BSL baby signing is a much simplified form & not compataible for deafness. Baby signing is just a stepping stone for babies until they learn to talk & used to promote early talking (yes, it really does, my son is only 15 months & starting to use words in context!) it is not suitable for any other type of communication.

HTH;)

Chell

Lillibet wrote:

I think a few people are getting cofnused about this. Everyone should note that signing for babies is not like the British sign language for the deaf, they are completely different things. Although baby signing does have it's roots in the BSL baby signing is a much simplified form & not compataible for deafness. Baby signing is just a stepping stone for babies until they learn to talk & used to promote early talking (yes, it really does, my son is only 15 months & starting to use words in context!) it is not suitable for any other type of communication.

HTH;)

I have to disagree, it depends what method you use. If you look at Cath Smiths Let's Sign, Tinytalk or Joseph Garcia's Sign with your baby (BSL version) then yes they use BSL. The Child's Play books also feature BSL. Its obviously only keywords but babies and toddlers use keywords in any language when they are first starting out. When babies learn to speak they aren't expected to use full sentences from day one, likewise they aren't going to be using full BSL sentences/structure.

Sing and Sign say that they are based on BSL but many signs are very different, Deaf people wouldn't follow them.

Something Special on Cbeebies uses Makaton, this isn't a language, its just a series of key words. Its used by people with disabilities usually.

I have signed with both my children, they have used BSL so its the first steps to learning a second language. BSL is now recognised as a language, its the first or prefered language of over 70,000 Deaf people in the UK.

roversbabe

I'm really interested in this - I'm taking roversbaby to babysigning classes from next month (4 months old) - has everyone had good experiences of this with their little ones?

TIA

rb