"Sign language helps toddlers communicate"

a few signs:
milk - make a fist and open
Mama/Mommy - 5 finer in hand spread out and put your thumb on your
chin (Daddy is on the forehead)
Sleep - you know

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...237190,00.html

Promising signs
Language of gesture reveals surprising benefits

By Janet Simons, Rocky Mountain News
September 8, 2003

It's not enduring the temper tantrums or picking up the toys strewn
across the room, or even tending to the endless cycle of colds and
flus. No, for parents of toddlers, one of the biggest challenges is
simply struggling to communicate. Take, for example, what happens when
the child gestures toward the refrigerator.

Mom opens the door and points helpfully at the items inside.

"Do you want juice?" she asks.

Head shake.

"Some applesauce?"

Head shake and a slight frown.

"Cheese?"

Finally, a smile, and Mom unwraps a cheese stick.

By age 1, however, children who have learned sign language usually
have vocabularies of 20 to 40 words. In addition to being able to ask
for cheese, they can tell their parents if they're thirsty, sleepy,
wet or have a sore throat.

Michelle Anthony estimates that as many as 800 babies and toddlers
have learned to communicate using American Sign Language through her
Signing Smart workshops and play groups since she began offering them
in Denver in January 2000. Similar classes have cropped up throughout
the nation as parents strive to learn what's on the minds of children
too young to talk.

At a recent Signing Smart play group in a church basement in central
Denver, 17-month-old Marcus Garcia sat on the lap of his mother, Lisa
Garcia, and made signs for light and spider.

"Today we're learning words about the outdoors," said instructor
Rebecca MacLean, as she handed out plastic butterflies. Marcus soon
had added the sign for butterfly to his repertoire.

"This class has truly opened a window into his mind," his mother said.
"It's the best thing I've ever done with him. Without it, I would
never know when he wants to brush his teeth or take a bath."

The session was the last of the series - the second 10-week series for
identical twins Mia and Stella Marchetta-Hayden, 20 months.

Their father, Robert Hayden, said the classes were helpful from the
start.

"Stella and Mia were about 1 when we started, and they didn't have
many spoken words," said Hayden, executive sports producer at Channel
9. His wife, Theresa Marchetta, the twins' mother, is a Channel 7
anchor.

"Since they're twins, sharing was a big issue," Hayden said. "We
learned in this class that at 12 months, they're too young to
understand sharing, but they can get the concept of taking turns."

At their first class, the twins learned the sign for turn, pointing
back and forth from one to the other.

"It was huge," Hayden said. "They were able to understand that when
they both wanted the same juice cup, they could have it - just not at
the same time."

Hayden says life with the twins has improved steadily with increased
communication.

"It has been a way for them to let us know some of their
frustrations," he said.

Anthony has a master's degree in child studies and a doctorate in
developmental psychology from the University of California at
Berkeley. She developed her program based on research by psychology
professors Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, who first worked on
signing to hearing babies and toddlers in 1982, and by educator Joseph
Garcia of Bellingham, Wash., who first recommended that standard
American Sign Language be used.

Anthony approaches sign language through her child-development
background, introducing the signs for words when children are ready to
use them.

"For example, one of the first signs we teach is the word for light,"
she said. "It's something children see from their cribs and they're
curious about it, but they don't have any way to ask what it is. The
children use that word constantly once they know it."

Anthony is one of the first in the field to focus on play groups
rather than on teaching ASL at parent workshops. At the play groups,
she explains, parents and children practice together until signing
becomes a familiar form of communication.

"We want to make signing accessible to young parents, so they can
integrate it into their everyday lives and communicate easily," she
said.

Research by Acredolo, of the University of California at Davis, and
Goodwyn, of California State University at Stanislaus, indicates that
children who learn sign language as babies gain IQ points.

The pair studied the effects of baby sign language for 10 years under
a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, one of the National Institutes of Health. They compared
families that were baby-signers and families that weren't, checking in
each six months until the children were 3. They found consistently
superior performance by the baby-signers in vocal, cognitive and
emotional development.

When they tested 7-year-olds who had been in the study as babies,
Acredolo and Goodwyn found that the baby-signers averaged 12 points
higher on standard IQ tests than the control group.

In April, Acredolo and Goodwyn founded Baby Signs Inc., based in
Vacaville, Calif.

"We now have 80 consultants offering workshops in eight states," said
Goodwyn, noting that Colorado is not among them. The professors also
continue to pursue research. Goodwyn said they are about to unveil a
study of how sign language enhances the interaction between babies and
their caregivers.

Goodwyn would have no trouble convincing Christy Ochs, who attends
Signing Smart workshops with 13-month-old Hawk Peterson. She has been
his nanny since he was 6 weeks old.

Ochs has noticed enormous strides in Hawk's language development since
he started the class. She said she has been impressed with Hawk's
mastery of subtle concepts such as "gentle."

"He's at that age where he grabs hair and pulls," she said. "When he
did that the other day, I took his hand, patted it and made the sign
for gentle and said the word gentle. He said the word gentle back to
me just as clear as a bell."


More information on signing with your baby
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...237428,00.html

- Signing Smart, a division of Wide-Eyed Learning, founded by Michelle
Anthony and Reyna Lindert, offers workshops for parents and play
groups. The next 10-week play-group session for babies, parents and
caregivers starts Thursday and costs $130, which includes a parent
handbook and children's video. For more information, go to the
WideEyedLearning.com Web site or call 720-488-3264.

- Baby Signs (Contemporary Books, $14.95) by Linda Acredolo and Susan
Goodwyn is available through Baby Signs Inc., 1-800-995-0226, or
through the babysigns.com Web site. Acredolo and Goodwyn offer an
array of products, including board books and videos for babies and
information about leading Baby Sign workshops.

- Sign With Your Baby (Northlight Communications, $14.95) by Joseph
Garcia is based on American Sign Language, the official language used
by hearing-impaired people. For more information on Garcia's approach
or to order his book or instructional video, go to his Web site,
sign2me.com, or phone 1-877-744-6263