My Plumber Analogy

Parents sometimes approach me with the question of why they need a baby sign language class, if the information is online and they can learn that way.

I'll be very honest, I do not market to the DIYers. Although I've had many DIYers in my classes and they love the results they get.

Let me explain it this way... 

We've discovered a leak underneath our sink. I cannot for the life of me fix a leak. I would have to hire a plumber who is trained and knows HOW to do the job effectively PLUS he has the right TOOLS. AND a plumber is NOT CHEAP, but I have a FINITE window of time to take care of this problem. 
Then I start to thinking, I'm a pretty smart woman. I could go online and google some articles/videos... but while I'm spending TIME doing this RESEARCH I'm missing out on valuable time playing with my baby, keeping the house in order and the process has taken a lot longer than I thought. Meanwhile I've wasted a lot of water, bought the wrong tool at the home improvement store and keep emptying the bucket of water as the sink continues to leak, creating more work for myself. Finally after a whole weekend lost to this plumbing issue, I call a plumber, he comes over and fixes the leak within just an hour. We celebrate by going out to dinner.... or rather because the dishes from the weekend are piled high in the sink!

I know HOW to sign and I know HOW to effectively teach babies.
PLUS I have all the right tools to make class educational and fun.
AND my classes are NOT CHEAP.
Your baby is little for a FINITE amount of time. 
I save parents TIME by having done the RESEARCH and packaging it up and delivering the nuggets they need to create hundreds, if not thousands, of conversations and moments of connectedness.

Yes, so in some ways, I'm sort of like the plumber. 

Joann Woolley is owner and instructor of Sign4Baby in San Diego teaching parents how to communicate with their pre-verbal baby using American Sign Language. With her in depth knowledge of ASL as her first language she takes you beyond just the basics in signing, also filling your parenting tool belt with parenting tips and tricks coupled with signing as a great boundary teaching tool for toddlers. Want to know which signs most parents start with but gets them stuck in the mud? I'll send you that hundred dollar tip for FREE.

Signing and a Lock Down Drill

A little glimpse into the walls of the Sign4Baby household: 

Owen was just telling me yesterday how they did a "walk through" at school... he kept saying it over and over and was getting mad that I wasn't getting his pronounciation... I had him take a breath and think of other words to describe to me something else to help me understand. I didn't even mention to use a sign, and that is immediately what he used. He signed KEY to demonstrate LOCK... which he knew intuitively is the same without ever having been taught this. Then I got it. They practiced a LOCK DOWN. My heart sank and leapt at the same time. He could effectively tell me what he meant, yet the idea of a LOCK DOWN for a 4 year old with all his classmates and teacher huddled in the bathroom with the door locked pretending there was a bad guy outside and being super quiet... how scary is that?

This scenario has got me thinking about how signing may be an effective tool for teachers to have with their students in these drills though. Imagine how police and military units have hand signals to complete a mission. Kids this age have trouble staying quiet for any length of time, so this could at least give them a vehicle to communicate in a situation where they are have to be quiet and keep their mind occupied at the same time. 

Our children are growing up in far different times than we did.

Joann Woolley is owner and instructor of Sign4Baby in San Diego teaching parents how to communicate with their pre-verbal baby using American Sign Language. With her in depth knowledge of ASL as her first language she takes you beyond just the basics in signing, also filling your parenting tool belt with parenting tips and tricks coupled with signing as a great boundary teaching tool for toddlers. Want to know which signs most parents start with but gets them stuck in the mud? I'll send you that hundred dollar tip for FREE.

Ever wonder if signing with your baby is doing much for their brain?

If using gestures while teaching improves learning in kids, I'm going to make the leap and say baby sign language improves learning in babies.

Clapping is a gesture and clearly communicates something
Photo credit: Stills by Hill Photography

A recent study on teaching kids with the use of gestures could make a strong argument for why baby sign language is growing in popularity so rapidly! Check out what they said about that study over at BabyCenter.
 
I watch the babies and toddlers all the time in class and can see the attention span increase when I'm signing, and their responses are different to my just saying something versus asking a question. Every new piece of information is being processed by those marvelous little brains of theirs, and the more senses we invoke in the learning the better it sticks. Much like what I share in Signing Story Time is Nourishing Baby's Brain.

When teaching, I tend to use my hands even when I'm not signing. It seems to help me outline my points when I'm delivering information. I can emphasize a point I'm making. There's something innate about gesturing when we communicate, probably because innate that tells us the other person can better receive our message when we do so. What the study reveals is really no surprise to me. Friends of mine who grew up signing because they were also CODAs (Child of Deaf Adult) tended to be in the advanced classes or perform at the top of their class.

The take away here is that YOU ARE YOUR BABY'S FIRST TEACHER, and they understand way more than we give them credit for, so if children learn better from teachers who use gestures, every parent should be making the investment in signing with their baby and toddler to give them an extra tool for optimized learning.

What do  you think about the study on gestures improving learning?

Joann Woolley is owner and instructor of Sign4Baby in San Diego teaching parents how to communicate with their pre-verbal baby using American Sign Language. With her in depth knowledge of ASL as her first language she takes you beyond just the basics in signing, also filling your parenting tool belt with parenting tips and tricks coupled with signing as a great boundary teaching tool for toddlers. Want to know which signs most parents start with but gets them stuck in the mud? I'll send you that hundred dollar tip for FREE.