Showing posts with label baby sign language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby sign language. Show all posts

Sunday, August 3, 2014

3 Things Every New Parent Wants to Foster




When I was pregnant with my first, I distinctly remember wishing to raise an independent child. It's funny how things change when you go about your new parent journey. Not too long after the birth of my daughter I was introduced to the notion of Attachment Parenting. This parenting practice advocates for not rushing independence in our young, but rather fostering attachment that strengthens child-parent bonding. Once you have your baby put into your arms that maternal instinct kicks in and clearly bonding becomes priority number one. There are many practices that can help you increase your bonding experience with your baby, and baby sign language just so happens to be one of them. When communicating via sign language eye contact is facilitated naturally with an infant, aiding in that bonding experience.



If you've ever heard the phrase "You are your child's first teacher" it is a true statement and the most important thing I think we can teach our children is an affinity for learning new things. Kids who love learning will do well with their studies and find ways to make learning fun. They seem to know intuitively to follow their innate interests and will be happier in their chosen field of work. Babies are eager to communicate and it is a pretty significant part of what they work on learning in those first few years. Baby sign language will help you facilitate a love of learning when they begin to master communication earlier and at an accelerated pace. 



Sometimes as parents we will intentionally lose so our child can build confidence in the new board game being played. Letting them know that they CAN DO something will lead to budding confidence. A confident child will be a happy child. Providing a way to be understood through sign language when they don't yet have the words to express their thoughts builds a baby's confidence. Being understood gives a baby a big confidence boost! Not only in their ability to communicate but it transcends into exploring and creating and a sense of independence.... that thing I wished for when I was first learned I was pregnant with my first child. 


Signing with your baby has many benefits, including the ability to facilitate the 3 things that new parents want to foster in their children. That early bonding through sign language leads way to learning to communicate and then paves the way for confidence. 

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.


Monday, July 14, 2014

Baby Sign Language is a Great way for Siblings to Bond

I remember the moment Amberly first decided to start signing to her brother. While I was offering him a sippy cup of water I was signing WATER. He had just started signing MILK a day or two before and Amberly knew how excited I was for this. She took notice of my repeated high pitch tone showing Kyle the sign for WATER and promptly came over and got between Kyle and me to show him the sign for WATER again and again and again. It was adorable! She said "Water Ky-ky. Water!" It was as though she knew intuitively that he would pay far more attention to her than to me. Which he did! He wouldn't take his eyes off her even if I tried to interject. She had not bothered to sign to him at all until he officially became a signing baby. Such wonderful memories watching her teach her baby brother to sign!




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.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Parallels Between Pre Verbal Babies and a Deaf Mom

Whenever I'm driving solo for more than 20 minutes or in the shower my brain has a chance to wander a bit and I'm often struck by thoughts and ideas that really take my breath away. When something hits you like a ton of bricks that should have been so obvious before but wasn't. Or when an epiphany strikes on what else I can do to bring clarity to my clients.

It is especially common for these thoughts to strike me when I'm about to start a brand new class or have just completed a class with brand new students. Having done this for 7 years, I'm still amazed at the little things that I continue to learn and what revelations I have, proving this is a journey and it is the journey that is worth celebrating.

So this thought I had today....

 Image credit,  Stills by Hill

When I look into a baby's eyes and talk to them, for me it is clear that they are thinking, absorbing what I'm saying and forming thoughts and coming to their own conclusions. The conversations I have with the babies and toddlers in my class are pretty much an example of how I conversed with my own babies.... knowing that they are taking it all in and that rapidly growing brain is processing and storing everything. Sometimes when I'm conversing with one baby, another interjects. The new moms tend to laugh at the cuteness or just don't know what to make of it. What I make of it is that the child has seen that I'm open to listening to what they have to say, giving them the space to share and feel a sense of belonging and value. See, for most babies that do not yet have the tools to express themselves fully or be "heard" completely, I imagine it is frustrating for them to not be able to participate fully in regular daily conversations..... much like the experience my mom shared with me about how it is to be a deaf person in a room full of hearing people, where no one is signing and she feels isolated.

Much of my childhood I was a little interpreter for my mom. I gained a 6th sense in being able to determine if someone was getting their entire message across.... as it is with any two languages sometimes there is not a literal translation from one language to the other and some part of the true message is lost. So a little more explaining is needed by the interpreter. There were many occasions in my work life where that 6th sense came in handy and my superiors would always comment on this uncanny ability I had. There were little things to watch for, listen for that helped me identify that the words coming across were not "exactly" describing the picture in the customer's mind. I would do more fact finding and viola! We'd navigate the true course to solve the problem.

There were times I would not want to be "the interpreter," say for instance at a birthday party or at a school function, where my mom knew who these people were, but didn't "know" them because she couldn't converse with them. I was a kid and I wanted to play with my friends. Now that I'm an adult I can be at peace with those times that I was frustrated with the role I had. I commend Deaf parents who do not put this responsibility on their child.... even though I gained from it. There's not a right or a wrong here. It's a tough debate that I can see both sides of clearly. The biggest thing I gained from it was that sense of empathy for someone who could not fully express themselves because of a language barrier.

As a mom, specifically as a mom who embraced attachment parenting, I saw it as my responsibility to help build the bridge to effectively communicate with my children. As they grew their signing vocabulary I could see where they were more and more capable of jumping into a conversation when they heard something of interest being discussed. Most parents of toddlers and preschoolers will know what I'm talking about... but I'm saying that this happened every single day with my children as babies. They expressed pure delight when they got to share their thoughts, point out their observations, and really just connect on a conversational level. 

So, I have discovered yet another reason why I'm so deeply passionate about the work that I do. Being witness as a child to what it was like for someone to feel isolated due to a language barrier, I hope some of the moms that take part in my programs feel courageous enough to introduce themselves to someone in a social setting who is Deaf and could use some conversation. I also like to think that the babies in my classes are developing this 6th sense that I gained due to their access to language at an early age. And finally the sense of empowering a new mom to be that interpreter for her pre verbal baby is a gift that I never grow tired of giving.

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.




Sunday, April 6, 2014

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - baby sign language

Signing alongside Hullabaloo at Kid Ventures



Singing and SIGNING with your baby is good for brain development, spacial awareness, verbal acquisition, rhythm, fine motor skill development, word recognition, bonding and more!






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.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Gift Certificates are Now Available




If you'll be attending a baby shower in the near future, this is a gift that will have everyone talking! The gift of communication will be one they use for a long time and you'll be facilitating that great bonding connection between mom and baby. Aside from all that baby sign language does for a baby, these classes will be great for mom so she can meet like-minded parents, make new friends and just plain get out of the house! Every new mom has good intentions of not becoming a home body, but it happens all too quickly. So, give this incredible gift to your friend and she will be ever so grateful!

These gift certificates are good for the Sign, Play & Learn class taught here in San Diego. Know someone outside of San Diego that would benefit from one on one coaching? Yes, I do travel, just give me a call to discuss a quote.

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.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

How to sign "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?"



By far, the most popular video I have posted to YouTube. It just surpassed the 10,000 views mark!

*** UPDATE*** Now at 13,000+ views!



I'm still sharing it every chance I get because "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?" is such a classic. It has a natural rythm both the storyteller and listener enjoy. If you don't have this book in your home library, I highly recommend making the addition. And if you can get this specific edition with the sliding windows, even better! Babies and toddlers become more engaged when there is a tactile element in a book. It will quickly become one of the books your baby will ask you to read again and again.

The bonus is that you learn both animal signs and color signs in one video:

                                                                                      
If you're local to San Diego, I hope to see you at an upcoming Signing Story Time - you can join our meetup
 
What favorite book would you like to see added to the Signing Story Time collection on our YouTube channel? I'd love to hear your recommendations.


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.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Most Important Gift

What is the most important gift you have given your baby?

For me, it is sort of a tie between breastfeeding my little ones for between 2 and 3 years each AND signing with my babies. Every once in awhile we have a day where the kids are totally interested in re-visiting signs they have not used in awhile and then I'll see if I can verbally coach them to draw the sign from memory. It's pretty fun to see them come up with the sign even when they thought they couldn't remember it. Then usually what follows is a story I tell them about when they would use that sign or first learned it or words that sounded alike and their sign was the only way I could know for sure what they were expressing. Sometimes I'll have a conversation asking my youngest if he remembers that he used to have mommy's milk and I can see him thinking hard about a time that seems so long ago. Being that I tandem nursed twice, my older two saw me breastfeed plenty and it was quite normalized around our house. They don't necessarily see breastfeeding as being special as they know it is a common way for babies to be fed. However, they do know that most children have not been exposed to sign language and so they enjoy hearing these stories about their earliest learning experiences and how their own language developed. It is sort of fascinating to me that they are so curious about their early access to language.

We have such a short window to provide our baby with the best nourishment for optimum development. We have an equally short window to gain some insight to the inner thoughts of our babies. All too soon they will be talking, almost nonstop and the opportunity to truly see the world from their firsthand perspective disappears. I say firsthand perspective because as any signing parent will tell you, a baby signs what they are discovering and what connections they are making. So these parents are not left wondering what their baby is thinking. As a two year old does not have a filter to their thoughts and speaks what is on their mind, a baby does not have a filter to silently think, but rather they sign what they are thinking. Sometimes they sign to no one in particular, they're just thinking aloud.

I have gone on record to say that if I had been forced to choose ONLY ONE of these two incredibly important gifts, I would choose signing with my babies hands down. And that is a pretty strong statement coming from a recovering breastfeeding Nazi. A term I relinquished because it has negative connotations, I have plenty of friends who didn't breastfeed for various reasons and I myself was never breastfed. My younger sister was breastfed.  My mom learned from a relative the importance of breastmilk days after getting home from the hospital with me. When you learn what's best you can't change the past, but just do better with your newfound information. But, I did learn to sign as a baby, as did my sister. I wonder what would be different if I had been breastfed. The fact is, I will never know. All I could do is make the choice to give my babies the two BEST gifts I possibly could in the small window of opportunity available in order to reap all the benefits that each offer.

Tune back in for a comparison of the benefits of singing with your baby and the benfits of breastmilk.


 Amberly just shy of her 2nd birthday and Kyle about 5 months old

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.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

#Gratitude365 The Rattle Game

I'm currently blogging a series that I've entitled #Gratitude365 on my personal blog, Mommy's Slice of the Pie (where I truly am more sassy and you ought only to follow me there if you desire to know me on a personal level). Today I happened to be noticing a LOT of things that filled me with gratitude, and being that I've just had a long break from teaching (since Thanksgiving!), it was a good feeling to be back "in the classroom" again. Because this moment of gratitude pertains to what I do with Sign4Baby - I decided to share it here and give you a few little nuggets that can help you in your discovery of what your baby is thinking....



One of my returning families from the last session shared with during our introductions that they had hit a plateau with her twin boys picking up signs and she was trying to pinpoint what else would be of interest to them so they could keep building up their vocabulary. The topic of today's class happened to be "just what the doctor ordered" as it's the class where I demonstrate the signs for all the universal things that babies are intrigued by.   




When we were playing the rattle game, one of her boys was responding with great enthusiasm! We all were paying attention, mom, nanny, the other moms in class, and myself. It was clear that he was intentionally reciprocating the message of rattle in this rhythmic game that we played. We play it all throughout the first class because it demonstrates how much fun showing signs to your baby should be - and the mere repetition as a practice - and often by the end of 6 weeks together almost all of the babies and toddlers are basically "asking me to play rattle" with them. Later, after playing a song while his mom was holding him facing outward, he began shaking the rattle again with an incredible smile! We could all tell he was elated to be making this connection and to see the mom's face was pure joy. I have such gratitude for having these moments in class where I get to observe these kinds of breakthrough!

Did anything here help you? I'd love to hear back from you in the comments below.

Our Baby Sign Language 411 community is growing on Google+ so join us there for lots more!

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.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

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.

Monday, April 8, 2013

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.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Here monkey monkey monkey!



When Owen was about a year old we went to the San Diego Zoo with the Sign4Baby Playgroup and had so much fun checking out the Koalas and Kangaroos. Upon arrival there is a huge picture of a Gorilla that Owen immediately pointed out to me by signing and making the goofy gorilla sound (it sounds terribly close to his rendition of an owl). It was funny because he got more excited about the large picture of the Gorilla than seeing the other real animals on the tour we did. It occurred to me that he really enjoys this animal in particular and the only way I could know this is his telling me through sign! The one photographed here is a photo we saw when exiting, yes I know it is not HUGE but the other one was ; ) Our playgroup goes to the zoo once a month to participate in the San Diego Zoo's monthly meetup program.

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.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

How I taught my daughter to sign MILK (Part 3)

It is one of my most exciting moments as a mom! The day Amberly signed for the first time. Like mama, her first sign was MILK. It is an easy sign to do for a baby as young as 2 months old (you should check out the story of Owen first signing MILK). After observing her great ability to watch and mimic with keen eyes I decided the day after Valentine's Day that I would have Amberly signing MILK by day's end. You'll want to check out the previous posts relating to this story to see exactly what I mean - Part 1 and Part 2.

We started off like most days, lounging in pjs and nursing on demand and at 4 1/2 months we made it sometimes 2 hours between feeds - she really enjoyed her milk! Each time Amberly showed the first signs of being hungry, I would talk to her about nursing and having MILK even more emphatically than before. This produced a smile, I knew even from this young age that her personality was budding and that she greatly valued being understood. I went to nurse her, after having signed MILK a decent number of times, 3-5.... but not making it take more than a minute to do so. You know how those hungry babies can get fiesty pretty quick if you don't provide the breast or bottle quickly enough!

What I did differently this day than previous days is I'd stop her a couple of times, you know, pop her off the boob and ask her while signing, "Are you having MILK?" If she was so hungry and disinterested in this game I didn't push it. Most times she thought this was fun. The proof? By mid day she came to expect me to pop her off the boob to have this conversation of sorts and she'd turn back to the breast but turn and steal a glance as if to say "go ahead, ask me if I'm having MILK" which was pretty cute. For those experienced mommies you know how that age comes where your baby is discovering the world around them and you cannot seem to get them to pay attention to nursing long enough to finish a feeding? Well, this game I created probably started Amberly on this track earlier because I was giving her a reason to stop, haha! New mommies, we donn't always know what we're doing, but so long as we're bonding and having fun with it, go with the flow! Side note: Later, with the boys I used the "not-a-new-mommy-knowledge" and signing to my advantage in those scenarios when the boys would stop nursing and look around, I signed MILK to get them focused back at the task at hand so we could finish up and continue to play after. 

Several of these feedings took place in my office sitting in front of the mirrored closet doors where I would sit Amberly up and point to my exposed breast, and ask her if she wanted MILK. Babies are social by nature, so I created a context of socializing with our favorite "baby in the mirror" to add to the experience. She would look at herself in the mirror, my reflection and then back at me. A few times when I interrupted her feeding, she'd turn to look for the baby in the mirror. Maybe to check if that baby also was having her feeding interrupted haha! 

At her 5 o' clock feeding, Amberly again pulled off the boob as I'd been doing intentionally all day, then before I could ask her if she was going to have more MILK she signed it! And with a huge smile to boot! The feeling of knowing how she could now identify this special activity was incredible. She continued to do this a few more times for emphasis. Babies LOVE to do that, being scientists and checking for understanding. Each time I confirmed for her "Yes, you're having MILK! Now you can show Mommy when you want MILK." Of course signing MILK each time I said it and she would repeat the sign. I was amazed. Seriously to know our babies are able to process and create associations and implement actions to communicate with full intention at just 4 months. I couldn't wait for Daddy to get home and share what we'd been up to all day.

As a new mom I thought this might be just the thing to make life a little easier because she could ask me for milk instead of grab at my boob or begin to fuss. The truth of the matter I don't think it was until Amberly was roughly 8 months old that she signed MILK in order to have it. Rather as their communication abilities develop, both verbal and non-verbal, the first thing babies will do is mimic, then they will sign in the context of the thing or activity, then when object permanance occurs, this is when they can ask for the item. Still it was fun to respond to her telling me "Mommy, I'm having MILK" essentially as she loved to do from that day forward 'til about 8 or 9 months. I could affirm her thoughts and have a conversation with her about her surroundings knowing that she was "getting it."

If you haven't checked out the previous posts in this series, please do. 


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.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

When I thought it was SWEATER

One day recently driving Owen to school he asked me for what sounded to me like SWEATER. He doesn't have any sweaters so even though I knew the answer to this question I asked anyways, "You want your sweater?" I was driving so I couldn't even turn to look at him and see what he might be reaching for on the floor of the van. Owen persisted and said "I want my insert-unknown-item-here." I again asked if it was a sweater and knew my attempt to understand with the exact same follow up question was futile. When Owen started to get frustrated I explained to him that I was trying my best to hear his word but it was hard for me to understand, then asked him to say it again, believing I could strain my ears enough to make out his word.

Instead Owen surprised me and fell back to a tool that he extrapulated from our use of baby sign language. See, he had been effective at being his own interpreter in many situations before where I did not know his words and he instead fell back to the sign or went to point out the object or on occassion we went through a series of questions to determine what the item he desired was. He began to describe what the word was, "gold, pirates find it" and then I got it! He had been saying "I want my treasure." Not in a million years would I have guessed that treasure would sound like sweater coming out of his mouth, but it did, it sounded just like sweater from the mouth of a 3 year old. I had never shown Owen the sign for TREASURE, in fact, I don't know it myself. But we have used such a plethora of signs in our family that even when the kids don't know a sign for it, their brain has figured out that there is another way to get their poin across.

A preschool teacher once informed me that about 50% of what 3 year olds say is understood by the general population, and it varies with each child. Of course moms understand a great deal more of what their own child is saying, I call that the mommy ear. But, still there are plenty of times well past toddlerhood where a child is still expanding their vocabulary at a rapid pace and their ability to enunciate the word exactly is still just shy for us to understand them 100% of the time.

I had to laugh when I figured out that Owen wanted his treasure and again thanked my lucky stars for the fact that I was born a CODA, Child Of Deaf Adult, so that ASL was my first language and it was a no brainer that I would teach my children to sign as we are still experiencing the benefits of it even though Owen is 3 1/2 years old.

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.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

These Words Sound Alike: Juice, Shoes, Zoo, Blue

Thank goodness for American Sign Language and the fact that it has given me the ability to give my children the ability to interpret their toddlerese into words I can comprehend.

Many parents of toddlers know that JUICE and SHOES are top of the list of favorite things. And it just so happens that the sound of J and the sound of S let alone SH are challenging for toddlers to make so those two words JUICE and SHOES sound an awful lot alike coming from the mouths of babes.

I'm not sure how many times over the course of parenting 3 little ones I thought my child had said juice and it was in fact shoes or vice versa, but it was a lot. Enough that I knew to share with parents in my classes that these are words to consider listening for and looking for and bother teaching their baby/toddler the signs for to avoid a common frustration in communication breakdown.

Sometimes it ends up being words that rhyme that sound alike (but not always), so as my toddlers vocabulary grew and ZOO and BLUE were added, those became words I would at times need to ask "Can you sign it?" Usually that was after they had said JUICE cup for example and I thought they were asking for the BLUE cup. Silly things like this result in tantrums in many households where they don't have a tool to navigate the words that are being misunderstood. Many times I could just pause and ask my children to "show me" what they wanted. In our household "show me" could either be 1) show me the sign OR 2) show me the item --- and then I'll show you the sign so we avoid future communication breakdowns.

Stay tuned for more stories of words that sounds alike coming from the mouths of babes ; )

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.


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Baby Sign Language 101 - Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

This is one of the most critical lessons in teaching your baby to sign. Repetition is a big piece of learning for anyone, but I think we might think of the phrase "practice makes perfect." Well, with a baby, we know they pay attention when we repeat words and use a high pitched sing-song voice, otherwise known as parentese (that's the PC term so Dad's are included too!) and it used to be referred to as motherese.

That repetition comes naturally when talking to babies, nobody has to tell a mother to do this as she nurtures and bonds with her baby in arms. Just as we use repetition in speaking to our babies, it makes sense we would repeat the signs for those key words we are repeating. Afterall those are the words your baby is focusing on with all that repetition - so go ahead and sign those exact words you would repeat in motherese or parentese.

What we tend to do as parents is get bored quickly of the very games we start with our babies and toddlers. Go ahead and think back to the last time you played peek-a-boo with your babe and consider if your baby turned to another activity or if it was YOU that got bored and switched gears.

After class today I demonstrated how exactly to use the idea of repetition with Isaac and signing MILK. He had to have heard me say and seen me sign MILK 100+ times in various sing-song questiong games. Not only was he growing further and further engaged in watching me and responding with the movement of his eyes and tracking from my eyse to my hand and back again, but his expression showed he enjoyed the game immensely. In discussion with his mom she said she had been making the context of signing MILK fun and repeating it, but after observing me her understanding of what I REALLY mean by repeat, repeat, repeat was more clear. I can't wait to hear what transpires with her this week!



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.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Baby Sign Language 101 - Let your baby's interests lead the way

More often than not parents are motivated to learn baby sign language and teach it to their little one because it will make their job easier in knowing what their baby wants or needs. This is helpful, yes. Who wouldn't prefer a baby signing MORE or ALL DONE while in the high chair or DIAPER when they need a new one? But, for most babies this is not the best way to begin signing.

I learned this with Amberly by chance. When she was 6 months old we were hanging out on the stairs where a pile of rubber ducks and other bathroom decor waited to be taken to her bathroom to embelish it. As she picked up the little ducks I would playfully "quack" and use the ducks to kiss her and make it a fun interaction. We did this for maybe 10 minutes, I am not sure because I wasn't watching the clock... we were just having fun. As I watched Amberly play with the ducks she held one up and signed and said DUCK clear as day. Now, she didn't again say DUCK for a couple months, but this scenario showed me how closely they pay attention to what we are doing and saying when it is all based on play.

If you have read one of those baby sign language books that advises starting with MORE, ALL DONE, EAT, DIAPER, NIGHT-NIGHT, I have my 3 guinea pigs that clearly showed more interest in using these signs only after learning the signs for things that most interested them.

Leave me a comment: I'd love to know what your baby's first few signs were and what you think about starting with some fun intriguing signs before jumping into the abstract or complex ideas of MORE, ALL DONE, etc...

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.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The story of how I taught my daughter to sign MILK (Part TWO)

A couple days passed since our “baby waving” (see Part One of this series) incident and now it was Valentine’s Day. Upon leaving for work my husband rang the doorbell, leaving behind a beautiful arrangement of red roses. With excitement I was telling Amberly all about the flowers and how nice Daddy was to surprise us. With baby in one arm and vase in the other I displayed them on top of a wine cabinet that happened to be in a spot we passed to enter and leave the home and was near the kitchen and also a spot we’d pass to get to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms where I’d put her down for naps. I explain all of this because it happened to give us lots of opportunities to pass by the flowers, each time I got myself something to eat (at 4 months she was still exclusively nursing and she really liked to be held much of the day), each time we went outside for a walk or to check the mail, and when we went upstairs for her multiple naps in the day.

It is widely known that babies are attracted to the color RED, so it was no surprise to me that my daughter was transfixed on the red roses. Also, at that young age, she was becoming more aware of her environment and changes that came with it, as well as reading our expressions quite well. She’d been intrigued by my excitement over the flowers, she was furthermore intrigued by them – so much so that she was doing the typical thing that babies do, reaching out to grab at them. I knew right where one of those flowers would end up if I allowed her to grab one, it would go right to her mouth! Something transpired that day that was completely by happenstance. I taught my 4 month old how to “smell” a flower.

Each time Amberly reached out for the flowers I gently held her hand and showed her how we could enjoy the flowers by first leaning in towards them, second, closing our eyes, third, breathing in the scent through our noses, and fourth, giving a slight “aahhhhhh” in appreciation of the aroma. Each time I’d verbally tell her what we were doing as we progressed through each action. It was fun to see how captivated she was in this practice, how intently she watched what was going on, She never grew bored of it throughout the day even though I think we must have repeated it more than a dozen times. Then as evening rolled around Amberly surprised me by following along, leaning in, closing eyes, audibly breathing in through her nose and letting out a little sigh! I figured we were going to be at this practice all week (which of course we continued to do) and well into toddlerhood before seeing any resemblance of her understanding or demonstrating the act of smelling a flower. I couldn’t help but to be excited and she responded in like. When Daddy got home I attempted to have Amberly show him just how much she loved the flowers. Well, just like asking a baby who is newly waving to show off on demand, it is a little complicated. She didn’t quite get all of it but she got enough of it to show she really pays attention to what we’re doing. I told my husband I was going to have her signing milk the next day!

Be sure to catch Part Three in the series of “How I taught my daughter to sign MILK.”

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.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Signing Story Time is Nourishing Baby's Brain




How many times have you heard that children are like sponges, soaking up all that’s around them? You’ve probably also heard that you should read to your children daily. Twenty minutes a day is like exercise for the brain. It makes sense, we want to enhance their language acquisition, provide them with tools for learning, give them a head start in school, and all the other things that go hand in hand with having a healthy well adjusted, love-to-learn kid. Did you know you can make an even bigger impact during story time by signing words from the story to your child? It’s true. While babies and toddlers may not recognize words or letters on paper, they can easily identify the symbolic sign for various objects and activities.

Research is showing that signing in the classroom is making learning to read easier. If we can engage a child in more than one of the learning styles, they experience greater success in learning. The left side of the brain is the language center, while the right side of the brain is visual based. When parents speak as they sign, both sides of the brain are activated to learn. (Marilyn Daniels – Dancing with Words)

A good story time program will engage the audience using all four main learning styles; visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. Visual learners will enjoy both illustrations and photograph images in books, felt boards or puppets to help tell a story, and signing key words to talk about the book. Not only is signing a visual language, it promotes eye contact and draws a longer attention span. Auditory learners enjoy music, singing and chanting and benefit from the inflection and tone of the story teller’s voice. Speaking the words you sign with your baby are just as important as the words you read aloud from a book, it is building an auditory association to the sound and symbol. Kinesthetic learners love participatory story times where they are invited to clap hands, get up to dance, or bring a toy that corresponds to the theme of the story time. Signing is not only using the hands, a lot of facial expression and body language are incorporated to fully convey a message. Tactile learners love the ability to participate in telling the story with sign language. Finger plays such as “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” have been made popular with gestures that children like to mimic.

The following tips can be applied to reading and signing, coupled together you’ll feed your baby’s hungry brain.

READING
1. Repetition. Children benefit from reading the same book again and again as they become familiar with sequencing, they love being able to predict what comes next in the story and being correct.
2. Establish a routine. Reading a book before bed or naptime is a great way for a baby to wind down.
3. Make it fun. If your toddler wants to flip through the pages quickly to find their favorite page, go ahead and spend time talking about what interests them most.
4. Encourage participation. Pointing, page turning, and talking about the book, not just the written words are all great ways for a baby to begin the lifelong love of reading.
5. Be creative. When you find new ways to tell the same story it not only keeps your child engaged, it keeps you engaged as well.

SIGNING
1. Repetition. Signing a word over and over again helps a baby pick up the meaning of the sign, much the way we repeat words when using parantese with babies (the high pitched sing song repetition of words caregivers use when speaking to babies).
2. Establish a routine. Once you’ve begun signing in the context of reading books, or any other situation, continue to do so and your child will pick the signs up quickly.
3. Make it fun. Try signing when you’re laughing and playing, your baby takes note of what you’re doing and is encouraged to chime in.
4. Encourage participation. Asking your baby to show you the sign is great practice to build up to initiating conversation.
5. Be creative. A novel game is one of the greatest signing opportunities. One of our favorites is This Little Piggy, signing pig each time you wiggle each little toe, and of course making a great pig snort or squeal!

Take the traditional well known preschool finger plays a step farther and learn the signs for words that are important to your child, Soon your child will have the building blocks for literacy and the confidence necessary to further describe their thoughts and feelings.

This article was originally submitted and published in My Hometown Feb 2011 pg 21.

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.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

You Can and Should Begin Signing with Your Baby from Birth

Many of the written resources on the topic of baby sign language available to new moms advise waiting until their baby is between 6 and 9 months old to begin teaching them to sign. This information is outdated and does not take into account that communication is in large part receptive comprehension. Parents who are deaf and have hearing or deaf children do not wait to begin signing to their babies, my mom signed with me since birth and I thought it made sense to do the same with my first child for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to be in practice of something that I valued (to bond with her) and knew that visual cues were easier for babies to decipher than verbal ones. Two, I thought it would be far easier to get my husband to be in practice of signing if it was just the regualr normal thing we did from the beginning, like breastfeeding, not like we were adding in a new quirky thing when she got a little older. Three, newborns make far more eye contact and respond to our motherese/parentese talk, which is the perfect place to demonstrate signs for a newborn. Motherese speak is something we do inherently, nobody has to teach it to us. A stranger on the street when they glance at a baby and make eye contact cannot help themself but to use the softer sweeter voice that is music to a baby's ear along with the higher pitch and repetition of words. Our genes are designed to bond with babies in this way. Four, infants will gaze at the human face for longer periods than they will gaze at any other object, and in signing our facial expression is a key part to expressing a sign, so why not make use of this natural gaze and be in communication with signs, expression, and voice? Five, once your baby gets to be mobile, your world changes, and trying to grab their attention is not so easy, there is a finite amount of time where your baby just wants to look at you, it is their time for bonding, and signing is a great bonding practice. Six, in the beginning parents are learning to sign first, then showing their baby, so these early days give you a chance to practice plenty, which will make it easier to mesh into your regular daily activiites!

My firstborn proved to take to signing like a duck takes to water, she began signing MILK at 4 months old. She was a sensitive baby or what I learned from Dr. Sears, a high needs baby, one who really had a desire to tell me what she felt and thought, she still fulfills on that trait today! She would relax a little in the carseat next to me in the backseat when I would sing and sign the ABC's... She clearly understood when I signed MILK to her and would turn to nurse, she had been paying attention to all those people waving, as people love to do to new babies, and first showed a resemblance of a wave to our friend at about 4 months old, which got me thinking to really be diligent in practicing the sign for MILK with her, and in one day we conquered the goal of giving her a clear way to communicate about her world, even if it was just one simple word, a pretty important one for infants, though! My second child was more laid back, had less of a "need" to tell me as much. Even though he didn't sign until 7 months old, he would respond positively to signs I used with him, i.e. MILK, he'd get into nursing position at just a couple months old and when I signed BATH to him when he began crawling at 5 1/2 months old, he went right for the stairs where we always went up to take a bath! I knew he was understanding me so we were at least on our way. Then with my third, he surprised me by signing MILK at just 2 months old. this is the age when babies tend to practice opening and closing their hands naturally anyway, but he would only do it after I'd sign MILK to him, he'd learned a specific reason to use this natural baby motion in just a short time. And yes, I have witnesses to this occurring on a number of occassions.

Here is a little clip with the signs we found useful in the beginning... the earlier the better, but you're never too late to start!



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.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Pointing Is Far More Important Than You Might Think

Parents often wonder what their baby is thinking... I rarely have that question enter my mind as I've put my first language of ASL to use in teaching my babies to sign in order to convey what they are thinking, not just what they want or need. Being an interpreter as a young child for my mom, who is deaf, helped me see how to read what underlying messages are being conveyed via body language, facial expression, and tone (whether that tone be silent or audible).

In the beginning I did what a lot of parents do which is focus on some of the signs that would be useful for me to know when my baby was hungry, needed a diaper change, wanted milk, or some other need addressed. What I quickly learned was that she had almost no interest in paying attention to those signs, as she could communicate them to me pretty easily, showing some frustration whether by crying or that very recognizable baby moan or whine. What often accompanies that moan or whine is the pointing at an object, as if to say "I want that".

Having a "high needs" baby I was determined that my baby had things to express to me and set out to fill her request for vocabulary with things that were of great interest to her. After she learned to sign MILK at 4 1/2 months old, her second sign was DUCK! It was quite by accident that I saw she was excited by seeing all these yellow ducks as part of her bathroom decor and I began making the duck sign along with the quacking that made her laugh. It only took a couple days before she was signing DUCK back to me! A light bulb went off for both of us! She was 6 months when she learned her second sign and at her first birthday had 50 signs to communicate her thoughts and her wants.

It was easy to see what things Amberly wanted to know the sign for, whenever she pointed at things or brought them to me I'd provide the sign for her and create a conversation around the object, signing several times. Soon I learned that when she was pointing at something she was not expecting to obtain it, but rather just using a practice that had worked so well... telling me she wanted to know how to sign it so she could talk about it! Think about a time you've seen a baby point out an airplane flying overhead. We don't assume that they want us to pluck it out of the sky to give it to them, rather we know innately that the baby wants to show us the thing that has caught their attention, wants to talk about this amazing thing that flies high above and makes a fun sound to boot!

We know the work of children to be play... so next time you are playing with your baby, be aware of those moments when your baby is enthused and pointing at something of interest. Perhaps they do not actually want the object. Instead what they are saying is "what is this called?" or "can you tell me more about it?" or "what do you think of this?" and of course what I teach in the Sign, Play & Learn classes "can you give me the sign for this, so I can refer to it later?" Pointing only takes a baby so far in communicating, they've got ideas to convey about things that are not present just as adults do. Signing parents report regularly that their child will stop what they are doing, look up and sign DOG for example, perhaps thinking about the dog they encountered on the morning stroll around the neighborhood. Simply amazing to see the wheels turning in a baby's mind at the young age of 10 months and allowing them the opportunity to initiate conversation.

There is a great correlation between how many signs your baby learns and how well they acquire verbal words, and hence build that budding brain's love of learning. If there is a positive outcome in being able to communicate their thoughts of course they are eager to learn more! Take your baby beyond pointing and give them a tool that will leave you both speechless.

Joann Woolley is owner and instructor of Sign4Baby in San Diego teaching parents how to communicate with their preverbal 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 toolbelt with parenting tips and tricks coupled with signing as a great boundary teaching (disciple) tool for toddlers. View the schedule of classes at www.sign4baby.com