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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

American Sign Language

Ever since bringing Isabel home in May, I've been wanting to teach her some sign language, but that proved difficult because I didn't know any signs myself. Even though she's already fifteen months old and starting to talk (her favorite words are hi, up, and Mama), I thought learning some signs would be good brain work for her. Even if she wouldn't pick up or use any signs, I figured it could help with her talking vocabulary. So a couple of weeks ago, I borrowed a dvd from the public library called "Signing Time." There is an entire series of these videos for babies and toddlers. I didn't know what to expect when we played it for the first time. Amazingly, Isabel sat still through the entire half hour program. The video features an adult, Rachel, who shows the sign. Then, for each word, several images of the thing itself or little kids making the sign are shown. Ibby was mesmerized. After a week of watching the video once a day, she has picked up the signs for three words: more, milk, and eat. I also think watching the video is encouraging her to say more words. I could swear she said "eat" yesterday. And this morning, I do believe she said "bye" to Daddy when he went to work. Anyhow, we'll continue to watch the videos. It's the only TV she gets, and the videos are not only fun but certainly educational. The only problem is I cannot get the songs out of my head. "It's signing time with Alex and Leah...it's signing time with Alex and Leah..." Sigh.

1 comments:

LynnieB said...

Sounds like a bueno idea I may have to try.