Ems told me that she would like to learn sign language.:shock: I do not know anything about sign language. Where would I even look to find somebody or something to teach her? Is learning sign language the same as learning any other language? She sees the signers at church and thinks that it is so pretty, and it is, but goodness! I think this one will be WAY over my head.
My boys (7 and 5) love watching the Signing Time DVD's, they also enjoy attending baby signs class with me and the baby. We are able to check them out from our local library which is great but you can see the product offering here
Check out your community. There is likely a sign class available. You can ask the person who signs at church if she knows of any classes. I've taken a couple of signing classes. One was in college and a book we used was called Joy of Signing. I still have it and it is a great resource. Signing Time videos are cute. My little girl loves them. I don't know the age of your child, but they are geared toward younger children. Also, do a Google search. I visited some sites years ago that had short videos of people doing lots of different signs.
You could call your local audiologist? see if they have references for people who teach sign. That is where I would start at least. well obviously I would ask at your church first, but I guess I am saying if they can't teach her, the dr office is the next best place to ask questions. I would think they could put you in touch with all kinds of people in your area. Our library has all kinds of videos, maybe it is just a phase and once she sees the work involved, she won't be interested anymore. I would be leery of investing too much until you know she is serious.
I'm planning on learning/teaching sign as the foreign language for ds13 next year. I know a friend who signs at church, but we have an old version of The Joy of Signing, too. The friend says that we can effectively learn to sign from that and asking her to make sure we are signing correctly. She also said that it is acceptable (thought not practical) to learn the alphabet and sign it to spell out entire sentences. I'll have to see about videos. That would be great!
I was one of those "weird" moms that taught my babies sign language. I would recommend a dvd program like sign2me...or one of the other well-known programs. I think you could teach it without having to pay someone to do it. Plus, it is fun to learn along with them... I'm assuming you are just worried about the basics right now...if she continues to be interested then you might find an official sign-language instructor.
Me, too. My daughter could communicate things many things before she could talk. She would even sign to the pets and people in stores, and did not understand why they did not understand her. I started simply. I got a couple of books and just started looking up signs for the food we were eating at the breakfast and lunch time. I would sign the alphabet (which my daughter knew before she recognized letters). When we went to the zoo, she could sign the animals names. I continue to use signing when we are at church so she can talk to me without disturbing other people. We play at signing when we shop at stores also. Now I have my daughter hand spell the words she gets wrong on her daily spelling quizzes. With that said, our signing is not true American Sign Language (ASL), which has a very different syntax than the English language as well as variations according to your region. At this point we do something that is between Signed Exact English (SEE) and ASL. I am hoping at some point that we will take classes for ASL, but the only class around here I know about for children and not a college course is not so close. Here are some free resources worth looking at also: ASL Pro ASL University Life Print American Sign Language Browser
There are signers at your church? That would be the first place to check! Ask them; one might be willing to teach her. Remember that signs MOVE. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE to learn sign properly from a book! I am told, however, that there are some excellent video/computer resources available. Make sure it's teaching you American Sign Language (ASL) and specifically says that. Also, any good program will also teach on Deaf culture.
There is some truth in that, depending perhaps on the type of learner. Some people can learn crochet from a book and others need to see it done. I learn easily from things like that from books and I doubt that anyone could tell by signs I make of themselves that I learned mostly from books. The few deaf people with which I have had the opportunity to converse understood what I was signing, at least. But, there are facial and body expressions that go with the signs too and the books I have do explain that.
Yes, facial and body direction are part of it. But there's also following the arrows. When I was in college, my friends were trying to learn from pictures and would come to me because they couldn't figure out which way the arrows were going, or the exact hand position or something. If you're doing that AND a class where someone can help, that's different. And most Deaf are too polite to correct you.
look into this: http://www.lifeprint.com/ it is a free ASL sign course.... (I would first look at someone from church who can sign and knows ASL and see if they can teach your dd.)
Learning sign is great for a future career!!! Start out small and get the baby einstein DVD's at the library, and they have signing dvd's on Amazon.com cheaply if you buy used. Books are helpful as well. If she's intent on learning then learn with her, and practice in everyday conversation. Also, maybe set up a meeting with the church signer to teach her some signing and some helpful tips!! Maybe then she could help out in church too! Good Luck
Thank you all for your help! I have no idea why the signers at church didn't cross my mind. LOL I think I was looking at the big picture and it looked intimidating to say the least! This past week something in Em's brain clicked. She always knew what sign language was but it is as if it just sunk in that the signers were sharing the choir's words with the deaf so they could praise God with us. To look at Ems staring at the signers, it is as if she was in awww. :lol: I really can't explain her wonder that the deaf can TRULY understand the signers. Although she knew this, the beauty of it never crossed her mind until recently. Again, thanks for the advice, links, and help. Like I said, this is very new to me.
I too am teaching my baby to sign, we are using (for now) a local Baby signs class. The instructor is great anytime babysigns teaches a baby sign and not ASL she also gives us the ASL version so we can choose. I will continue teaching sign language as long as my children are interested. Shelby, thanks for the link I bookmarked it it will be so helpful.
the local community college around my area has community education classes teaching sign language. You could attend and then in turn teach your kids. The cost is generally less expensive than taking a college credit class at the same school. They are often held on nights or weekends.
I second the making sure you incorporate deaf culture. I learned ASL from a deaf teacher who made us go to a restaurant and order without talking and visit with a local deaf group. We learned so much about the deaf that way, and hearing people just don't realize that some of our actions are rude to deaf people. Did you know that only a deaf person can give you a signed name? I was so disappointed in my class, because my three-letter name was considered short enough to finger-spell, so I didn't get a signed name.
Interesting! I do not remember the grade anymore, but my teacher paired us up with another person and they were our guide for the school day. I forgot to mention that we were pretending to be blind. We were blindfolded and had to walk with a stick. We ate in the dark, tried to read braille, and had to rely on our guide for almost everything, except going to the restroom. They told us when to step down, when to watch our heads, and so on. Then the next day we switched rolls. It was a great experience and was revealing as to the fact that we take our eyes for granted.
A friend of mine is fluent in sign language so I asked the teacher that I aide for in the ps if she was interested in the kids taking sign lang. We have been taking sign lang. one day a week for the past 6 weeks. The kids are able to communicate very well in sign lang. now.
We really like Signing Time too. It's a great program and very interactive. I believe they have a curriculum now too.
