EDUCATION IN COMMUNICATION: Learning with signs

Signing classes improve language skills

Savannah Bond doesn't speak, but even at the age of 1 this little girl knows how to communicate. Without uttering a word she can not only tell her mother when she's hungry, she can express exactly what it is she would like to eat.

The Bond family has benefited from the free baby sign language class offered through Family to Family Connection. Through the program, Tammy Bond and her daughter Savannah learned American Sign Language gestures for basic baby need words such as eat, milk, cracker, more and all done.

"She's doing from eight to 10 signs now," Tammy Bond said. "This program is wonderful."

Savannah doesn't have a hearing problem and when the time is right she will most likely have full speech abilities, but volunteer baby sign language instructor Shannon Osborne said signing can benefit anyone, whether they have hearing or speech difficulties or not.

"Our reliance on verbal language can be the source of frustration for babies and parents alike," she said. "Babies can understand language before they can express themselves verbally."

Osborne explained that the process of speech is complicated. Children must learn to control their vocal chords while manipulating their tongue and lips. Babies may not be able to talk, but that doesn't mean they can't communicate. Most 8- to 9-month-old children have the fine motor skills necessary to control their hands long before they master speech. That makes sign language a natural alternative.

Osborne got into baby sign language over three years ago. Her curiosity was stirred by a television report. Now with years of research and a few college classes behind her, the mother is concentrating on teaching others. Her son Eli, now 4 years old, is still her best pupil.

"We started when he was 10 months old. He was doing over 300 signs and signing the alphabet by the time he was 3. That's rare," she said.

Even now that Eli speaks, his mother continues teaching him sign language. Osborne said the research she's seen shows that children who learn both signing and speech learn at a faster rate. Even at age 7 and 8 the effects still show. According to Osborne, kids with a signing background have higher IQ scores and better standardized test scores. The instructor reasons that the swift speed these children learn at may be explained by multi-sensory input from parents.

"When they learn things in both speech and signing, they get more stimulation," Osborne said. "They hear a word and they see it. The multi-sensory stimulation helps boost brain activity."

A boost in pre-teen brain activity is a long way down the road for most of the parents in Osborne's classes. Most are just happy to see that effective communication is a great cure for tears.

"When kids can't communicate, they get frustrated," Osborne said. "If they don't sign, their only other option is to cry. It's amazing how much your frustration can be reduced when your child can show you they need milk or a diaper change. Then you can take care of the problem. The only other way is for them to cry while you try to figure out what they need. That gives children mixed signals too, since so often when we don't know what they need we comfort with food."

Roxanne and Ian Kemp began teaching signs to their son Keltan over four months ago. Already, the 2-year-old uses 50 to 60 words in sign. Keltan has been slow to speak, but his parents haven't been frustrated with the wait.

"He's intelligent. He can talk and tell us what he wants, but he's just not using words yet," Roxanne Kemp said.

Osborne said sign helps dispel the myth that babies aren't intelligent. The instructor told stories of two babies who communicated with sign and then conspired to find the crackers in a mother's bag. Another 10-month-old child went on a trip to the aquarium and then had a complete conversation with her mom about whether penguins were fish or birds. The baby learned that penguins are birds, even though they swim like fish.

Family to Family Connection family specialist Jen Findlay has been working on sign language with her 3-year-old daughter Mady for more than two years. Even now the duo finds uses for the skill.

"We can be in a crowd and I see that she's distressed across the room," Findlay said. "So I can sign, 'Mady do you need more milk?' And that means I can take care of what she wants without shouting across the room," Findlay said.

Mady uses sign all the time, even though she's speaking. Findlay said people rarely notice.

"She signs all the time, but her friends don't notice since she's speaking, too. She signs to the dogs, too."

"I was skeptical that it would be as easy as it is," Roxanne Kemp said. "But you're hooked the first time your child signs to you. It's been so much fun. You really underestimate how smart your children are."

Osborne teaches at least one free introductory baby sign language class a month at two Family to Family Connection locations, 3430 E. Tropicana Ave., Suite 60 and 6114 W. Charleston Blvd. . For more information visit www.weecansign.com.


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