Why I love Using Sign Language with Infants.

 

Cameron is my youngest son. He is a very precocious seven year old.  He has the energy of the energizer bunny, memory of an elephant, and when you need it most-- the wisdom of an old man.  He came into the world this way.  Only a day old, he observed the world with his bright round eyes as though he had seen it all before.  I have enjoyed every bit of raising him.  During my pregnancy many prayers were prayed over him, but the one I remember most was my request that he would be articulate.  I do not know why I prayed this particular prayer, but it seemed to come from the depths of my soul.  I always knew it was a key part of who he would become.  That being said by twelve months I was concerned because not only was his vocabulary limited, there were days when I tried to remember if he had said anything all day( gibberish, a murmur, or anything).  I would come up blank and all I could remember were moments of crying at best.  However, there were days when all I remembered was silence. If I knew what I know now then I may have noticed that he was communicating in other ways.  We had already started practicing sign language(around 9 mos. or so) , but his behavior propelled me to become consistent.  I also started enriching our day with language.  I would narrate our activities, read to him regularly, and encourage conversations. 

 

 

 

 

I entered Cameron in preschool at the age of two, so that he could learn social skills and improve his speech.  Cameron was ahead of his classmates developmentally.  He was completely potty trained,  he knew how to count to 20, and say his ABC's.  He could recognize and name his shapes, colors, and letters.  At the age of three, his vocabulary had expanded immensely and he could absorb new concepts like a sponge.  He was learning site words and beginning to write.  He was very bright.  However, everyone could not understand him and he was still incorporating nonsense sounds in his sentences.  He also spoke fast enough that it appeared as though his mouth could not keep up with his mind.  It was obvious that he knew what he was saying or what message he wanted to convey.   At this point, it was suggested-- through an agency that partnered with the daycare by providing language and hearing assessments-- that Cameron receive speech therapy.  Cameron attended speech therapy at Children's Hospital and things began to improve. If it were not for the sign language, I do not believe that Cameron would have progressed so rapidly.  I believe the sign language provided Cameron with the tools he needed to learn new words by removing his frustration, teaching him the benefits of communication, and by fostering his ability to expand his attention span.  The process taught me how to teach him and it helped me to become more attuned to him.  I had to learn to pay attention to him so that, I would not miss his signs.  I can remember him reprimanding me with cries and frantic signing when I missed his first attempts.  This was usually around meal time when "more" and "eat" became very important.  Oh, and how can I forget the ever popular "cookie"! Needless to say, I was so impressed by the results that I began to incorporate more sign language in the Infant II classroom that I taught during this time.