I am Grateful!
by Alex from Signing Time

Last January I went to the city of Accra in Ghana, Africa. I felt thankful for things I had never really thought about before. In Accra, there isn’t a good trash removal system. Instead, people put their garbage in a bag, set it on the street, and set fire to it. All the fires made the air smoky. I realized how thankful I was for a garbage system and clean air. Where we stayed in Ghana, if I wanted a hot shower, I took water from the well (the water was not so clean), boiled it on the stove, put the hot water in the tub, scooped the water out with a cup, and poured it on my head. I was so thankful for that hot “shower.” I felt thankful that at home it is easier to shower.

The children at the deaf school near Accra only had two outfits to wear—school clothes and play clothes. They have to have their hair shaved off while they are in school. They didn’t really have toys to play with, but they had tons of fun on a field with tall weeds and dirt playing soccer. These kids were happy. They didn’t have a lot of the things I have, but they were thankful for everything they have. I realized that I was so lucky to have so many things, and that I could be happy even without those things.

So, since it is getting close to Thanksgiving, I want to share with you some of the things I feel thankful for today.

I am thankful for:

•    My family
•    Clean air, garbage system, and clean water
•    Friendships
•    My home
•    A good school
•    Music lessons
•    My Health
•    My church
•    My country
•    Signing Time

I hope you will take time to count your blessings and be thankful.

Elizabeth Watching Signing Time

Remember that 17-month old toddler, Elizabeth Barrett, who astonished us all when she proved that reading at such a young age was possible? Last March, Elizabeth and her parents were invited to appear on the Today Show, where Elizabeth read words and even sentences in front of a nation-wide audience. Elizabeth’s parents attribute her early reading in part to Signing Time.

According to the Today Show website, “The Barretts are speech pathologists, and when Elizabeth was born, they started teaching her sign language along with spoken language. They read to her often, and her favorite television program — the only one her parents let her watch — was a PBS show called “Signing Time,” which teaches kids sign language.”

As we have mentioned on our website, after the Barretts appeared on the Today Show, Signing Time invited Elizabeth to be a part of Baby Signing Time 3 & 4, where she was able to demonstrate her sign language skills.

Well, Elizabeth continues to WOW audiences around the nation. The Barretts were again invited to go onto the Today Show, where Elizabeth demonstrated how she can now read Spanish!

Elizabeth Reading

Visit our website and read the article: Baby Learns to Read with Help from Signing Time. You can read and even watch the Today Show clips that ran in March as well as today, November 7th. We also included some little extras that we put together from Elizabeth’s visit to Salt Lake City.

Don’t forget to check out Rachel’s blog to read all about her experience signing with Elizabeth.

Watch and Read Today Show clip from November 7th