Signing with gradeschoolers

[Krista]

I have been signing with my first daughter since shew as about 8 months old. In ever had any formal way of teaching her aside from just signing to her. When she was about 2 1/2 someone told me about Signing Time, and the DVD's completely opened up her eyes to the fun of signing! Signing Time is the best teaching program I have EVER seen, and I've been signing most of my life as I am HOH. Each of my subsequent children have had the opportunity to have Signing Time around thier whole lives and we are a signing family. My story is much like the others, my kids can sign and enjoy all of the benefits of signing, but what happened last week was a bit more unique. My first daughter is now 5 1/2 and in kindergarten. She is a very charismatic kid, unless you put her on a stage. Whether it's at church, preschool, or not kindergarten, she just looks at her feet the entire time terrified that she'll mess up. Last Friday (December 23), she had her Christmas program for school. She walked up on stage and stared at her feet for a bit before looking around the audience for me. As soon as I caught her eye, I began to sign to her about how beautiful she looked, and how much I love her no matter how softly she sings (since I can't hear it anyway, lol). Well, her big brown eyes started to shine and a proud smile swept across her face! For the first time EVER, my baby girl was singing proudly with a huge smile and having a GREAT time! I kept signing to her about how wonderful she was doing, and how proud I am of her and it just got better and better! It's probably my most happy memory from this Christmas season- and it's all thanks to our family knowing sign. :)
Here are some pictures:
sorry they are so big- she's the one looking at the camera with the Christmas minnie hat on.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/LuckyGirlx4/2005/christmaseve05033.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/LuckyGirlx4/2005/christmaseve05040.jpg

[catybarra]

When I found out I was pregnant with triplets, my life was flipped upside down. Due to complications with my pregnancy, my three boys were born at 27 weeks and weighed as little as 1 lb. 14 oz. Throughout the 98-day rollercoaster ride of the NICU, we were warned that our boys could develop Cerebral Palsy or suffer from brain damage.

The boys continued to be behind their "typical peers" in terms of development. I had started sign language with my daughter, but had quickly given up after the basic words were learned and then she learned to talk. I wasn't aware of any videos that would help me at the time. Knowing my family
might be facing communication challenges, I asked other triplet parents what they suggested. The answer was unanimous, Signing Time was the favorite! I immediately checked them out, and it was instant love for my whole family.
My boys were signing and communicating their wants and needs when they wereverbally unable to.

My boys are now 2 1/2 years old and they are both talking and signing. As soon as they wake up in the morning or after their nap, they immediately start requesting Signing Time. They all know their upper- and lower-case letters, they can sign the manual alphabet, and they know numbers to 20 and can sign them, too! Signing Time has become such an important part of our family's life.

I am also an elementary school teacher. One day last summer I noticed some of my former students fingerspelling their names to each other. I walked toward them and asked them where they had learned to fingerspell. They told me that they had learned the manual alphabet from a book. It was at that very minute that an idea crept into the back of my mind: If a few students were interested in sign language, would others be too? It was the perfect time to test the waters with our new principal. She was gung-ho about getting the children involved in their education on all levels. I approached her and questioned whether or not she would allow our school to have an after school sign language class. With a big smile on her face, she told me that she thought it was a great idea!

Although this would be a club that was free to join, I knew I would need to get a library started of Signing Time materials to start with. There are thousands of grants available to people who are doing things to benefit children; I found the perfect grant offer from the Junior League of Las Vegas. They were awarding grants of $1000 for programs or materials that would benefit many children. I immediately began writing out my grant proposal. I was thrilled when I received notice that our club, “Signing with Class”, would be receiving the $1000 grant.

I was set with the materials I needed. Now I just needed to get the students to join the club. At first I was secretly hoping that at least 25 children would be interested in signing up for my club. What would happen if I only had a few responses? I never found out the answer to that question, as I had over 130 students respond. I had sent a letter to every 1st through 5th grade student, inviting them to join “Signing with Class”. I was overwhelmed by the positive response. Initially the club was going to be on Tuesday afternoons, but I had to split it into two groups. The one other club at our school had to split their kids into two groups, one which now has to wait until February. I thought about this, but I decided that I didn’t want to tell anyone that they had to wait months until they could learn such a beautiful language. I split the 130+ students into two groups and added an extra day a week.

We have just completed week 6 of our club. The students are soaking up the new vocabulary that they have learned. Each week I introduce one of the Signing Time videos. During our hour together we review previously learned signs, watch one Signing Time video (pausing frequently to reinforce specific signs), and then the students practice with each other. I love watching the students taking notes on the vocabulary they learn each week. Even more, I love walking by kids on the playground who are practicing their signs with friends. It has been the most rewarding experience of my life.

Children are like sponges - they soak in everything at this age. Teachers, parents, and community members can ask their local school if they would be interested in starting a sign language club. You do not need to be fluent in ASL; you just need to have the desire to help children learn. If your school or community center allows you to have a club, there are plenty of resources out there just waiting to provide you with the funds to do so.

Cathy Y., Las Vegas, Nevada

[jackie0109]

That was a great story and signing with grade schoolers is enjoyable and fun.

[janinek]

My daughter's school play is on Monday. Until just a few days ago, she only had dance parts, which thrilled her because she is a ballet dancer. She was just assigned her speaking part this week and while practicing her brief monologue that includes the words 'Pay Attention' she signed it too, adding to the annunciation and, if I might add great acting!!! I was so proud of her to come up with using the sign all by herself !! Of course I then suggested that she learn to sign the whole monologue! My husband thinks I'm putting too much pressure on her, so maybe just 'pay attention' is perfect! :)

Janine