Benefits of Signing

How to use sign language to spark your baby’s love of books

By Lane Rebelo, LCSW, Certified Master Signing Time Instructor Reading with your baby every day is not only good for her budding language and communication skills, it can also be a wonderful time to play and learn too! Using American Sign Language can help take baby’s reading time to a whole new level as you stimulate her senses while engaging more areas of her growing brain. Picking Books to Read With Baby Babies love colorful board books with chunky pages that are sturdy and easy to turn. Touch-and-feel books offer stimulating textures for little fingers to explore, and lift-the-flap features …

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Homework Help: Use fingerspelling to improve your child’s spelling

According to Rae Pica of BAM Radio, “Children learn best through active involvement.” Some common strategies that actively involve children as they learn new spelling words include: tracing letters in the air tracing letters on sandpaper or in a sand tray tracing letters in shaving cream on a desk Another way to add meaningful movement to spelling is to use fingerspelling (manual alphabet). Here’s how: Learn the manual alphabet with your child at the beginning of the school year. Practice new spelling words by fingerspelling each letter as you say its name aloud. If there are patterns in the words …

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Back to School Resources for Teachers and Parents

It’s time to get ready for school! Here are some fun resources for you to enjoy.   FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS Watch this video to learn the sign for SMART, so you can tell your children or your class how SMART they are – every day! Watch this video to learn a whole bunch of signs for school. Get ready for school with the Welcome to School DVD. (Scroll down for coupon code!) Check out the dozens of free Hand-y Crafts for holidays, seasons and special occasions.   FOR TEACHERS K-12 Teachers Get the Signing Time Guide for Teachers Get …

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Signing Time Works for Me!

written by Bridget T., Okinawa, Japan My son, Kaemon, was introduced to baby sign language at 6 1/2 months old. I would teach him the few basic signs I knew here and there. When I realized he was signing “more” at a young age, I decided to continue signing with him. I took my first official baby sign language class in Chatan, Japan when he was 8 1/2 months old. I was pretty sure that a lot of the screaming my son was doing came from frustration with not being able to communicate his needs to me.  Since he didn’t …

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The Benefits of Signing with your Internationally Adopted Child

Written by Susan Rizzo, Master Signing Time Academy Instructor Simon, or Duan Qi, as he was called then, was completely starved for communication. At least, I have to believe he was. Why else would he have been signing back to us within a day? That’s right, within a day of “Gotcha,” our new son was communicating with us through signs. I had studied first-year Mandarin before our adoption trip, preparing myself to ask important questions like Are you hungry? and What is your favorite color?, only to learn that Simon had no expressive Chinese. That’s right, at nearly three years …

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Can’t Wait to Take the Next Class!

Written by Darla D., PA   I don’t know what parents of toddlers did before signing with babies became the trend.  We signed a few basics with my first (now 4 years old), but with my second, we started taking classes with Melissa Mons in Ardmore, PA.  At first I thought, “Really, a class for a one-year old?  This will be a waste of time, for sure.”  But Melissa was great, and my little Lambchop loved everything about it.  We picked up the pack of CDs, DVDs and cards for home, and both of my little ones loved them.  We …

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Signing of the Week – Mom

It’s Tuesday, and in honor of Mother’s Day, here’s your sign of the week! This Week’s Featured Sign: Mom Watch the Video (Click the Image Below to Play) Free QuickTime Player required [powerpress url=”http://c1900242.r42.cf0.rackcdn.com/V115RachelTeachesMom.m4v” image=”http://c0445781.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/signoftheweek/signoftheweeklogo.jpg”] Download the Flashcard (click on the image. Print in color or black-and-white and adjust the print size according to your needs.)       Signing Time Volume 1 – My First Signs The very first DVD in the Signing Time Series! From their magical animated treehouse, Alex (age 3), his cousin Leah (age 4) who is deaf, and host Rachel Coleman (Leah’s mom) teach beginning …

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“If all newborns could come with an instruction book, this would be it.”

If all newborns could come with an instruction book, this would be it. That’s what Kenneth Kosik of the Neuroscience Research Institute had to say about the book Bright From The Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3 by Dr. Jill Stamm.   Dr. Harvey Karp (Happiest Baby on the Block) calls this book “a gem” and David Perlmutter, M.D. (Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten) says it gives parents “the most leading-edge approach to maximizing your children’s intellectual potential.” We really like this book , too! That’s why, for a …

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Using Signing Time in Your Homeschool Program

Signing is a fun and easy way to engage your child in learning. Did you know that the movement involved in signing helps children learn letters, numbers, colors and spelling? The Signing Time Homeschool Bundle will  give you the resources you need to use ASL signs to enrich your existing curriculum: Practice Time DVD: ABCs Practice Time DVD: 123s Box of Crayons DVD Sing and Sign DVD Flash Card Set 5: ABC Signs Using Signing Time in Your Homeschool Program – Free eGuide* *To get your free 10-page eGuide with useful information about signing with children of all ages in …

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Teachers team up with DonorsChoose.org to make a difference – with Signing Time!

Michelle Francis, a teacher in Layton, Utah, posted this video  to the Signing Time Facebook page the other day and asked if we recognized the song her students were singing – and signing – in the video. Do you recognize it? (Hint: It’s a really “silly” song!) Michelle is making a difference in her students lives with the help of DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that helps teachers get donations for specific classroom resources. She asked for – and got – an amazing collection of Signing Time materials, including most of the Series 1 DVDs, all of the Series 2 DVDs, …

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