This is how I spent my evening last night – with a glass of white wine and sign language. I’m reading this book by Joseph Garcia, Sign With Your Baby because I’m considering teaching Baby Sign classes with a company that uses this book and video as a basis for their pedagogy. I’ve been selective about who I want to work for because some companies have invented modified signs for babies, instead of using the ASL signs. I don’t want to work for a company that uses made-up signs.
Anyway, I’m curious what people think about this trend of teaching sign language to hearing babies. The truth is, once they begin speaking they stop using signs and may even forget most or all of them in the end. However, there are many benefits to teaching sign language to babies – most importantly, that it helps parents decode their baby’s wishes during the “terrible twos.” In my opinion, spreading the word that learning sign language before speech is beneficial to a child and does not cause speech delay (a rumour that has worried many parents) helps the Deaf community of people who want to raise their children with ASL and may even want their children to use ASL in school instead of SEE II.
What do you think?
