What's your Sign?
 
Let’s imagine a typical dinner scene of a family with three kids all under the age of five. First, the baby is screaming and crying out of frustration because his parents don’t know what  he wants, the three-year-old is playing with her food and the five-year-old is stuffing his mouth so full that he can’t talk anymore.
Although you may just want to end dinner and send the kids off to bed, there is an alternative to having a loud and chaotic family dining experience.
Birgit Schwickert, Austin mom of 3, is a certified American Sign Language teacher and Sign2me instructor who teaches families how to better communicate with their non-verbal babies by teaching them how to incorporate sign language into the their daily lives.
Here is the same scenario using the ASL technique: The 14 month-old signs FINISH MILK (translated from ASL into English meaning, “I am done eating for now and would like some milk”). Inevitably, the 3-year-old will mess with her food, but mom signs, STOP; CLEAN-UP, and the child comes to an agreement on dinner manners without having to be verbally scolded. Then, when the five-year-old is asked what he just stuffed in his mouth that he is almost choking on (of course, he can’t talk right now), he signs back, CHEESE.”
Birgit says it’s easy to learn the basic ASL signs. “Children at any age are fascinated by using their hands to communicate and will pick up ASL signs in no time,” she explains. Babies are able to use ASL as a communication tool around 6 to 8 months of age. Birgit suggests to start by teaching your baby signs that he is interested in like, MILK, EAT, MORE, BALL, FAN, and SHOE and to sign frequently throughout the day. ASL also helps improve babies’ fine motor skills.
Babies aren’t the only ones who benefit from learning sign language. Pre-schoolers can also benefit by enhancing fine motor skills. It has also been proven to enhance early literacy skills for success in reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling, and memory. For more information on Mommy and me classes and signing with babies, visit:
www.SeeMeTalking.com
Birgit Schwickert will be demonstrating animal signs at RadiJazz Playnasium on Monday March 31st at 4pm. (Free with cost of general admission to RaddiJazz)
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