Saturday, January 9, 2010

Baby Sign Language

When I was in high school our youth group alway did sign language to worship songs.  I know some think this is cheesy but I always enjoyed it.  My friend Emily took sign classes in high school and shared her knowledge often.  Although my school never offered classes like that I have always been interested.  Signing is a big thing to teach kids and I always wanted to do this with Gracie.  I assumed this would be a pointless task since Gracie attends daycare.  I assumed that it would not be affective since she is there most of the day and would only be practicng her signing an hour or 2 at night and then the weekend.  Recently, Troy and I decided to go ahead and teach Gracie some signs anyway.  Gracie caught on right away, literally.  Using signs like more, drink, finished and a couple others. 

Our daycare is always working with the kids and there different skills.  Troy and I have to fill out papers to see where Gracie is with her communication and motor skills.  This helps us and the daycare to see what areas Gracie could be behind in, ahead or even areas that we wish for the daycare to work on specifically with Gracie.  I asked about sign language and if they would be willing to work on just some of the signs that were really important to me.  It turns out, they already do sign language with the kids.  What a sneaky little thing.  So that fast learning is because Gracie already does the signs at daycare.  Don't get me wrong she is a smart little thing, it is just funny to know she already has seen the signs we were showing her.  Since it is now apparent she knows what is going on we are more persistent to see her sign.  It has been a lot of fun to watch her communicate to us in a whole new way and she is doing a really good job.

2 comments:

The Burgess family said...

LOVE the header photo on here, that's priceless!

It's amazing how much 1 year olds understand what others are saying, they just can't say it back yet. Sign language is a great way to tap into that- there's so much going on in their little minds that we don't even realize just because they dont tell us yet (then the day comes in a few years that they tell you EVERYTHING that passes thru their heads. EVERYTHING! haha)

Anonymous said...

Such did not hear