Why Should I Sign With My Child?

Benefits of using ASL with Hearing Babies- Babies can communicate before they can speak - verbal abilites are far less advanced than motor skills at this age.- Decreases frustration - Having a way to tell you what they want or need decreases their frustration and yours.- Strong connection or bond - frequent eye contact, better communication and less frustration makes you feel happier together
Benefits of using ASL with Toddlers- Minimizes the "Terrible Two's - ability to communicate to you what they want or need = less frustration = less tantrums.- Helps you to make sense of toddler speech - A sign with the sound "Ba" can tell you whether they mean ball or balloon.- Develop larger vocabularies - Research shows that signing children have 50 more speaking words at the age of 2 then their non-signing peers
Benefits of using ASL with Preschoolers and Early Elementary Age Students- Enhances early literacy skills - by adding a visual and kinesthetic way to learn children have proven to have more success in reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling and memory.- Increases IQ by 8-12 points - Research shows that signers have an 8-12 point advantage on the WISC intelligence tests and also score higher on the PPVT vocabulary test.- Increases self-esteem - knowing a skill you can teach others and being able to lead others in a conversation gives a sense of empowerment. - To see the research go to http://cas.la.psu.edu/faculty/daniels.htm.
Benefits of using ASL with Children with Special Needs- Using sign language has proven to be a successful intervention with children who have apraxia of speech, autism, down syndrome, as well as reading disabilities. - To see some research on apraxia go to http://www.apraxia-kids.org/site/c.chKMI0PIIsE/b.980831/apps/s/content.asp?ct=464165/ or for autism go to http://www.autism.org/sign.html.