A sign of success for babies

Learn to teach your baby sign language

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Jan 6, 2010 (1 Reader comment)

Shira Fogel reacts with delight when her son signs “butterfly,” as she shows him a book of photos.

ellen spitaleri / clackamas Review

ADVERTISEMENTS

Shira Fogel has found a way to communicate with her children at an early age, and she will pass along this “life changing” knowledge with new parents in an upcoming workshop at the North Clackamas Aquatic Center called Baby Sign Language 101.

“I began to research baby sign language when my daughter was a baby and too young to communicate with us. My daughter loved learning sign language and consequently became a very early speaker because of it; she was speaking full sentences by 18 month of age,” she said.

When her son was born, Fogel and her husband worried that the new baby would not get as much one-on-one time, so they decided to “give him a voice of his own,” by working even harder on teaching him sign language.

“Both my kids were able to be an active member of the family at such an early age, telling me their most basic needs at such an early age. Both kids were signing milk at 6 months of age and able to engage in conversations, when their non-signing peers were still grunting, pointing and consequently having temper tantrums, because their parents and caregivers were unable to decipher their wants and needs,” Fogel said.

Then Fogel discovered something else: people who saw her signing with her son were so interested in the process that she found herself talking about sign language and its benefits to new parents in Gymboree and at the playground and library.

“I love talking to other parents and caregivers about how amazing sign language is and have always been intrigued by the benefits of baby signing with hearing babies, so I thought about expanding it into a business concept. I couldn’t wait to become certified in order to spread this knowledge of American Sign Language with other parents who want to be less frustrated, give their child a gift of communication and have a greater bond with their child/children. So I got certified from a speech and language pathologist through Kindersigns, a nationally accredited organization, and created my own company called Tiny Talkers,” she said.

Sign language 101

Fogel created a baby sign language workshop where she teaches parents, caregivers and grandparents everything they need to know to get started signing with their babies; she does want to emphasize that the sign language she teaches is for hearing babies only.The single-session workshop is less than two hours long.

“I teach them what they need to know to be successful at signing with their babies and then they take all the information home to begin working repetitively with their children. This workshop is geared toward adults, but non-mobile babies are welcome if the parents feel they can comprehend the material while caring for them,” she noted.

“Many parents attempt to teach their baby sign language by using books and learning signs themselves. Teaching yourself is very limiting, because what you are learning is just the sign itself but not how to teach it to a baby. It also doesn’t tell you how to teach ‘abstract’ concept words such as hurt and help, which are extremely important signs for a baby to know. Many parents often get frustrated in their self-taught efforts and give up frustrated,” Fogel said.

One woman was hesitant to sign up for the workshop, because she had tried teaching her daughter on her own for over a year.

“She was working so hard to teach her ‘milk’ and ‘more’ with no success. She took the workshop and a week later I got an e-mail that said, ‘It worked – what you taught us worked,’” Fogel added.

In the workshop, participants learn specific how-to information, tips and techniques based on how a baby’s brain works, how to recognize signing readiness, guidelines for success, activities and games to promote verbal language, a baby-signing dictionary with over 80 helpful signs and a journal to keep track of progress. The most important thing that the workshop offers is practical advice on how parents can reach their ultimate goal-verbal language development, she said.

Personal success

Teaching her own children sign language has been “a huge parenting tool for me. [Her son] hardly ever has temper tantrums and there is no communication breakdown when he’s trying to tell me what he needs,” Fogel said.

“When my son was 8 months old, we were at the mall and he saw another baby go by in a stroller. He looked up at me and signed ‘baby’ and then signed ‘hat.’ At such a young age you don’t expect babies to even recognize other babies, let alone point out what they are wearing. From this, we were able to have a conversation based on something our son was interested in. What an amazing opportunity to have a window into my son’s head,” she added.

Fogel, who lives in Clackamas County, was a preschool teacher for a couple of years, and most recently worked as a sustainability specialist for the county’s Department of Transportation and Development.

Now that Tiny Talkers has taken off, she is looking ahead to training herself how to teach sign language to developmentally disabled children.

“Sign language is highly recommended as a way to bridge the communication gap for children with special needs. Speech pathologists recommend teaching hearing non-verbal children who suffer from Down syndrome, autism, childhood apraxia, cerebral palsy, trauma and brain and speech disorders. A huge number of parents now rely on sign language as a mode of communication particularly with their children who suffer with speech delays, limited language capabilities or short attention spans,” she noted, adding that parents who are interested in having a workshop specifically for their special-needs child may contact her directly.

1 | 2 Next Page >>