American Sign Language

Jed and I have decided to learn common words in ASL in order to communicate easier with Ben until his spoken language is developed. We do not plan to become fluent (maybe in the future but that is not the focus right now); We just think it is a fun and fascinating thing to learn for ourselves and to teach Ben.

Why Teach Ben ASL?

• Allows your child to communicate their needs, wants and feelings (which in turn will also reduce frustration for all and reduce tantrums your child may have as a result of not being able to convey these things)
• Promotes the development of language skills (many critics think it hinders spoken language development but this is not true)
• Develops understanding of language
• Creates feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment
• Possibly increases IQ
• Increases creative thinking
• Teaches a second language (ASL is the third most used language in America!)
• Increases early literacy skills
• Teaches your child to initiate and participate in conversation

We look forward to this journey. Many that participate in teaching babies ASL say that you can start teaching as early as 6 months and that a child may use their first sign between the ages of 6 and 9 months. Although Ben is almost 4 months now, we are starting to learn words ourselves and use them some. I'd like to start using the words we know on a regular basis. I don't want to just sit and have lessons with Ben. I think that using signs in everyday life and general conversation is a more natural way to learn.

We'll be learning 1-2 words a week. I'll post these each week for those that would like to learn with us. We are really excited about it and encourage anyone in contact with Ben to learn and use the words we teach. Just click the link at the top of the page each week to learn along with us!

For more interesting information on baby signing and American Sign Language....

http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/
http://www.signingbaby.com/main/

http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi