Signing At Home

• Signing as a parent provides you with the unique opportunity to develop a window into your child's mind. By including signs in daily activities, parents spend less time guessing what a child wants and more time fulfilling their specific needs.

• Signing reduces frustration for your baby and for you

• Babies spend less time crying and having tantrums because they are understood

• Signing won't delay verbal language development; in fact, it may accelerate it! Research shows that babies who sign usually begin to speak sooner and develop larger vocabularies than non-signing babies

• Signing adds fun to daily routines and activities

• Signing reinforces verbal language by added visual and kinaesthetic emphasis to auditory input

• Signing enhances early language skills because children can engage in two-way conversations with their teachers and their peers at an earlier age

• Signing increases a child's self esteem and empowers children because they can successfully communicate with those around them

• Signing gives your child a head start on early literacy skills

• Signing allows your infant to clearly communicate specific thoughts

• Signing children tend to be more interested in books

• Signing builds on babies' natural tendency to use gestures

• Increases the bond between parent and child

• Signing can help parents and pediatricians identify injuries, pain, and other ailments

Signing In Childcare Settings

• Signing helps to lower noise levels in preschool classrooms

• Signing minimizes stress and frustration for caregivers who are responsible for meeting the needs of many children at once

• Signing reduces the 'guesswork' in meeting each child's needs resulting in more available time for positive, development interaction

• Caregivers report that signing significantly reduces problems with biting. Take away frustration and biting goes with it

• The use of British Sign Language gives children with special needs the opportunity to interact in a meaningful way with typically developing children.

• Deaf children can truly be integrated and not segregated into the school system