I've been meaning to write these down for months but you know how it goes.
*Warning I'm getting on my soapbox*
ASL (American sign language) has played a huge part in my adult life, which is a whole blog post of its own, the least of which is my job as a teacher and interpreter. In college my major was Linguistics and my minor was ESL teaching and because of that I was able to take some wonderful classes about language acquisition and the like. Because of those classes along with my own personal experience using the language I knew that I wanted to sign with my kids (before it became the trendy thing to do) because I knew the benefits of it and boy, has it paid off.
Here is my linguistic 2 cents...one reason signing works so well is because it allows children/Cohen to communicate. We know they can understand but one of the difficulties with any spoken language is how intricate the actual production of it is i.e. knowing where exactly your articulators (tongue, teeth, palate...) go. For example where does the tongue needs to be placed, what shape are your lips in, how does the air escape, are your vocal chords vibrating or not etc. That type of control is difficult to master. Babies start babbling to practice the above techniques and eventually become proficient and speak. With ASL your articulators are your body, hands, face, fingers etc. these are things that babies gain control of earlier hence production can occur sooner.
My pediatrician asked if Cohen could say any words, to which I asked what she meant by words. Did she mean audible? (I know this is what she meant) Words that only John and I understand? Words that anyone could understand? Signs? She replied spoken words &/or animal sounds. I then once again explained to her that I sign with Cohen at home. That I am fluent in ASL and not just using a word here or there with him but rather my voice is off and we sign just like if someone spoke Spanish, French, or Farsi; we use two languages at home. She then told me how there is some disagreement in the medical profession about when you stop including signs as words some say 15 months others say 18 months. I get it. For the majority of people they pop in a Baby Einstein video and their kid can say milk and thank you and all done but this is different. American Sign Language is a bonafide language with all the complexities that come with a language, this is and has been an issue convincing others to believe so even though the research is conclusive-ugh. I'm not taking issue with anyone who uses some signs with their kids, I encourage it, it's all about communication with one another and whether it's an official ASL sign or some gesture that you and your child use to create understanding that's great!
This post has taken an entirely different course than I originally planned on, clearly I have some suppressed language issues, now back to the original point. I have loved teaching Cohen ASL! It has been incredibly helpful these past 11 months (he started signing around 6 months). He is teaching our family and friends sign. It's funny he'll move his hands a certain way and people ask me, "What is he saying?" Sometimes he is saying something other times he just moving or scratching:). There have been many times where tantrums have been avoided because he can tell me he wants milk, that he is done eating, that what he really wants to eat right now is a cracker and not the sandwich, or that he wants to read a book. I love being able to communicate with him and am grateful we've been able to do so from such an early age.
Ok now we're back to where we started, the documentation...
Family:
Dad
Mom
Grandpa
Grandma
Uncle
Aunt
Food:
Banana
Orange
Apple
Grapes
Hot Dog
Cheese
Cracker
Milk
Water
Animals (Sign + Sounds)
Dog
Cat
Cow
Horse
Monkey
Moose
Fish
Chicken
Bird
Elephant
Bird
Giraffe (sign only)
Other Signs:
Book
Bath
All done/finished
More
Tree
Hot
Cold
Airplane
Helicopter
Wind
Shoes
Socks
Star
Baby
Poo
Ball
Car
Hi/Bye
Please
Sorry
Thank you
Ocean
Church
Jesus
Spoken Words:
Dad
Mom
Balloon
Hi
Yeah
Boom
(Animal sounds count according to the peditrician)
Up & down
Yuck
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Cohen's Signs
Posted by LeeElle at 11:51 AM
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3 comments:
I agree completely. I had a really hard time when my SIL refused to allow the therapists to teach her son, who has Down Syndrome, sign language. She feared that he would never learn to speak. There was nothing that I could do to convince her that the development of language in the brain and the long term advantages of it is totally different than the vocal expression of it. But what do I know, I only focused my entire major on early childhood development. Another SIL refused to teach any signs to her son because another girl, who was 2, preferred to sign and refused to speak. I'm thinking that the 2yo will speak when she realizes that others can't understand her signs. Hello. I didn't see much problem there.
I think that it is amazing. Oh, and according to the Los Rios Community College District ASL is a 2nd language since you can take it in pursuit of your degree...just sayin'...
Huh, I think it's strange your pediatrician doesn't count signed words. My kids' doctor always said they counted and encouraged our use of it. I used it mainly to avoid tantrums. I would look up the signs to words I thought would help and teach them to my kids. Some people would tell me it didn't matter what the sign was, but I figured if I was going to be teaching them a sign, it might as well be the proper one.
My cousin has a daughter the same age as Gavin, and when they were both about 15 months old, her daughter threw tons of tantrums, about EVERYTHING. She made a comment once about how easy going Gavin was and that I lucked out. I told her it was because he was able to communicate with signs. And once I knew he knew the sign for something, a grunt or a tantrum was never okay. If he wanted out of his high chair, he couldn't just cry and be let out. He had to calm down and use his signs for "down please." I love that with signs you can teach your kids good manners at such an early age! Even before they could speak they had to say thank you, even to strangers.
Great post :)
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