.......Continued from Part I

By one year old, K was signing rain, light, drink, and a whole lot of animals that I consistency signed as we went through a zoo book together. .......Some of the signs were American Sign Language, (ASL) some Baby Signs and some made up signs that seemed to represent the animal in the book. (touching neck for giraffe, touching nose for pig).

I started to get excited by the results - K could actually communicate things she was seeing. Soon I found a series of signing DVD’s made especially for kids. I purchased the first DVD called Signing Time, (www.signingtime.com) and popped it in. There was a mom with her deaf girl and hearing nephew, signing to other kids with catchy songs in the background.

I was not expecting much; after all, K was only just a year old and hadn’t been watching TV yet. Yet immediately K stood transfixed in front of the TV. Here were kids, some not much older than her, doing signs while playing! This was the first time she had seen anyone besides me sign. From then on every morning she’d point to the TV and sign more (taping fingers together) indicating to me she wanted to watch the DVD.

After only a week she picked up about 5 new signs and started to use them to communicate her needs! When she was hungry or thirsty she didn’t cry, she’d come to me, pull on my leg and do the sign over and over again. Eat, Drink Play, Swing, she’d tell me what she wanted. She used the sign for more every time she was having fun. When she went down the slide she put her fingers together again and again and laughing. More, more more!


Part III continues soon