I’ve been receiving comments from people about something that I don’t usually give a second thought to until, well, I’m questioned. On another site, I was discussing how LittleBrother now signs to us when he wants to eat a snack or when he wants to go to sleep. Someone who didn’t know me or about my boys asked the logical question: is LittleBrother deaf? No, he’s not. But we learned, a little later with BigBrother, that teaching young toddlers signs really helps with the frustration level.
We didn’t start until BigBrother was about a year old and we didn’t ever include a whole lot of sign. He learned milk, bath, more and a few others and that was enough for us to notice the benefits. When LittleBrother was about six months old, I decided we would take it one step further and include Signing Time DVDs in our teaching. This has been the second best parenting decision I have made thus far. (Right behind babywearing because I’d still get nothing done or be able to go anywhere without babywearing sometimes!)
I bought Signing Time! Volume 1 and started playing it once a day (or so) when LittleBrother was about seven months old. To say that he caught on quickly is an understatement. I soon ordered Signing Time! Volume 2 and he learned even more. As of now, with Volume 3 having just joined our collection on Christmas Day, he comprehends nearly 30 signs. He can actively sign 12-15.
I know some people wonder why teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to a hearing child serves any purpose. I’ll simply quote Signing Time’s FAQ’s and then expand on it with our personal story.
Most children are not developmentally ready to speak until approximately 2 years of age. Babies are developmentally able to communicate with signs much earlier than that. Some studies indicate children as young as 5 to 6 months of age can communicate with limited signs. The inability to communicate can cause frustration and tantrums for both the parent and the child! Sign language is a wonderful tool that allows even very small children to express themselves. Most parents that sign with their babies talk about an unexplainable bond that is felt when their child communicates so early!
The Fire Family has found this to be true. LittleBrother absolutely grins from ear to ear when he tells us something and we understand. Sometimes he even claps when we simply “get” what he is trying to communicate. It’s adorable. It’s also helpful. I normally serve morning snack around ten in the morning. On days when someone forces us to start our day early, it is nice that LittleBrother can tell me that he wants to eat. What’s more helpful is the sleep sign. While we have a rather predictable schedule, it’s nice to know when LittleBrother has simply had enough of being awake and is ready to start winding down. It is also a clue, if it is over an hour before bed, that he needs some extra cuddles and time or meltdowns will occur.
It is, of course, rather hard to capture signs on video as I’m usually in the middle of actively communicating with him when he signs. If you ask him to sign something that he doesn’t want at the time, he looks at you like you have two heads. You know, like when you try to get your three year old to sing the ABC’s for their grandmother and they look at you like, “Why would I want to do that now?” And then you look like you’re lying to impress your relatives. Yes. It’s kind of like that. But, trust us, LittleBrother is a great signer. Anyone who has spent any time with him in the past month or two has witnessed it, communicated with him and, in essence, learned from a thirteen month old.
As an added bonus, since adding the DVDs to our library, BigBrother has also relearned his previous signs and added new ones as well. Not only is he improving his own vocabulary but he acts as a translator when others don’t know what LittleBrother is trying to sign. It’s really quite adorable.
See for yourself.
We love Rachel Coleman and her Signing Time products. Yes, we could just as easily teach the signs ourselves, I suppose. But if you get Signing Time, Volume 3 and watch the Silly Pizza Song, my guess is that you won’t be able to master that in one passing. (Heck, I can only, seven months later, say that I’ve just barely mastered the whole Signing Time credit song.) To boot, Rachel has a blog and, most recently, a twitter account.
As I’m still in the spirit of giving, I’d like to give one lucky reader a choice of Signing Time Volume 1, 2 or 3. (I’m only offering up one of those three as I can personally vouch that they’re awesome.) You choose and I’ll have it shipped directly from Amazon to the address of your choosing. (So, grandmas can have it sent directly to grandchildren and what not!)
How to enter?
1. Leave a comment about who would be benefiting from winning (your child, grandchild, someone somewhere) and why you think that child/person could benefit from this DVD. Also state whether you would choose Volume 1, 2 or 3. (You can change your mind if you win and pick a different volume. I’m easy.) One comment only for this step.
2. Post a tweet on your twitter account! Use this URL ( http://tinyurl.com/SDBsigns ). Also, please use the hashtag: #SDBSigns when making a tweet. (While not necessary, feel free to follow me. I’m FireMom!) You may tweet once per day and come back and post an individual comment (don’t post your tweets in the option/comment #1) for each separate tweet (one per day).
That’s all this time. Again I will have a spreadsheet with all of the entries and pick via random.org. I will leave the giveaway open through January 5th at noon. At that time, I will close comments, eat my lunch and contact the winner via email. The winner will have 12 hours to respond or I’ll move on to the next random winner. Once we have a confirmed winner, I will announce it on the blog. Winner’s choice of Volume 1, 2 or 3 will be shipped direct from Amazon with two day (Prime!) shipping. Tracking number will be passed along so the winner can track it.
Even if you don’t win, I recommend either buying one of the Signing Time products or checking to see if your library system carries any of them. (Ours does! That’s how I first decided to make the purchase. It’s always good to check something out first. I know!)
95 Responses to “Communicating with a Thirteen Month Old”
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I would love to try this with my second son. Like the fire family, we did a few signs for #1 and it was useful and good. At 2 he hasn’t quite dropped all of them. I would like to be able to communicate faster and better with #2 as it did seem to make everyone a bit happier. I will have to check for Volume 1 at the library.
I’ve never seen the signing time Dvd’s although we have taught our youngest to sign: milk, thankyou, please, again, bath, help, bye-bye. We would love to learn more signs!
Tweeted about the contest and am now following you! Oh! and I’d like Vol. 1 forget to mention that…thanks!
We love signing time over here! I’m so bummed it’s not on PBS this season, so having one of our own would be great! I used sings with my son and have a baby girl due this spring that I would love to start even earlier.
And it’d be great to send along to grandma and grandpas as they can’t quite remember the signs themselves.
My older daughter learned almost 100 signs. I blogged about it over a hear ago here. http://adventuresofpipandsqueak.blogspot.com/2007/10/sign-baby-sign.html. Now that she is almost 3 she does not use them but she is very verbal and I attribute that in part to her signing.
I have a 5 month old and we plan to start signing with her next month when we start solids. It seems a lot of practical signs went with mealtimes. We have the videos recorded from PBS but would love to win a dvd as they are so much more convenient. I would like volume 1.
I teach kindergarten. Iuse ASL in my classroom and would love to have a DVD. Of course I need Vol. 3 so I can have the Silly Pizza Song. My kids read the little book I made and sing it everyday!!
I posted a tweet. I am new to twitter and don’t know what a hashtag is and can’t find directions so sorry about that.
http://twitter.com/Pipandsqueak/status/1084665155
I tweeted! http://twitter.com/sumrthyme
I would love to have this for my 11-month old grandson!
Not entering, but chiming in to say that signing was a HUGE benefit with my middle child, who was speech delayed. If only we’d started earlier with her, we might not have had to endure so much wailing.
I would love to win Volume 1 for my sister who is expecting in February. I have two little boys, ages 2 and 10 months and they both LOVE signing time! We already have the first four volumes of both the regular and baby signing time so unless you add an option for volume 5, I would win this for her.
I love that it not only teaches sign language but it really helps them learn new words too. My 2 year old signs all the time and he is so funny. If he doesn’t know the sign for something, he’ll just make one up or use something else that is similar. Last week he signed candy for grapes. Hey, I think that is great he thinks grapes are like candy!
Volume 1 would be great for my grandson and granddaughter. My grandson is 4 and he has been diagnosed with autism. He has a major speech delay and I think this would really help. Thanks!
I’d love to win any of them, but if I had to pick one I’d probably go with Vol. 2. We have a few of the signs down from Vol. 1, but learning more (with the additional help from a DVD for reinforcement) would be great.
Mira still isn’t talking, so I’ve been trying to teach her some signs to help us communicate until her speech develops. It’s frustrating, because she’s 19 months old and has a lot of her own thoughts and wants, but can’t express them.
I can also vouch that baby signing helps! We only have the Baby Einstein version though that we’ve been watching since Savannah was about 6 months old, which she still loves watching, but I would love to expand her vocabulary and introduce new words/signs that would help us daily. Therefore, I would love to own the Volume 3 DVD.
Thanks for the opportunity!
I am pregnant with my second child. I wanted to do signing with my first son, but didn’t have a good medium to teach it. This would be excellent!
I’d love Vol 1 for my grand daughter. She is 10 months old and we have just started using simple signs, like cup, eat, more and all done.
We’d love this!! I’m due end of January, and definitely plan to teach our son the basic signs to help us communicate. They want to talk and communicate as much as we do, and it must be frustrating for them when we dont understand. I’m so excited about this!! I would probably choose Vol 1 to start with. Thanks for the chance.
I just tweeted you! LauraCh
I would love Vol 1 to give as a gift – we already do Signing Time and have all these 3 volumes .. but I could def give this as a gift someday.
I would love the 1st DVD for my 10 month old. He is already signing “all done” and “more” although it isn’t as frequent as I would like.
THANK YOU!!