Suggestions - teaching my hearing 5month niece ASL

Anij

Anij

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Hi everyone !

For those who don't already know I'll give a bit of history :)

I'm Hoh/Deaf (and we think mild CAPD/APD) from a hearing family. I use both spoken English & ASL to communicate. Although I actually prefer ASL, most of the time I have to rely on speechreading/listening because none of my family or current friends know more than a handful of ASL signs.
I grew up oral only (do to some hideously mis-guided "professionals" who told my parents ASL would basically "ruin me").

Because I was sooo desperate to learn ASL (I begged my parents repeatedly) from age 7-10 I would secretly spend hours and hours in libraries memorizing the signs in ALL the ASL dictionaries that I could find :) I was able to learn enough ASL vocabulary and very basic grammar that when I was finally "allowed" to take ASL classes, I was able to meet with the head teacher (Deaf) and do my "ASL class level placement interview" using ASL instead of writing back and forth on paper :)

Eventually my family realized that for me ASL was VERY important and made a huge difference in my ability to socialize - now they all agree that ASL is "a good thing" ... and they will learn more of it as they are able :)


Fast forward to today ....

Our family has recently been blessed with the very first baby - my sister's daughter, my niece who's days away from being 5months old :)

One of the things that my family has been VERY supportive of is introducing ASL signs to my niece not only so she can more easily communicate with me - but also so she can communicate with EVERYONE via Signs months before she'll be able to begin to "talk" to any real degree.

I'm looking for some suggestions of GOOD "baby sign" (ASL ONLY) type books that may be helpful for my sister and her husband to read to help them understand more about how to sign to introduce signs, things the look for, how to help their daughter make signs etc ...
So far I have picked up "The Baby Signing Book by author Sarah Bingham - which seems to be the most "Deaf family friendly" - if that makes sense.

I've also picked up a board book for my niece where each page has a single "concept" with the word, picture & sign for that "concept" ie: for MOM, DAD,AUNT,UNCLE, MILK,BLANKET,SLEEP etc in it as a "starter" book for her.

If anyone has any suggestions on getting started that would be great - I'm just now starting to sign more to her when I visit/look after her and she's already starting a bit of copying of MOM when you do the sign for her with her hand on her body (she does it again - with a fist- when you let go if you say the work again and sign it on yourself)

Thanks!

I'm soooo excited to be able to teach her to sign as a baby so it'll be natural for her :)
 
if she's allowed to watch a bit of TV, check your local library for the Signing Time DVDs. They even have a small Baby Signing Time subseries. The Baby Einstein series has a signing DVD, too.
 
Just keep on communicating with your niece via ASL just like people do with spoken language for hearing babies. That was what I did with my hearing son when he was a baby and at 4 years old, he is fluent in ASL. No DVDs, formal classes or anything.
 
But, if Anij doesn't live with her niece and her parents are not signing, it wouldn't hurt to use other resources.

Besides, if mom and dad watch with her, the whole family can learn! Signing Time was a HUGE bonus when I was first learning to sign, especially for all those kid friendly signs that kicked off my daughter's vocab.
 
WeeBeastie said:
But, if Anij doesn't live with her niece and her parents are not signing, it wouldn't hurt to use other resources.

Besides, if mom and dad watch with her, the whole family can learn! Signing Time was a HUGE bonus when I was first learning to sign, especially for all those kid friendly signs that kicked off my daughter's vocab.
Click to expand...

True...
 
WeeBeastie said:
But, if Anij doesn't live with her niece and her parents are not signing, it wouldn't hurt to use other resources.

Besides, if mom and dad watch with her, the whole family can learn! Signing Time was a HUGE bonus when I was first learning to sign, especially for all those kid friendly signs that kicked off my daughter's vocab.
Click to expand...



Yep - basically I'm looking for some "extras" because I don't live with them. I see my niece about 1 or 2 times a week for the afternoon/day - which is certainly enough to sign to her and get her "seeing ASL" but NOT enough that she'd be able to just "pick it up naturally" unless her parents also sign on a daily basis - when I'm NOT around.

I've been thinking about the signing time videos - however they're trying VERY hard to not having her watching any TV until she's at least 2years old (except what she "sees out of the corner of her eye" if it's on in the room she's in). Before I did anything like pick up ANY videos meant for my niece I'd certainly want to talk with them about that first.


Thanks for any suggestions - I know what I'd do if it were MY child ... however (sign all the time, have playdates with other ASL familes etc) however because it's my niece it's a bit more complicated to find good quality resources that are appropriate :)
 
Anij said:
Yep - basically I'm looking for some "extras" because I don't live with them. I see my niece about 1 or 2 times a week for the afternoon/day - which is certainly enough to sign to her and get her "seeing ASL" but NOT enough that she'd be able to just "pick it up naturally" unless her parents also sign on a daily basis - when I'm NOT around.

I've been thinking about the signing time videos - however they're trying VERY hard to not having her watching any TV until she's at least 2years old (except what she "sees out of the corner of her eye" if it's on in the room she's in). Before I did anything like pick up ANY videos meant for my niece I'd certainly want to talk with them about that first.


Thanks for any suggestions - I know what I'd do if it were MY child ... however (sign all the time, have playdates with other ASL familes etc) however because it's my niece it's a bit more complicated to find good quality resources that are appropriate :)
Click to expand...

Signing time does have flashcards and books in addition to the videos if they are anti television.... not that they would be as good as the videos of course..... The signing time series is ASL based but as I have found out are not always exact ASL signs.

My deaf friends have corrected me a few times since the signs are "kid friendly" as mentioned above. I use them with my daughter who is on the Autism spectrum and she has picked them up slowely but is progressing faster now. But for me using them to sign with my deaf friend has been funny.... she has had to correct me off and on. I lost a good deal of my hearing or HoH or late deafened... whatever one wants to say and am learning ASL for myself now too.
 
i have been told many signs are regional versions, since Signing Time is based on the west coast. They're not necessarily wrong, just not known in some areas.
 
Skype help too if you don't live with them. but she might have to be older to do that.
 
A said:
Skype help too if you don't live with them. but she might have to be older to do that.
Click to expand...

We prefer ooVoo, but same thing essentially. My daughter's been video chatting for about 18 months now with her dad when he's out of town and with her Deaf Mentor.
 
WeeBeastie said:
i have been told many signs are regional versions, since Signing Time is based on the west coast. They're not necessarily wrong, just not known in some areas.
Click to expand...

Oh very true, I forgot it was west coast.
It could be regional variations. :dunno2:
 
Hi, I have "Signing Time" dvd set the best system I found so far it is really easy and fun, my kids love it, the bad thing is that is really expensive, I have the series one and two and the set for babies, total like 32 dvds plus cds, I have an extra set that I don't need so if you are interested just email me for details, thanks
 
If your niece is only 5 months old, you don't need to formerly "teach" her sign. Just sign whenever you are communicating with her, or communicating with someone else in her presence. She will pick it up naturally the way hearing children pick up spoken language. All of my great nieces and nephews learned sign from the time they were infants just by being exposed as family was communicating with my deaf son or each other in his presence.
 
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