A Heart More Focused

  • Home
  • About

Guest Post: Early Childhood Education – Acquiring Sign Language

September 27, 2010 By Erika Zane

27 Sep

Emily Patterson from Primrose schools recently contacted me regarding a paper she co-wrote. It is about the importance of sign language, not only in early childhood education, but also to open up career opportunities later. I thought it was very informational and thought provoking as a new mother and I hope you enjoy!

One of the keys to surviving in a tilted economic system in which opportunities to achieve a decent standard of living will be limited is versatility – and the ability to communicate articulately in a variety of ways with the widest possible audience. This includes bilingual ability as well as the ability to communicate in non-verbal ways for the benefit of the disabled – primarily the deaf.

At the same time, a growing shortage of qualified interpreters fluent in American Sign Language has led to more career opportunities – and if current trends continue, it’s likely that skilled ASL interpreters will have little problem securing lucrative employment in a society where such a commodity is destined to be in short supply.

Signing Before They Can Speak

A great deal of research has clearly demonstrated that the early years – ages 2 to five – are the best time to educate children in different modes of communication and language. This goes beyond the spoken word (though it is an optimal time for children to learn a second language); many young children have an aptitude for signing as well.

This is not as odd as you may think. As you know, many indigenous peoples around the world, including American Indian nations, have used sign language for centuries to facilitate communication with other tribes with whom they do not share a language. Some paleontologists and anthropologists theorize that Neanderthals – who apparently lacked the vocal mechanism to produce many spoken words – depended a great deal upon hand gestures to communicate.

In fact, recent research suggests that sign language is innate. An article published in the Boulder Daily Camera in 2003 presented strong evidence that babies as young as six months old communicate with their hands:

“…by 6 to 7 months, babies can remember a sign. At eight months, children can begin to imitate gestures and sign single words. By 24 months, children can sign compound words and full sentences. They say sign language reduces frustration in young children by giving them a means to express themselves before they know how to talk.” (Glarion, 2003)

The author also cites a study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development demonstrating that young children who are taught sign language at an early age actually develop better verbal skills as they get older. The ability to sign has also helped parents in communicating with autistic children; one parent reports that “using sign language allowed her to communicate with her [autistic] son and minimized his frustration…[he now] has an advanced vocabulary and excels in math, spelling and music” (Glarion, 2003).

The Best Time To Start

Not only does early childhood education in signing give pre-verbal youngsters a way to communicate, it can also strengthen the parent-child bond – in addition to giving children a solid foundation for learning a skill that will serve them well in the future. The evidence suggests that the best time to start learning ASL is before a child can even walk – and the implications for facilitating the parent-child relationship are amazing.

Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the network of Georgia child care facilities belonging to the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose child care schools.  Primrose Schools are located in 16 states throughout the U.S. and are dedicated to delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum throughout their preschools.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.
0 Shares

Filed Under: Education, SAHM

« Dylan’s imagination
A New World »

Comments

  1. Diana says

    September 27, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    This was really interesting! We are just starting to teach Bella to sign so it was neat to read this.
    Diana recently posted..Little One Books – A “Daddy bundle” giveaway

  2. Mary says

    September 27, 2010 at 6:25 pm

    Very interesting. One of my friends has a nanny that has taught her daughter how to sign. It seems to be working really well for them. Erika, have you started teaching Dylan to sign? If not, will you? If so, how is it going? I have heard that our library offers a class on teaching children to sign, but I haven’t done any research to look up when/where. I know it’s very early for Addison but I think I might go to the class while I am still off from work – hopefully I’ll remember it when she’s ready! Do you or Emily know if there are there any good online resources to learn more?

    • Erika says

      September 29, 2010 at 10:03 am

      I haven’t really started signing with Dylan yet because I don’t really know many myself. I know milk and more, but that’s about it. I know some Gymboree Play&Music centers incorporate baby sign into their classes.

      I also found the following websites which have information:
      Signing With Your Baby
      Baby Signs
      Baby and Sign Language

      The second two I referenced above have links for finding a local class… the first one seems to give a lot of information on doing it yourself. I just googled baby sign, which I realize anyone can do and, admittedly, I have not done nearly enough research on the subject, but I plan to do more (make some calls, etc.) and will write a follow up post soon! 🙂

  3. Michelle says

    October 3, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    Interesting, thanks for sharing!
    Michelle recently posted..Almost Wordless Wednesday

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About me

Hello and welcome.  It’s been a while.  For Lent this year I decided to fast from the thing that took too much of my attention from what is truly important: Social Media.  Though there are countless amazing benefits to Social Media, after about a month offline so far, there are seemingly just as many negatives.  I never realized how much of my brain had been hijacked by it.  I’ve had so many revelations about how much easier it is to move forward when I’m not constantly reminded of the past.  But I still want to record my family as they grow at this ridiculous speed and, I’m realizing, so many of our family’s memories are here.  Those along with so many of the struggles and stages we’ve worked through.  Maybe in the midst of COVID19 isolation and my kids around me so often, I’m brought back to a time when they were too young for school and with me so often.  Writing here during that time helped make up for the limited adult conversation in my days and the overwhelm provided by my… little treasures 😉 My husband, fur babies, three fiesty kids, and I hereby extend an invitation to visit this little sneak peak into our life. We’re super flawed and broken and there aren’t too many dull moments around here.  And I promise it’s not always as magical as some of my golden hour, sun-soaked images would suggest.  There’s usually too much coffee in my system and we welcome all the prayers.  Come on over if you want to process with me.

Copyright © 2023 · Custom Theme Designed by Erika Zane · Genesis Framework · WordPress · [footer_backtotop]