The Cellar - View Single Post

juju · 10-02-2005, 12:32 PM

Sarah will be 2 next month, and she has an amazing verbal vocabulary. People are always amazed at her level of speech. She doesn't know a ton of signs, but she knows a few handfuls of them. We mostly used sign language as a communication bridge for us before she could speak. Once she started speaking, we focused more on that. She's quite excited when she gets to show off her vocabulary in either language, though.

I think the biggest benefit is that it clues kids in early on the concept of associating ideas with symbols. Whether the symbol is a sound or a hand gesture -- it doesn't matter. Once they "get" that underlying concept of "this is how communication works", they really seem to take off.

10-02-2005, 12:32 PM	#7
juju no one of consequence Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Arkansas Posts: 2,839	Sarah will be 2 next month, and she has an amazing verbal vocabulary. People are always amazed at her level of speech. She doesn't know a ton of signs, but she knows a few handfuls of them. We mostly used sign language as a communication bridge for us before she could speak. Once she started speaking, we focused more on that. She's quite excited when she gets to show off her vocabulary in either language, though. I think the biggest benefit is that it clues kids in early on the concept of associating ideas with symbols. Whether the symbol is a sound or a hand gesture -- it doesn't matter. Once they "get" that underlying concept of "this is how communication works", they really seem to take off.