Hello, blog followers!
Here at Learning SPACE, we have introduced a new free activity on Wednesday mornings at 10 am.
It’s a lovely, relaxing and bonding time for parent or carer and child, but also has a very practical learning goal -introducing you to signing with your baby.
Signing with small children is still a relatively new concept, so I will answer some FAQ here.
First of all, why sign with your baby?
· Babies can understand and use gesture to communicate long before speech develops. Signing is a very useful way to communicate meaningfully and easily at a surprisingly early age.
· Being able to clearly communicate their needs reduces frustration for both child and parent or carer.
· Signing enriches relationships with family and friends, and encourages the development of speech.
· Babies and toddlers who can communicate well will be more confident and have good self-esteem.
· The classes are run by a qualified teacher of music and special needs and use a multi-sensory approach to stimulate your child.
· Being able to sign is also a useful life skill – my own daughter used signs as a baby, and now has a good signing vocabulary that she is confident to use with her friends who communicate through sign.
Does signing with my baby discourage speech development?
NO! Definitely not. If anything, the increased level of communication helps with the development of speech. Babies will naturally use gesture, baby signing simply develops this ability alongside speech.
When should we start signing?
You could start from birth, but most babies begin to sign back at around 6-7 months old.
It is very important to be consistent – always make the same sign with the same word. Remember never to use a sign without also speaking the word. Repetition is the key to learning!
Which signs should we learn?
The most useful, and most likely to be used signs, are those which reflect the things that are important to your child. For this reason, we always begin the sessions with a recap of the most important things to most babies – milk, more, food, finished, mummy/ daddy.
There is then a themed section – for example, farm animals, games, clothes etc. Every child is different, so they will learn different signs at different rates.
When can we start?
The free sessions in Learning SPACE take place every Wednesday morning at 10 am – places are limited, so please do book ahead. You can book on the phone, or through Facebook, or by emailing info@learningspaceni.co.uk
Feel free to contact us with further questions.
Hope to see you at a session soon!
Gail Pascoe
Qualified teacher of Special Needs and Music, and mum to 3 completely brilliant goblins!
