| C's Choices |
|
Babysigns
|
|
|
REVISED 3/1/20
|
 |
These letters about teaching the twins to use signs were written last winter. It was an interesting and rewarding experience and I thought some might be interested in reading about it. Dr. Mom and Nana began when the girls were about 11 months old. Ainsley and Savannah picked signs up faster and faster as the months went on. In the end they had a vocabulary of over 50 signs.. |  |
|
Thursday, December 31 The words seem strange at first... Cat, dog, baby.. Rabbit, frog, fish... Want..... Book, picture... Again.... And “Lala” We must remember “Lala”, only spoken word of the bunch. The rest are signed. Their authors are pretty young. At fourteen months, their world pretty much consists of the living room and the toys and books it contains. And Telletubies on the tube. And eating. Snacks are really important: Cherrios, more.... |
 |
But not French Fries nor Ice Cream. When either FF or IC is around, eating takes over from the learning experience and the twins become little theaters showing a pretty accurate version of e.e. cummings' “more”. The same handsign (finger of right hand to palm of left) means either “more”, “again”, or “want”, depending on the situation. |
| Flower,
tree, touchdown....
Good, hat, baby.... Duck, for some reason. Bird. Touchdown
is pretty strange, but Nana is a Cowboy fan...
Mind you, the little darlings understand all of these words when they are spoken (by others) , as well as when they see pictures of the thing, or a stuffed rabbit, or on television. The only spoken language they know now is “bye”, which they say along with making the sign. |
| So with one spoken word and a large and growing bunch of signs, these kiddos can carry on a conversation. At least they can communicate some of their wants, and tell you what they see. They can ask you to read them (another) book. Perhaps the most important benefit to both the girls and their caregivers is that our shared ability to communicate does away with the need for them to whine about being hungry, or hurt, or wanting this or that. They do not whine; they ask and they tell. And that makes being with them delightful. |  |
|
Obviously a lot of their communications are terribly one-sided: Occasionally they make up a sign and know what it means before we dummy adults figure it out. They get fairly impatient with us. They experiment with the spoken word, but they are not yet very successful. The other day Ainsley went on quite loudly and definitively (Saying, in several dozen pronunciations, tones and emphasizes, “Dah, dah dah DAH!” all the while pointing at two of the pictures in the living room. One a favorite, the other one she doesn't like much. But they do not have a very large repertory of the signs specifically useful to art critics. After all, they are only little girls. Fourteen months old. Friday, January 1st. |
 |
I'm curious. When did we, as in we Americans, start teaching babies sign language? I have no recollection of my parents teaching me sign language, nor do I recall any of my friends teaching their kids sign language. Is this some new thing to keep grandparents busy? Is this ASL, or are you just making up a secret language which you will share with the grandkids to confound the generation in between? |
| Saturday,
January 2nd
We, as in US'ers, are not teaching babies sign language, nor is it an outgrowth of teaching chimpanzees sign language. It comes from someone noticing their kid responded to some sign and then working at it. |
| ASL has
nothing (nearly nothing) to do with the Baby Signs. Babies' little
fingers are not sufficiently under their owner's control to use most of
ASL This is not an organized "school", although there is a text,
called "Baby Signs" and available in paperback for $15.
We got started because one of Shawn's relatives gave her the book. We all read it and the four of us agreed to try it. I was skeptical, but outvoted. The signs we started with were based on those in the book; generous additions came from common sense and from actions the kids do naturally. "More" was all mine. I got tired of the kids having all these nouns and so few useful verbs. It takes verbs to really communicate. Nouns are just pointers. So one day I taught them "more" for more goldfish crackers. By day two, "more" had been embraced to mean not only more, but "want" and "again," too. They became 'more-monsters.' Right now I'm trying to teach them "where", index finger waved back and forth horizontally; this is an ASL word. "More/again" are similar to ASL. "Want" we do not differentiate from "m/a", but in ASL is far different. |
|
As far as I can tell the kiddos do not regard communicating as a big trick. Bottom line seems to be: Babies/infants can communicate at a much younger age than that at which they can master verbal expression And they are leaning to understand the spoken words that go with the hand-signs. |
 |
| Every time
I ask "french fries?" I make the sign for French fries and vice versa.
In an amazingly short time they understand the spoken words and reply in
sign.... by signing "more" and "frenchfries;"
"More FrenchFries; MORE FRENCHFRIES ! " It's fun.
Thursday, January 7th Now, the
Little Darlings are Still only 14 months old, but listen, I'm not making
this up: Yesterday, Ainsley read me a book. I don't mean she sat
on my lap and jabbered and poked at the pages here and there and wildly
turned pages and the whole thing was upside down.
|
| She sat on the floor next to the patio doors. I lay beside her, my head propped in my hand. She selected a book from the three beside her. Turned it right side up (to her), opened to page one and began to read the book to me. |
 |
She still
doesn't know more than four of five words that she can say aloud and be
understood (Bye, cookie, cracker... ) I'm not counting "Moo"
for cow and "Grr" for bear/teddy bear as words. They are more part
of the helpful symbols used to bridge into the world of spoken words, much
like our efforts at sign language.
|
| No, the
symbolic representational system she used was mainly our hand-sign language.
She would turn the page, point to the flowers, and make the flower-sign
(which is a loud sniffing, as though smelling the flowers).
She would point to the tree and make the tree sign. The cat elicited
the kitty-cat sign and the babies the baby-sign. And so on.
All the way through the book.
Not every object has a sign in our system, and not every instance of a object for which we have a sign was pointed out. (For example, the flowers get pointed out when they occupy a large part of the page. When they are incidental to the scene, they were not pointed out. But sometimes the cat was pointed out even when it was simply in the corner by the rug and not THE object on the page.) Observe the printing on the page -- symbols here, not letters but even so -- and make the representation in an agreed upon abstract symbolic system; that's pretty much reading. One person communicating to a second person what the first person has observed printed on a page. Reading. Like I said. They are just normal kids. Why didn't I know any of this thirty years ago? |
| March 14th
Well, it's come to this: I'm a fanatic. I have gone through all of the levels that greet any paradigm shift, any significant change: resistance, reluctance, acceptance, understanding, and proselytizing. I've become a true believer. I think this signing stuff with the kiddos is just great and can't wait to tell. |
| There must
be lots of research on the unquestioned benefits to both the child and
the parent -- but you'll have to look elsewhere for that. What I
do is tell stories. Explain the process. I will tell nearly
anyone, nearly anywhere, at nearly anytime about using Baby Sign Language.
The other day sixteen month old Ainsley and I were in the checkout line at the local grocery. As usual the area was littered with bright colored, cutely shaped little impulse items for the little customers to suddenly desire while the parent is hopelessly trapped in line. |
 |
|
These displays work, or they would not be there. Ainsley began signing that she wanted a balloon. I signed "No." She repeated her desire, being quite emphatic about the "want" part. I replied with a definitive "No, all gone." She accepted this and began signing that she now wanted one of the brightly colored candies. Again I indicated "no, all gone." She looked around a moment, then picked up her sippie cup and took a drink. No whine, no temper tantrum. She had expressed her desires, I had ruled on her requests, the communication was complete and we both were fine with the exchange. |
| The pregnant
woman in front of us in line had observed the whole thing.
"What was that?" she asked. So I explained that Ainsley was far too young to talk, but that we used baby sign language with each other and one thing and another and pretty soon the expectant mother had borrowed the cashier's pen to write down the name of the book. Ah, another convert. Earlier: I have been sharing these experiences with a good friend in California. He's single, an English teacher and literary maven. |
 |
His interest in children in general is pretty low, but his interest in
Baby Signs has been growing along with mine, to the point that while I
was spending a week with him recently he dragged me off to his dentist.
Not for any pain of mine, thank you. But so I could explain Baby Signs to his dentist, a man of our age who was soon to be a Grandfather. My enthusiasm had so infected my friend that he was out spreading secondary infections. Iit's about time: a beneficial epidemic. |
|
April 17th Savannah is obviously a southern girl. Not just from the name, although that's a pretty good clue. No, its obvious from her accent. She signs with a drawl. Some of our signs are similar: Sun is the arm extended fully up, hand reaching towards the sky. Cloud is the arm up, hand sort of cupped. Hair is the hand to the head. Hat is the hand patting the head. Brush Hair is the hand waved along the side of the head. Tree is the upper arm held parallel to the ground, forearm straight up, hand and fingers extended. With Savannah these all blend more or less together into a context sensitive general arm wave that reminds me of the salute one of my Military Intelligence superiors used to answer the occasional salute we would offer him. Sunday, July 4th |
|
It's been quite a while since I inflicted my grandchildren on you. Not, mind you, because they have ceased being cute, precious, darling, charming, intelligent and manifestly above average; they are all that and more. But probably more so to me than to others. Merchants in the local mall, for example, have a slightly more jaundiced view. But pretty much they are pretty much average kids. That is not what brings us here today. Today we have an update on the acquisition of language skills. |
 |
|
As you may recall, the little darlings learned to communicate using sign language at about age 10 or 11 months and used it pretty reliably (and expanded it) over the next six months. Then they began acquiring verbal skills -- spoken language as we usually think of it. The question was, would their earlier acquisition of symbolic communication via signs aid, hamper, or have little effect on the acquisition of verbal skills? The dynamic duo are now acquiring and playing with spoken words about the rate the books suggest is pretty average. They are not miles ahead of their contemporaries, nor months behind. Some days they string four and five words together quite nicely, some days they are into singsong and repetitive lalalalalal bickle bickle bickle... Pretty average, except. The exception is this: They do not seem to use (utter) the words for |
 |
those things for which we have perfectly good signs. Verbal symbology does not seem to supplant other symbols currently in use. Why say TREE when you can wave your hand in the air, fingers apart? Why say MORE when your grandfather responds quite well to the finger- in-palm that he, after all, taught you. If finger-pounded- into-palm WHEE! gets you another push on the swing.... |
| And it
is certainly hard to say DOGGY when you are making a panting sound
with your mouth already. And so on.
They know and respond when we use the words, but they still use the signs.Even more interesting (to me) was my christening. Suddenly, in |
| the last week or two, I have observably become a much larger part of the girlies daily life. Not because I am spending more time with them, or interacting with them more or any such. Nope. It's because they have named me, attached a verbal symbol to me, and thus can incorporate me in their expressive and interactive world. |  |
|
The name given is Gege. Originally so named by Ainsley, on an off and on basis, both have now settled on Gege as the symbol for me And once they settled on the name, they began using it in earnest. Nana is tired of hearing about Gege. Dr. Mom called to say that I had made the nightly recitation list, as in: "Gege good girl." "Good girl" is the highest award they confer.So. Suddenly I have a name. Suddenly I am a part of their world as they express it aloud. It's been interesting. |
|
October 30th According to Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, the UC Davis originators of Baby Signs, twins generally are significantly behind their single-birth cohorts in acquiring language skills. Research indicates that twins who used Baby Signs to communicate at an early age truncate this slowness in development. I suspect this may be true, based on the experience we have had. For the week or ten days before Halloween we took the girls on our usual series of outings: to the Yellow Park, to the Sticker Store, to The Mall, to the grocery, etc. Each outing turned into a "find more pumpkins, Gege," expedition. |
 |
| So we would
drive through residential streets, looking at the pumpkins, while Gege
did his best to insure that equal numbers of pumpkins were spotted on both
sides of the street. Ainsley's side and Savannah's side.
This got so bad that one day Ainsley, on seeing the moon first, kept referring
to it as "Ainsley's moon."
We had to make a rule between Nana and I that we would say simply "this side" or "that side," because there was an intense competition over whose pumpkins they were seeing. Now to the language part. The girl were in a self-instigated competition to find the next pumpkins and would sing out sightings: |
 |
"I see
pumpkins. A tiny one in the window."
"I see a little one on the porch." "There's a big one by the house." "An enormous pumpkin under the tree." "There's some, over there." |
|
Those are quotes. Tiny, little, big, biiiiiggg, and enormous. Complete sentences, although the adjectives were quite relativistic.The books say that by the age of three children will be able to make three and four word sentences. |
|
"Pumpkins. Find more pumpkins, Gege." And as we pull up in front of the house, "Thank you for finding the pumpkins, Gege." The girls were two on October 28th. |
|
| To learn more about Baby Signs, try
http://www.focusites.com/babysigns/ The "official" Baby Signs site. |
