The Evening Telegraph •
April 2005
Sign Language For Parents and Babies: IN FOCUS:
This new baby language is
great! WHEN babies cry it can be frustrating for mums and dads
trying to understand what it means. Are they hungry? Thirsty? Or
could it be they are tired, or in pain? Imagine if your 10-month-old
daughter could tell you that she wanted some more milk, that her
nappy needed changing or that her gums hurt and she'd really like
something to make them feel better.As unlikely as it sounds, there
is a magical language that babies as young as six months can learn
to help them communicate before they can speak a single word.It
is sign language.Without even realising it, many parents already
use their own forms of sign language to communicate with their
children. And babies have their own way of trying to tell mum and
dad what they want.• Waving to say "hello" or "bye
bye",
• stretching out their arms when
they want to be picked up, and
• wriggling about to say "put
me down again"
are three very common gestures used by babies and toddlers every
day to communicate their feelings and desires. But parents in the
Peterborough area are now being given the opportunity to learn a
more structured form of non-verbal communication called baby sign
language.
It uses British Sign Language (BSL), the language used to communicate
with deaf people.The Sign Language workshops are being run by Garry
Slack (42), of Sargents Court, Stamford, who has extensive experience
of teaching sign language to both adults and children.He said: "Children
can learn to sign before they learn to speak, because their vocal
chords do not develop until they are about 18 months old."By
teaching a child to recognise signs for words such as 'milk', or
'eat' or 'pain', it is possible for babies to communicate with their
parents before they learn to talk."Research has also shown that
learning sign language alongside spoken language increases a child's
vocabulary. "And, as they pick up more and more words, it is
possible to teach children to sign a whole nursery rhyme.
"Learning sign language is also a great way to encourage bonding between
parents and children. If a child can recognise signs and eventually sign to
its parents, then it helps them to bond because they are communicating with
each other."The first workshop is more about teaching mums and dads the
signs so they can go home and work them into their daily routine. Then, as
the child gets older, we can build up the number of signs so they can learn
to say sentences and to sign names of members of their families."We use
music, games and other educational tools throughout the workshops, and the
signs are simple and fun to learn."British Sign Language is now recognised
as the fourth indigenous language of the UK, and I expect it will soon be taught
in schools."Those children who have learned to sign from when they were
babies will have a head start and it will almost be like second nature to them.
It could become a skill they want to build on in later life."
Sharon Norman (38), of Hadrian's Drive, Baston, near Bourne, is among
the parents who have enroled on Garry's Sign Language course with
her eight-and-a-half month-old son Edward.Sharon said: "I did
a baby massage course with Edward, which was also about bonding with
your child, and I thought baby signing would help me to understand
how Edward feels before he can talk."Hopefully, it will help
me to understand what is wrong when Edward cries, because at the
moment I find it very frustrating if he is poorly or upset and I
don't know what is wrong with him."Garry will be holding Sign
Language workshops in Stamford from April. The first course is being
held at Stamford Free Church, in Kesteven Road, Stamford, and starts
on April 22, but is already fully booked.It is open to parents with
children aged six months to one year-old and consists of six sessions.
There is already a waiting list for a second course of workshops.
For more information on the workshops, you can call
Garry on 0785
190 7359, or e-mail him at gs.abc@btinternet.com
Garry is also holding two workshops to teach older people
sign language. The two hour-sessions are being held on April
19, at Castle Hill International Language Centre, in St Peter's
Street, Stamford, and are open to anyone over 16. Each session
costs £15 and runs
from 1pm to 3pm and 7pm to 9pm.
Garry also goes into local youth groups, schools and nurseries to
teach pupils how to sign.
A career in non-verbal communication
GARRY SLACK became interested in non-verbal communication because
his grandfather developed severe hearing problems and he wanted to
find another way of communicating with him. At first he learned to
lip-read, and as part of the course he was also taught to finger
spell, using letters of the alphabet.
He really enjoyed the course and decided he wanted to further his
skills, so he signed up for sign language classes.He said: "At
first I found the classes really difficult because they were taken
by a woman who was profoundly deaf, and I found it very complicated.
But I persevered with it and completed the NVQ Level 1 and 2 courses
and eventually Level 3."Garry went on to become a communication
support worker for deaf people in Derby, where he lived.
He has also worked as a communicator guide and deaf awareness trainer
for the national Deafblind and Rubella association SENSE, and also
as a senior support officer for Deafblind UK. Before setting up his
own business, Garry was the “Qualified Communications Support
Worker for deaf people” at Stamford College.
Mothers and babies learn to communicate
without words
FRENCH and Italian teacher Hilary Reeves and her eight-month-old
daughter Daisy are among the mothers and babies who have signed up
for Garry's first Sign Language for Parents and Babies course. Hilary,
who is head of modern languages at Walton Community School in Mount-Steven
Avenue, Walton, Peterborough, said: "When I was pregnant with
Daisy, I saw a friend of mine baby signing with her little boy and
I saw how rewarding it was."So I decided, when Daisy was old
enough, I wanted to do a course with her.
"I also bought a DVD on baby signing and Daisy already recognises some
of the signs like 'change nappy', 'milk', 'more' and 'no', which is particularly
handy now she has started crawling. "Although Daisy doesn't have the motor
skills to sign back to me at the moment, she does recognise the signs."If
she's whinging and I sign to her 'milk', immediately she cheers up and gets
excited. She also understands when I sign 'change nappy', but obviously that
isn't as exciting for her."At first, I was worried that if Daisy learned
to sign, it might slow down her language development and her speech, but research
says it actually can improve it."
FACTFILE
- Babies' vocal chords are developed roughly
by the age of 18 months but baby sign language can help babies
communicate from six months upwards.
- There is evidence to suggest
that introducing sign language to young children increases their
IQ in later life from an average of 106 to 113.05
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