Feeling Sick Signs Poster

Click for a poster of signs to help during cold and flu season! :)

https://www.babysigns.com/pdf/BabySigns_Health.pdf

Summer Signs - Free Poster Download!

Signing Fun Camp

Last week I had the privilege of teaching two sign language classes at ASU's Kids University. It was an extremely well-run program and my students were excellent. Boy, was I exhaused by week's end!

Signing Time Survey

Two Little Hands Productions, home of Signing Time, is conducting a market research survey.

We have seen a rise in interest for foreign languages to be included in our Signing Time products. This survey will allow us to better understand your needs and opinions about our products and services.

TAKE THE SURVEY

The survey is 18 questions long and will take you less than 3 minutes to complete. To thank you for your time and responses you will receive a 10% coupon on the final survey page (valid through August 31, 2009) to use at www.signingtime.com. You must complete the survey to see the coupon code.

We value your thoughts and responses and thank you for helping make Signing Time the great success that it is.

Kids University - Signing Fun!

I'll be teaching at Augusta State University's Kids University for one week in June. I'll be teaching two classes of 5 to 9 year olds - 40 students in total. I'll be using Signing Time's curriculum and they have been generous and donated some goodies for the students as giveaways. I'm super excited!

Kids University Catalog

Sign Language games- update

I just came across Label and Learn's website with free online games. Have fun! Sorry, i just realized the last link did not work!

Labelndlearn.com: Play an ASL Game Online!


- Our goal is to inspire communication between parents, teachers,


therapists and children by providing innovative and accessible


products that express style, fun and function.

Deaf History Month- Fun with the Mini Page

This week's Mini Page focuses on Deaf History Month and is a wonderful, simple tool to talk to your children about deafness and sign language. Enjoy!

The Mini Page - Living with Deafness

What signs do you use?

Okay, these aren't ASL signs, but we all have signs of our own that we use when we're on the phone trying to quiet the children. Borrowing heavily from ASL, my main ammunition is my facial expressions ranging from shaking my head "No, not now." to the biggest evil-eye expression "Cut it out right now or ELSE!" In ASL, since 80% of meaning comes from facial expressions and only 20% from the signs themselves, I'd say they're pretty fluent in ASL! :)

GMA spotlights signing and gesturing

Three years ago, Good Morning America did a piece on baby sign language that was very well done. Since then, the research continues to come in on the benefits of signing with babies and children. Here's the latest:

Baby Gestures Could Help Speaking

Secret Signs- An Escape through the Underground Railroad

Using his paintbrush and a panoramic egg, a deaf child helps pass information along the Underground Railroad.

View PDF

Happy Valentines Day!!

Baby Signs DVDs + free gift

Being a former Baby Signs Instructor, I can't say enough how much my children enjoyed Beebo and the Diaper Doodles. These DVDs are the perfect length (20 minutes) - enough time to get a shower, get supper started or for a much needed mommy break. Did I say my children enjoyed them? I have to say there were a few perks in it for me as well.

Baby Signs DVD offer

Discovering Deaf Worlds Project

Ever wondered what life is like for those that are deaf in other countries?

The Discovering Deaf Worlds project, in which David Justice and CBS’ "Survivor: The Amazon" contestant Christy Smith, who is deaf, gives an inside look at deafness around the world.

Check out their newsletters as well!

President Obama welcomed by Deaf Community

President Obama has been welcomed by the Deaf Community with his very own sign name. Typically, a person's name is fingerspelled. However, a Deaf person (not a hearing person) can give a sign name to someone to avoid fingerspelling someone's name over and over. This is more than an act of convenience though. A name sign signifies acceptance into Deaf culture.

For more info on sign names and how they are created

You may wonder after watching this video if President Obama will ever come into contact with the Deaf Community since so many people rarely if ever meet a Deaf person. Interestingly enough, Washington DC has one of the largest, if not largest concentrations of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. It is the home of Gallaudet University (the world's only university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate Deaf and hard of hearing students) with it's 2007 enrollment of 1,633 and 1,077 employees (44% of whom are Deaf and hard of hearing). Many students graduate and continue to live and work locally.

Having spent my Interpreting internship in Richmond, VA and DC I was overwhelmed with the richness of the Culture and was able to witness it firsthand. I even was fortunate enough to interpret for a Deaf employee inside the Pentagon, so I am sure President Obama will be aware of his new found name!

Baby Signs Starter Kit - 50% off sale

I found this offer good through January 31st:


Save 50% on the Baby Signs Complete Starter Kit! (Coupon Code: SAVE50)

The Starter Kit is regularly priced at $39.95, but for the month of January, you can buy it for just $19.98. That's an amazing $20 savings on our best-selling Kit that includes a Parent Guide, Parent DVD, Baby DVD, 4 Board Books and a Flip Guide!

Study searching for Signing Babies 8-18 months old

If you are interested in helping out in a study on language acquisition in signing babies, please read the request from researcher Greta Mueller.

Email from Greta Mueller:

Dear mothers,

As dedicated mothers who care about the wellbeing of their children, I would like to ask you to participate in my survey. My name is Greta Mueller and I study psychology at the University of Trier in Germany. I study language development and early communication skills in children. For this reason I am looking for mothers of 8-18 months old children from USA and Canada who are practicing baby signing and willing to complete an online questionnaire about this topic.

It takes about 25-40 minutes to complete the questionnaire. I ensure that I will keep your answers in confidence. Your data serves scientific purposes only and will not be misused.

http://ofb.msd-media.de/language_development/?password=mybaby

For any further information please feel free to contact me.
language.research.mueller@googlemail.com

Thank you very much,
Greta

Nana Star Stories

Nana Star Stories

Watch in Sign Language

Sign, Sign, Sign!

June 2004

Jackson - 13 months

learning to sign - "babbling" with his hands

October 2005

Jackson - 2 1/2 years

Signing "duck"

Signing "bird"

Signing "train"

July 2004

Haviland - 7 months

Signing "milk"

February 2008

Bennett - 10 months

Signing "more"

December 2008

Bennett - 19 months

Signing "milk please"