Friday, September 18, 2009

Learn Sign Language




baby signs "eat"

Some kids who have Agenesis of the Corpus
Callosum may be delayed in their speech or
may have very little verbal speech. Sign
Language can be a wonderful way to help give
a child the ability to communicate.

In June of this year I did a post about Sign Language.
My son, Matthew, who has complete ACC is non-
verbal with only a handful of words. His main
form of communication is through the use of an
augmentative communication device called a
DynaVox V and through the use of sign language.

One of the best and easiest ways that we both learn
sign language is by watching sign language DVDs for
kids.

I found Baby See 'n Sign Volumes I and II a few
years ago and we find these DVDs to be helpful
in teaching us many different signs.



Baby See 'N Sign Volume I is divided into seven
categories and contains about 60 signs:

Let's Get Dressed: bath, shirt, hat, shoes
Food: milk, banana, cereal, apple
Chow Time: eat, spoon, juice, cup
Play Time: play, ball, boat, book
Animal Pals: bird, duck, bear, cat
Down on the Farm: cow, horse, chicken, pig
Away We Go: car, walk, airplane, train

Each category in Volume I contains about eight
signs to learn. I have listed only a few of
the signs taught in each category.


Baby See 'n Sign Volume II is divided into seven
categories (plus Bonus Signs) and contains over
100 signs:

Familiar Faces & Places: mom, boy, sister, school
Outdoors: flower, tree, sun, sky, rain
Zoo Friends: monkey, lion, bear, giraffe, elephant
Party Time: balloon, cake, music, candy, candle
My Body: face, hair, teeth, smile, mouth
Bath Time: clean, dirty, bath tub, soap
Nighty-Night: tired, sleep, blanket, night light, pray
Bonus Signs-Manners: please, thank you, sorry, want


note: the sign for "giraffe" in this DVD is not demonstrated the way that we have learned the sign.


Each category in Volume II contains about sixteen
or more signs to learn. I have listed only
a few of the signs taught in each category.

Matthew likes Volume II the best. He will sometimes
watch this DVD without me and while I was watching
the DVD to write down some of the signs, so I
could share them here, I discovered that Matthew
knows more signs that I wasn't aware he knew. He
really surprised me by making the signs right along
with the words "star" and "towel" and a few others.
I had no idea he even knew how to make those signs.

The signs are taught through the use of displaying
real life objects up close on the full screen. They
show babies, toddlers and small kids throughout
much of the videos. The sign is demonstrated by an
adult, Johanna Larson-Muhr, who is a American Sign
Language instructor.

Each word is shown a total of three times by
showing a full screen picture (that is different
each time) representing the word.

The written word is always shown with the picture
and the word is verbally spoken.

After each picture is shown you will then see the
American Sign Language instructor appear on the
screen to demonstrate the word.

Each word is shown a total of three times with
3 different pictures, the word is spoken each time
and demonstrated using sign language three times.

There is a lot of repetition involved in this
video. Repetition is a key ingredient that many kids
who have ACC require.

Baby See 'n Sign is available in both DVD
and VHS format.

More information can be found at:
Baby See 'n Sign website




this video clip does not come close to representing
the quality of the DVDs and what they offer, in my
opinion. The DVD movie does not move across the screen
the way this video clip shows and is not blurry. The
DVD has excellent picture quality.


Order Baby See 'n Sign
They are offering free shipping.