My brother is one of the funniest people on the face of the earth! But he is a sweet sort of funny, and not malicious. He knows we have been teaching Benjamin baby signs so that it will be easier to communicate with a pre-verbal toddler. Benjamin has learned more signs since he last saw his uncle. My mother saw my brother recently and he asked her if Benjamin was still going...(and he did the sign for more). My mom told him yes.
Having had a strong willed and high needs son, it has been imperative that we teach him how to communicate his wants and needs appropriately. It was also important for us in the beginning to be able to know what those needs were. Before he was born, I learned of a lady who was on Oprah who discovered that all newborns, regardless of culture or ethnicity, have a language. They make pre-cry sounds that are tied to a certain reflex. They make a sound that expresses the need. For instance, a baby whose pre-cry sounds like "nah" or "neh", is hungry. This pre-cry sound is tied to the sucking reflex, thus the "n" sound in the beginning. And so on. There are pre-cry sounds or "words" for tired, uncomfortable (hot or cold), upper gas, lower gas, and hunger. The research on the baby language is sound and proven and all babies exhibit this language from birth to age 3 months. For more info, Google "Dunstan Baby Language". We are so glad we learned this "baby language" because Benjamin was so fussy and colicky, it was comforting to know we could determine his needs if we listened closely enough. This helped in major ways, such as bonding and helping him to learn to trust that we would meet his needs. This contributed to overall security and well-being.
We also wanted to avoid the "terrible two's" altogether. Being a preemie, we knew there was a possibilty he would be late on all his milestones, including talking. Therefore, we started teaching him baby sign language at about 6 months of age. It has paid off. His first sign was "more", then "cheese", then "banana", then "yogurt". We started accepting approximations to the actual sign. Then we shaped up each sign as he became more proficient with his motor skills. I attended a playgroup where we learned some basic signs for food, etc. I combined this with the limited amount of knowledge of signs I had from working with kids who have autism and need to use signs. From then on, we found that the need for new signs outgrew our knowledge and resources. So I figured we would make up some of our own signs, since it is just us he needs to communicate with right now and he would soon outgrow signing altogether when he starts talking. We made a sign for "nursing". I do not use the sign for "milk" when I want to say "nurse", reserving it for cow's milk one day. We made up a sign for "cracker". It is the word "break", taking both fists and "breaking" them apart (since I break the cracker to give it to Benjamin). Pretty soon, his need for signs outgrew manding (requesting) and we taught him some signs to use for making comments (i.e. 'butterfly'..as in 'I see a butterfly', or 'where is the butterfy?')
I am glad we held off on purchasing an expensive signing curriculum, because after we had decided I was going to homeschool Benjamin, we learned of the "Your Baby Can Read" program. So far, this language and reading program has been worth the investment and I know it will be relevant to Benjamin's growing academic needs. The program is based on the research of Robert Titzer, PhD. The premise of the program is that babies can learn to read at the same they learn spoken language by pairing the two. Babies learn it much easier during the aquisition of language rather than later upon entering grade school, because they are being exposed to it during the time when they experience the most rapid brain development. After the first 3 days of exposure to the program, Benjamin started recognizing the words!
We do our reading program everyday, except for Saturdays which is the Sabbath and we rest from "all regular work", and for Ben, that is school. The program includes DVD's, flashcards, a book, and parent instructions. Benjamin is already on volume 1 after just 3 weeks. We reinforce his learning from the DVD's by reading to him the book and flashcards at night during storytime. We limit tv viewing in our household anyway, but this improves the efficacy of the teaching DVD's. How do I know he enjoys learning this way? Because during the day, if we have not watched his "video" yet, Benjamin walks over to the tv and points to it. I say, "Do you want to watch your video?" and he smiles and laughs. He loves them. And as a parent of a toddler about to embark on the spoken language which will make my life and my son's life more fulfilling and peaceful, I love it too.
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