Welcome to week one of our family's ASL vocabulary building! I chose to start with words describing daily activities for our babies - drinking milk, eating, sleeping, and playing - and doing more of all of these!
I am using http://www.mybabycantalk.com/ for the Windows Media Player version, and http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm for the Quicktime version.
MILK (quicktime)
MILK (WMP)
I'm guessing that this sign will be a favorite with the under 1 crowd. I know it's popular with my girls. And it's so easy to sign!
EAT (quicktime)
EAT (WMP)
BED (quicktime)
BED (WMP)
'Bed' is a little simpler than 'sleep'.
PLAY (quicktime)
PLAY (WMP)
I use this a lot when offering the girls choices. For example, "eat or play?" when they start throwing food off of the high chair, and "milk or play?" when they start wiggling around a lot on the nursing pillow.
MORE (quicktime)
MORE (WMP)
The word "more" can also be used with any of these words and is one of the top words recommended to me by parents who use sign language with their children, so I threw it in here as well.
ACTIVITY: Storytime! Tell your child a story about their daily routine, using the signs whenever possible. For example:
"Once upon a time there was a smart little baby named Iliana. Iliana woke up each morning in her bed, where she had slept all night long (bed). Iliana's mama would lift Iliana out of her bed and carry her to a chair to nurse her (milk). Once Iliana drank enough milk, her dada would carry her to her highchair to eat breakfast (eat). After breakfast, Iliana would play with her sister Lenora and have lots of fun (play). Then Iliana would get sleepy, and would need to get some more rest (more bed), so her mama would nurse her to sleep (milk) and she would take a nap (bed)." You get the idea.
If you are really creative and have the time, you could even create a short book, complete with photos of your baby. An easy way to do this would be a photo album that has one page on each side. Use one side for photos, and the other for the story text. That way, you could change the pictures occasionally. Another way to make a book would be to print out half-sheet sized pages with a photo and text, and then "laminate" them with packing tape so they can withstand a little drooling or chewing.
DOES ANYONE KNOW . . . any guidelines for signing names? I'd like to make up a sign for each of my girls' names, but can't come up with anything. If you have any ideas or know of any rules or guidelines for ASL names, please comment!
Showing posts with label baby sign language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby sign language. Show all posts
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Weekly ASL for babies
After our small recent successes with ASL with Lenora, Bjorn and I have decided that we want to increase our vocabulary. Our goal is to learn five words a week and get into the habit of using those five words around our babies.
I've decided to post our vocabulary words for the week on my blog, in case anyone else wants to follow along. I'll just post the words, links to videos of the ASL word, and a short activity or two you can do with your baby to help you learn the words (and maybe your baby as well). I'm hoping that including an activity to do a couple of times during the week will help my husband and I get used to the new words. Not to mention that it will provide some fun "quality time" with our babies - time that is educational for us!
I will try to post every Friday before midnight. That gives those of us who work during the week the entire weekend to really work at learning the words before going back to work. Then we can use the work week to just practice them a bit more and get used to fitting them into our lives before moving on to the next set of words.
I've decided to post our vocabulary words for the week on my blog, in case anyone else wants to follow along. I'll just post the words, links to videos of the ASL word, and a short activity or two you can do with your baby to help you learn the words (and maybe your baby as well). I'm hoping that including an activity to do a couple of times during the week will help my husband and I get used to the new words. Not to mention that it will provide some fun "quality time" with our babies - time that is educational for us!
I will try to post every Friday before midnight. That gives those of us who work during the week the entire weekend to really work at learning the words before going back to work. Then we can use the work week to just practice them a bit more and get used to fitting them into our lives before moving on to the next set of words.
Friday, January 5, 2007
Baby sign language is working!
Bjorn and I were first introduced to the idea of baby sign language while I was pregnant, and thought it seemed cool and fun. I don't know if we really expected the babies to get much out of it, but it was interesting and easy.
We only recently started putting much real effort into ASL, however - probably around the time the girls turned eight months. Our first evidence that it was working came about three weeks ago, when Lenora signed "milk". We told my MIL, who watches the girls three days a week, about it that evening - and learned that Lenora had actually signed it some later that day as well! However, we haven't seen the sign from her since then (although she does wave "Hi" when she wants attention, now).
Tonight I decided to mix up the bedtime routine a little as part of my efforts to get the girls to go to sleep more independantly instead of nursing to sleep - which has caused sleep associations and a lot of nightwakings. One of the things I did is nurse with the lights on to discourage the girls from falling asleep. The other thing I did was not carry the girls to the nursing pillow. Instead, I sat down, put the pillow on my lap, and called their names and said "Come here! Milk!" while beckoning them with a wave and then signing the ASL for "milk". They took their time about it, but then figured out what was going on. Lenora worked it out first - Iliana was too busy playing, and wouldn't look at me. So Lenora came over quickly and started nursing. Iliana finally turned around, and when she saw the motions and sign, she suddenly put it together, got pretty happy, and started to try to crawl onto our mattress. I ended up having to pull her onto the mattress, but then she crawled the rest of the way to the pillow!
My interest in baby sign language has been renewed - and great timing. This Monday the Eastside Mothers of Multiples First-Year parents are getting together for their monthly meeting, and the discussion topic is ASL for babies! Hopefully the specialist they've invited will be happy to help my MIL and I expand our vocabulary. Assuming I can talk my MIL into attending with me.
We only recently started putting much real effort into ASL, however - probably around the time the girls turned eight months. Our first evidence that it was working came about three weeks ago, when Lenora signed "milk". We told my MIL, who watches the girls three days a week, about it that evening - and learned that Lenora had actually signed it some later that day as well! However, we haven't seen the sign from her since then (although she does wave "Hi" when she wants attention, now).
Tonight I decided to mix up the bedtime routine a little as part of my efforts to get the girls to go to sleep more independantly instead of nursing to sleep - which has caused sleep associations and a lot of nightwakings. One of the things I did is nurse with the lights on to discourage the girls from falling asleep. The other thing I did was not carry the girls to the nursing pillow. Instead, I sat down, put the pillow on my lap, and called their names and said "Come here! Milk!" while beckoning them with a wave and then signing the ASL for "milk". They took their time about it, but then figured out what was going on. Lenora worked it out first - Iliana was too busy playing, and wouldn't look at me. So Lenora came over quickly and started nursing. Iliana finally turned around, and when she saw the motions and sign, she suddenly put it together, got pretty happy, and started to try to crawl onto our mattress. I ended up having to pull her onto the mattress, but then she crawled the rest of the way to the pillow!
My interest in baby sign language has been renewed - and great timing. This Monday the Eastside Mothers of Multiples First-Year parents are getting together for their monthly meeting, and the discussion topic is ASL for babies! Hopefully the specialist they've invited will be happy to help my MIL and I expand our vocabulary. Assuming I can talk my MIL into attending with me.
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