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President Obama converses with Deaf student – in sign language!

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President Obama caught on video using ASL!  As reported in Distriction Stephon stood just a few feet away from Barack Obama. The president, busy shaking hands, looked right at him. “It was like he was waiting for me to say something,” he said later. So the 26-year-old Prince George’s Community College student took his cue and spoke to President Obama in his first language: American Sign Language. “I am proud of you,” Stephon signed. The president, almost involuntary, instinctively, immediately signed back, “Thank you.” Another deaf student then signed to the president, “I love you.” The president smiled back at her and …

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Baby Signing Myth #5: You have to learn a whole new language (BUSTED!)

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MYTH: Signing means learning a whole new language. Excerpt from SuperBaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years You don’t have to learn a complete language in order to begin signing with your child. You only have to know the signs that are valuable to you and your baby. Ideally you should be at least one step ahead of your child, although many adults learn the signs along with their children. You will be amazed how quickly you increase your own signing vocabulary just by looking up each of the signs as you become curious …

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The Signing Time Academy Goes Global!

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The Signing Time Academy has become a truly global organization with Instructors around the world. In the past month alone, we have added 70 new Instructors. We currently have Instructors registered in every US state as well as Abu Dhabi, Africa, Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Vietnam! Signing Time Academy Instructors are: independent business owners who come from all walks of life committed to teaching children through American Sign Language signs free to choose their level of certification and the classes …

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Baby Signing Myth #4: ASL signs are too hard for babies (BUSTED!)

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MYTH: ASL is too complicated for babies. Excerpt from SuperBaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years Whenever I speak to my toddlers, Mendez and Quincy, I use real words so I can provide an accurate model, even though I know they are not yet able to reproduce the sounds I’m making. As children get more speaking experience, they refine their speech and become more capable of accurately pronouncing words. It is a bad idea to invent words to take the place of complex words your child can’t pronounce yet. If he can’t say the …

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Baby Signing Myth #1: Signing delays speech (BUSTED!)

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Myth: Sign language will delay spoken language Excerpt from SuperBaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years  Because sign encourages early communication, increases vocabulary, reduces frustration, and expands expressive language, most speech experts are in favor of introducing sign to babies. According to Dr. Marilyn Agin, Lisa Geng, and Malcolm Nicholl, authors of The Late Talker, “Research indicates that signing is a stepping stone–and a very important one–on the way to speech. As the child’s ability to vocalize increases, signing falls by the way side. The signs are not an alternative to speech, but a …

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A Signing Song for Mealtime!

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This song is from the Signing Time Preschool and Child Care Program, Vol. 1. It’s great for infants and toddlers. Sign the words that are in all caps. You can make new verses by adding different words – any sign will work! Download the lyrics to this song – PDF Buy the Preschool and Child Care Program, Vol. 1 $49.99 Buy the Complete Preschool and Child Care Program, $199.95  

How is Series Two different from Series One?

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Even long-time fans don’t know that we’ve got an entire second series of Signing Time DVDs – it’s really our best-kept secret. But we want to change that – starting with our buy 3, get 1 free sale December 7-10. Series Two videos are often overlooked, but they are some of the BEST of our entire product line. They are full of more original music and fun that you’ve come to expect from Series One, but they differ in a few key ways: Key Difference 1: One episode-specific theme song In Series Two, each episode is built around a single …

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New White Paper Sums Up Three Decades of Signing Research

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A note from Rachel Coleman and Emilie de Azevedo Brown, co-creators of Signing Time and Two Little Hands Productions, the company that commissioned this white paper. “Until now, if you wanted to get an objective summary of the academic research on signing with babies and children that has been conducted over the past three decades, you would have had to pull together findings from a wide array of disparate and sometimes obscure sources. Now, thanks to Dr. Claire Vallotton, a trusted authority and leading researcher on this topic, you now have access to a comprehensive reference list of 68 studies …

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Looking to practice your ASL? Try Deaf Chat Coffee

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This blog post is part of our Deaf Culture series for Signing Time families. If you would like to meet Deaf people in your community and get a chance to practice signing in a relaxed atmosphere, you might want to visit www.deafcoffee.com. This site provides a list of coffee socials for anyone who uses sign language. Florence Angelucci started the Deaf Chat Coffee in Batvia, Illinois. Attendance grew from a handful of people 5 years ago to about 70 people per month, including sign language students from Waubonsee Community College. Angelucci says, “We’re hoping that hearing people come here and …

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ASL leads to talking miracle for child with Down syndrome

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Excerpt from “Television show leads to talking miracle” by Susan Jones of the St. Albert Gazette featuring Signing Time Academy Instructor Shelley Wywal. When Elora was born, her parents were told their new infant could have a severe language disability. The baby was kept in the hospital for a week because of the Down syndrome and Wywal remembers visiting with countless specialists, who bombarded her with information. “There were speech specialists and this specialist and that specialist, and they all said she would have a severe language delay,” Wywal said. The first day she brought seven-day-old Elora home, the exhausted …

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