Baby signing classes and workshops in Hampshire and Surrey

About Time to Sign

ALISON WILLIAMS

I was a professional singer for 15 years before I got married and had children. I first became interested in Sign Language when my Downs Syndrome nephew was born 6 years ago. We have all been amazed at how well Theodore has taken to sign language, not just producing the signs himself but learning new signs every day and really being able to participate in every day conversations and observations.

He has a lot of health care professionals involved in his life and all of them without exception have commented on how high functioning he is, due of course in no small part to a highly motivated and loving family, but all would agree that Sign Language has had a massive part to play in his success.

I started Signing with my second child Reuben when he was 4 months old. I really noticed how it gave me an extra tool to bond with him and feel as though I was giving him a boost to our communication and understanding. I am sure we all feel as parents that our second children can be a little left out as the first is still so small and demanding and when thinking back to the time I spent with my first playing and talking etc. I did not want to short change my boy, so Signing has been an integral part in all our lives.

My son astounded us every day, by his ability to Sign clearly letting us know what he wanted and was feeling, and at 14 months old could converse fully. He was incredibly specific about what he needed and could tell me complex ideas without having the speech and language in place to actually physically say the words. I am left in no doubt that his frustration was greatly reduced by this tool and we would have been lost without it.

My 7 year old daughter Grace is also amazing at showing her Signs and has a remarkable memory and vocabulary of Signs and was great at interpreting for Reuben. You cannot lose by Signing with your baby there are only massive gains and rewards from the start!

British Sign Language qualified - Level 1, Level 2, completing Level 3 in 2008.

MICHELE DAWSON

I have been studying and working with British Sign Language for 9 years. I have my degree in Deaf Studies and Education Studies and have been interpreting for Deaf Students for the past 4 years. More important than all of that is that I am a mother of 2. I use Sign Language with both my girls Zara 5 and Maisy . Both girls are hearing but I have chosen to give them Sign Language as a second language. I am able to communicate with my oldest from across the room without the need to shout or raise my voice as she knows exactly what I am saying. Maisy and Zara love Signing and they both have a stunning vocabulary, Zara spoken and Maisy Signing. Signing has also encouraged both of my children to love books and I feel it has made a substantial difference to Zara’s confidence starting school and really achieving high scores already.

Signing every day just reinforces what I already know about the benefits and we aim to help more and more mothers, fathers, grand-parents and child care settings become involved in this wonderful fun and happy world of Signing!

We use British Sign Language with our Mums and babies, a visual gestural language that is produced in forms of gestures which occur in space. BSL uses body language and facial expressions.

Children learn at different levels at different speeds, while they are babies they develop skills so quickly and are like sponges. They start to tell you how they are feeling through body language and crying, laughing and so on. They are understanding so much but have not yet developed the speech recognition. This is the next stage of development that you learn as a child but this is only ready in most children by the age of 2. This is where Signing comes in bridging the gap between stages. As crawling leads to and encourages children to walk Signing leads to and encourages children to talk!!