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Old 08-22-2007, 11:19 AM
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SwampYankee SwampYankee is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: CT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TwitchKitty View Post
Babies learn sign language before they have the coordination to speak. If parents help them learn the results are impressive. I just heard about this, makes sense. I guess it is common knowlege with "baby people".

Children also can learn several spoken languages before they are about seven years old. This is common in other countries. Here in the US it is another situation.
We started teaching sign language to my son with Down syndrome when he was 2. Even kids with developmental problems who may not be able to speak can have the ability to sign. This made a huge difference with the "frustration" issue. He's now 4.5 and his verbal language is just starting to take off, but his signing skills are very good and he usually signs faster than I can keep up with (although my signing skills aren't what they should be).

Knowing that now, we started using signs with my now 1 yo son when he was about 10 mos. I wish we had known it with my older two, it could have saved a lot of headaches.

The "Signing Times" videos proved to be very helpful.
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