Our Adventures with Baby Sign Language

Hunter at 14 months, signing "please" and "ball" while simultaneous verbalizing "ball"

I look back and our journey with baby sign language with great fondness and appreciation.

It was long before we heard about Doman, or many of the other early learning topics I now am familiar with, but it nonetheless found its way into our lives in an unexpected way and I now can't imagine how his early toddlerhood would have been without it.

Before Hunter was born and during his early infancy, I had never heard of the concept as this was back in 2005 and in the very beginning of the "trend". When Hunter was four months old, with my mom's prompting I ordered the book Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk from a catalog.

How thrilled I was for the exciting possibilities!

At five months I started teaching him some sign language. I don't remember how many signs I tried to teach him in the beginning, but at seven months I was ecstatic when he finally reproduced his first sign: more.

Thereafter, he discovered the power of this type of communication and began using the sign "more" for pretty much everything. It seemed like the sign evolved to mean "I want" more than its actual definition.

Perhaps because of the versatility of this sign, he didn't mimic any more signs for what seemed like an eternity. Until finally, at eleven months old, he had some sort of signing breakthrough.

Within a month, he learned to sign "all done," "eat," "drink," "hot," "up," (his was slightly different) and "night night."

At twelve months he learned the ever-popular "please," followed by "hair brush", "phone", "toothbrush," and "hat".

By thirteen and fourteen months he learned "down," "come," "thank you," "water," "book," and "bath," followed by "milk," "dog," "ball," "outside," and "Cheerios" (which he made up - would pinch his thumb and forefinger together).

And then, it seemed like just as soon as our signing adventure had begun, it was over.

At fifteen months he began talking a great deal - within that month he learned to say almost two dozen words, whereas before he could only say a handful. He still used sign language, and that month picked up the new signs of "yes", "car", and, some things I never got a chance to get a picture of - "no", "hair", "listen", "headphones", and "iPod" (yes, he made up the sign for iPod too - it involved him sticking his forefinger and thumb in both ears as if he were putting in earbuds).

Then, the next month, he started really talking. In fact, even to a mother who had religiously written down every single possible milestone since he was born, from "first visit to the mall" to "first bandaid" to, well, pretty much everything, he had me beaten. He was learning to say new words at a rate that even I couldn't keep up with, and things just set off from there.

And that was about it.

For a long time he continued to often use his signs along with the spoken words, as you can see in the above video of him signing and saying "ball" and "please". In fact, certain signs, such as please, stuck with him until he was probably two and a half - he would always rub his stomach while saying "please"! But from that point on, he didn't really learn any new signs, simply because he could pretty much say everything verbally, and preferred communicating that way. And in spite of my intention to keep them in our life (as sort of a foreign language experience), they ended up falling by the wayside and fading into the past.

I was definitely surprised, and a little bit saddened, when it ended so soon. I had so many signs that I wanted to teach him, and it was all so much fun! But the experience definitely enriched our lives, and as I said, I couldn't imagine his early toddlerhood without it.

Giving him the tools to communicate without whining was so incredibly priceless. He could say if he wanted up or down, if he was thirsty, if he was tired, if he wanted to go outside, even talk to me about what he saw or wanted, such as a ball or the dog. It's so hard to imagine how this period of life would have gone without him having these tools, and thankfully I don't have to.

And even though it was hard to see it go, it served its purpose, and that's what counts.

Looking beyond the temporary benefits of tools of communication, another thing I am thankful for is the benefit it served him for the rest of his lifetime. As this study showed,

Results of the study revealed that 24-month-old babies using baby sign language were on average talking more like 27- or 28-month-olds, representing more than a three-month advantage over the non-signers. The babies using baby sign language were also putting together significantly longer sentences. In addition, 36-month-old signers on average were talking like 47-month-olds, putting them almost a full year ahead of their average age mates. At 8 years, those who had used sign language as babies scored an average of 12 points higher in IQ on the WISC-III than their non-signing peers.

That is another reason I look so fondly on it, as it was one of our first "early learning" endeavors. And I know that even just in that short time period, it gave him a boost for the rest of his life.

It was definitely a fun adventure.

It didn't always go as expected. It ended a lot sooner than I thought it would. He started talking a lot earlier than I was prepared for. He surprised me by making up his own signs, or by his funny interpretations of the signs I taught him. He never did sign a lot of words I taught him for months, such as "mom" or "help." He even did something I never anticipated, and started signing in two- and three-word sentences, such as "drink water please".

But all in all, isn't that how all parenting tends to go? Not exactly how we expected?

I'm very thankful to have had this wonderful chance to learn together with my baby. And I can't wait to start with the next one!

"And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand..." 

Exodus 13:9

What about you? What was your experience with baby signs?

Language Mess-Ups

In Hunter's phonics reader, there are a lot of drills of an abundance of words that are "decodable" - that is, words that are regularly spelled, composed of only simple consonant and short-vowel sounds.

There are a few words that kids may not be familiar with, such as mum (referring to flowers), lad when talking about a boy, quip, sill, fad, etc. One of those words is dam. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to explain to Hunter that it is ok for him to read the word dam, and that is is talking about a type of wall that controls the flow of water in a river, not a curse word. Yet even though I have explained this to him lots of times, it seems like every time he reads it in a drill he embarrassedly looks up like he's in trouble.

Another language mess-up incident comes from our Arabic picture book. One of the words we've been learning is shower (دش), pronounced doosh, which my dear son finds ever so humorous. He was walking around the house the other day saying "Doosh, doosh, doosh..."

"Why are you saying that?" I asked, knowing that, unfortunately, he has heard the word d----- bag and knows it is not a term to be used.

"It means shower, mom, remember?"

To say the least, he got an explanation as to why we would only use that word if we are speaking in Arabic and talking about showers, not just for fun.

And lastly, what made me think about writing this, was today when we were reviewing the Spanish colors. I was having Hunter repeat after me, and as we're going through the colors, we came to blue - azul (pronounced ah-SOOl)

"Ass hOL'" he says

"What?" I say, laughing (I know, I'm horrible.)

"Ass hOL'" he says again, with a totally straight face, not even looking up from the duplos he was playing with.

"Say azul." I say again, one last time, still laughing (yes, I know, it's bad).

He repeats it the same way, when I finally correct him and tell him the proper way to say it. I know it's bad, but, I couldn't help but laughing at his totally straight face, him not even realizing what he was saying, and saying it the same way so many times.

Yeah. I think my kid knows too many cuss words.

"Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee."

 Job 15:6

Hunter is 4 years, 7 months old

Të dua!

Saying I love you in Albanian [të dua (tuh-doo-ah)] and sign language.

"I will love thee, O LORD, my strength."

Psalm 18:1

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

A is for Albania

You Can Change the World

Those are some pretty weighty words to be saying to a three-year-old, especially when you're not talking in future tense. But that is the title and focus of the new book we're going through, and it's not about building kids' self esteem but about teaching them to pray for the nations.

The book mainly focuses on praying for your family but I got the great idea to start praying for the nations, and we're using the book "You Can Change the World" by Jill Johnstone. It is the children's version of Operation World. Each week we will be praying for a new nation or people group, and learning things about them to better help us know what to pray for. The book we're using is written for children and is in alphabet-style format, with a different country or people group for each letter. The first country is Albania:

A is for Albania, where Christians once were banned; But God has stepped in and is changing this land.

Hunter is very excited to be praying for the people of this nation, and to know that he is having a lasting effect on the eternal souls of these people.

But perhaps you're thinking, do the prayers of toddlers really mean anything? Isn't changing the world a little much for a three-year-old? Are the prayers of tiny kids simply cute, innocent, and sweet, or are they capable of having a true and lasting effect on the world? I believe whole-heartedly that God views little children as so much more than "cute" and takes their requests seriously.

"And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." (Mark 10:13-16)

"Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." (Luke 9:46-48)

"... but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger." (Luke 22:26)

God puts little children as an example for us, a role model, and says that the greatest among us shall be like the youngest, says that we must become like them and receive God's kingdom as they do in order to enter therein.

Little children - yes, even toddlers - can have a world-changing impact through their heart-felt prayers to their heavenly Father, calling on him to change a nation - and he will. "The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer." (Psalm 6:9) "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (John 14:13

So we are going to be praying - and praying a lot! And we are also going to be learning a lot about the land, the people, and their history of each country we pray for. I spent this weekend researching Albania and learned a great deal of interesting things. The first thing I made was a list of "Programs of Intelligence", which is basically the Doman term for facts about a subject. The point of Programs of Intelligence is not to cover every single fact about the subject, for that has the potential to go on infinitely. Rather the point is to give a good general overview of important things about that subject. The POI's for Albania include things about their culture and geography, like their language, climate, type of government, location, and other interesting facts.

We're also learning a few things about their language (common phrases and counting to ten), and learning about the history of their nation. Here is the information I compiled:

Programs of Intelligence for Albania:

1. In Albania people shake their head back and forth to say yes and nod their head up and down to say no.
2. The Albanian word for Albania is Shqipëria (shchih-PIRd-ia) which means the land of eagles.
3. The national motto of Albania is "Albanians place their faith in Albania"
4. Albania is located in southern Europe and borders the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.
5. The capital of Albania is Tirana.
6. The official language of Albania is Albanian.
   
7. The climate of Albania has a moderate, Mediterranean climate with an average temperature of 7° C. in the winter and 24° C in the summer. Its landscape is mostly covered with mountains and hills, with small plains near the sea.
8. The natural resources of Albania are petroleum, natural gas, coal, bauxite, chromite, copper, iron ore, nickel, salt, timber, and hydropower.
9. Albania’s form of government is now a Parliamentary Republic. The Albanian Constitution was adopted on November 28, 1998
10. During World War II the Albanians protected the Jews that lived there and provided refuge for Jews from other countries. Only one Jewish family was killed during the Nazi occupation of Albania. Albania was the only country that had more Jews living there after the war than it did living there before the war.

You can speak Albanian! Useful and common phrases we will be learning in Albanian to give us a brief but meaningful overview of the culture and language:

Numbers:

1 një (nyUH)

2 dy (dEW)

3 tre (trEH)

4 katër (KAHT-uhr)

5 pesë (pEHS)

6 gjashtë (JASH-tuh)

7 shtatë (sh-TAHT)

8 tetë (tEHt)

9 nënd (nUHnd)

10 dhgetë (duh-YEHT)

Common Phrases:

Hello – Tungjatjeta (toon-jat-yeta)

Goodbye – Mirupafshim (meer-oo-pafsheem)

How are you? – Se jeni? (See-yeenee)

Where are you going? – Ku po shkoni? (koo-paw-shkawnee)

Good morning – Mirëmëngjes (meer-mihn-JEHS)

Good afternoon – Merëdita (meer DEE tah)

Good evening – Mirëmbrëma (meer-EHM-bruh-mah)

Yes – Po (pOH)

No – Jo (jOH)

Thank you – Faleminderit (FA-leh-meen-DEH-reet)

Please – Ju lutem (joo-LOOTehm)

Sorry – Më fal (muh-fahl)

History of Albania in a nutshell:

1. The land of Albania was once the Roman province of Illyricum since the year 165 B.C. Later on this land was divided into two provinces, Dalmatia and Pannonia.
2. In 476 A.D. the Roman Empire fell and Albania was now under the Byzantine Empire, administered from Constantinople. Albania was under Byzantine rule up until the 14^th century.
3. In the 14^th century the Ottoman Turks took over the land that is now Albania. The Turks ruled this land until the 20^th century.
4. Albania is mentioned in the Bible in Romans 15:19 where Paul says he preached the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum. In 2 Timothy 4:10 we learn that Titus went on a mission to Dalmatia. Albania was once filled with Christians but after the takeover of the Ottoman Empire in the fourteenth century many people converted to Islam – the religion of the Turks. Albania became the only Muslim nation in Europe for many years.
5. Between the years 1444 – 1466 a man named Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg led the Albanians in driving out the Turks. Skanderbeg led 30,000 men to successfully hold off the brutal campaigns of the Turks. The Albanians were independent for a very short time of just 24 years. Albania became famous throughout Europe for their resistance to the Turks. Skanderbeg is still a hero to this day and a symbol of hope to Albanians.
6. The Albanians continued to resist the Turks for many years, and Albania finally became an independent nation on November 28, 1912.
7. In 1939 Albania was invaded and conquered by Italy who made Albania part of the Italian Empire.
8. In 1944, during World War II, the Italians and Germans were driven out of Albania and Enver Hoxha became the dictator. Hoxha set up a communist form of government. The state owned and controlled all factories, farms, power plants, schools, hospitals, and all other businesses. They also controlled all communication and transportation facilities. The government controlled all peoples’ lives and did not allow the people to have things like cars or refrigerators, did not allow people to travel and did not allow them to sell things with other countries. Religion was banned and people were not allowed to pray, talk about God or own any books that spoke about God. Parents were not even allowed to name their children Christian or Muslim names. The government tried to control everything so they could improve the country’s education and industry, but Albania became the poorest country in Europe. Many people saw the horrible situation in Albania but no one was allowed to go in or out of the country.
9. In 1985 Enver Hoxha died. In 1991 the communist government was forced to resign. Since then Christians and many others have been coming into the country to help the Albanians with food, clothing, and medical supplies, and tell them about the gospel. They are still one of the poorest countries in Europe but are improving with the help of new government leaders and with freedom of religion.

Can you imagine what a thorough understanding you would have of geography and each country's place in world history if you learned 50 facts like these for each nation and people group of the world? I wouldn't doubt that after learning 50 or so facts like these about each country of Europe you would have a better understanding of the geography and history of the continent than do most college professors.

He is going to be learning a lot and getting a very good understanding of the nations of the world, but the most important thing he will be learning - the whole reason that it is important to learn about geography and history in the first place - is that he is developing a missionary's heart. From this young age, he is learning that his life has meaning, has significance, for eternity.


To say the least, I am very excited about our new geography curriculum!

"Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name."

Psalm 86:8-11

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

Studying the Alphabet Corner

Who says the preschool years have to be reserved to ABC's and 123's? How about throwing a little alpha, beta, and gama in there too?

This is our little corner of the room (on my bed) with a growing number of world alphabets. Currently: Sign Language, Russian, Greek, Hebrew, and Braille.

Hunter is quite interested.

"There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard."

Psalm 19:3

Hunter is 3 years, 6 months old 

Language Boy

"All children are born citizens of the world"

It is so true. At birth, the child's brain has the ability to learn any and all languages of the world - no matter how complicated - easily and without effort. He will learn as many as are presented to him. The possibilities are, literally, limitless.

The problem is that we have all too often ignore this incredible ability. If, say, between the ages of 20 and 25, a person's brain was prepped for unlimited language-learning and could learn as many languages as he was exposed to, would we not call him a fool if he didn't seize those precious years to learning as many languages as possible? If such were the case, we would advise all young men and women: "Make the most of those precious years because knowing as many foreign language as possible is beneficial for the rest of your life! And after all, the brain grows by use! Seize the moment!"

Of course, between the ages of 20 and 25 are not prime years for learning language. But such a stage does exist, and it exists in the first six years of life. However, the difference is that toddlers and not going to set out to study the world's languages. In this case especially, "The fate of a child is in the hands of his parents." (Shinichi Suzuki)

In this information age, it is now easier than ever to learn a foreign language. I am not necessarily proposing that you sign your one-year-old up for French class or higher a Japanese tutor. However, parents can and should make it a priority to give their child a second or third language with all means possible.

I have, in the past few months, been debating what languages to teach Hunter. I know a fair amount of Spanish and have been teaching him bits and pieces here and there, and would like to become more fluent so he can really learn the language. My dad speaks some German. My sister is practically fluent in Dutch. I know some sign language as well, and I always thought it would be fun to learn Braille and Morse Code.

The options go on. I would like him to learn some Latin and Greek as they are classic languages from which English originated, and I always thought it was cool learning Greek and Latin roots in grammar class ("photo" means light and "graph" means drawing so "photograph" is a drawing from light!) I would also very much like him to learn Hebrew as it is the language much of the Bible was written in.

French, Japanese, and Chinese are highly-spoken languages that I have a lot of available resources to gleam from. There is a lot of stuff at the library that can be utilized. It sounds like a lot, but when I consider that the tools to learn them are sitting right in front of my face, all I can think is "Why not?"

His potential is without bounds. Why limit him? He literally has the ability to learn absolutely anything that I present him with effortlessly and with lightening speed. If I have the resources to give him Chinese, then bygone I'm going to give him Chinese.

Let's just say that, should it not be for Doman I would have never even CONSIDERED taking up all these languages. Before Doman I never really realized how quickly and easily little kids could learn. Now that I do, all I want to do is give him the world.

I'm not going to be thoroughly covering all these languages. But, I figure, if he knows say, 200 common words in each of these languages, plus a hundred common phrases, and maybe whatever songs or conversations we have available from library resources, wouldn't that just be neat? And then with this base of language, when he is a little or a lot older, he can take it as far as he wants and learn more and become fluent in as many languages as he chooses? I just want to give him a thorough springboard from which he can do whatever he chooses.

Learning a 300-500 word vocabulary from twenty or more languages sound like a crazy and time-consuming thing to ask, but with Doman, it really would take very little time to come about that reality. The Doman How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge "Language" category is simple: create a Bit (a large card with a picture [fact] on it) and on the back write the word in ten different languages. So, for a "parts of the body" set you could have a picture of hand, arm, foot, head, etc. and write that word in ten different languages on the back of each of the ten cards. You teach one language at a time, so for example doing parts of the body and teach them all in Spanish, then in French, etc. It would take a total of about two minutes to teach each language, which would be a total of about twenty minutes to teach a set of ten objects in ten different languages. And he will remember it for the rest of his life. Cool, huh?

It's not useless information: it's fun, it's useful, and the brain grows by use. I always thought it would be fun to know a basic vocabulary from many different languages, but never had the time or the motivation to study them. Now I do. And isn't this going to be a great deal of fun?

Today I got some tapes from the library. They are kids tapes called "Teach Me German", etc. and I got them in all the available languages: German, Spanish, French, and Japanese. Why not? They're tapes, we listen to them, sing along, eventually learn them, and he knows some more information about languages. When I got home I was motivated to dig into the language resources we have in our home library. I got out some Latin, sign language, Greek, Spanish, French, and German kids stuff we have. I also remembered that that Baby Einstein "Language Nursery" movie has a flashcards section on special features. I didn't really like the movie, since it just does random nursery rhymes and counting and such in different languages but what's going on on the screen has nothing to do with what they're saying. However, the flashcards section has the alphabet in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, and Russian. It also has some other flashcards in these languages.

So, I'm having fun playing with languages and teaching my boy. It's really not a great deal of extra effort to, say, check out books on tape in Spanish from the library, or listen to songs in German, or read "Can You Count Ten Toes? Count to Ten In Ten Different Languages" at bedtime. Language learning has simply become a fun part of our play and exploration of the world. And I'm glad to give Hunter this opportunity, and am excited about learning at least some of it myself.

"And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

Daniel 7:14

Hunter is 3 years, 3 months old

Attempt at Spanish

We have been reading Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown since Hunter was a newborn. The other day, however, I got the Spanish version, Buenas Noches Luna on Amazon.com. This is my best attempt at reading it. Don't make fun! I'm trying, I'll get better eventually...

"And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him..."

Daniel 7:14

Hunter is 2 years, 5 months old

Anthony Signing "More"

My nephew Anthony, age nine months. We are teaching him sign language (just like Hunter learned as a baby) and I'm so excited that he is finally doing them back!

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

Matthew 7:11

Anthony is 9 months old