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Signing With Babies Chat, with Sarah Bingham of WeeHands
( www.weehands.com )
10/21/04

 

20:05:26 WeeHands where is everyone from and how old are your wee babies?
20:05:40 Altwig Markham...6 months
20:05:58 steffanie3 Idaho and boy almost 16 months
20:06:04 Melanie Neo...4 months... Connecticut
20:06:24 Altwig I should say boy Ontario Canada
20:06:24 WeeHands hi twiggy!
20:06:40 Altwig U r good
20:06:49 WeeHands :)
20:07:09 Altwig ?
20:07:21 WeeHands i'm sara mom to joshua age 4 and sabrina 23 months - i'm just east of toronto in a little village called brooklin
20:08:02 WeeHands usually this chatting hour is very casual, let me know if you have any questions about signing with your wee one
20:08:17 WeeHands . . .or if you have any cool signing resources that you'd like to share!
20:08:20 Altwig my husband was asking where should his thumb be for the letter e
20:08:53 WeeHands hubbies ask all the technical questions  :D
20:09:33 Altwig absolutely...tonight we were practicing together and looking for a sign for our boy's name
20:09:37 WeeHands your thumb for the letter D should be just below your fingertips - you're hand may feel a little scrunch up
20:09:48 WeeHands what's your son's name again?
20:09:52 Altwig mateo
20:10:07 ellie hi everyone
20:10:10 WeeHands you could do an M to your heart
20:10:13 WeeHands hi ellie!
20:10:17 steffanie3 hi
20:10:26 ellie hey sara right?
20:10:36 WeeHands yep, it's sara!  welcome!
20:10:37 Altwig hi ellie
20:10:44 ellie hi
20:11:06 ellie how is everyone tonight
20:11:10 steffanie3 do you mean instead of spelling thier name do the first letter by your heart?
20:11:23 WeeHands for Mateo's name you could also make the sign happy" with an M shape but keep the same body space and movement"
20:11:44 Altwig hubby has trouble bending the last finger
20:12:03 WeeHands let me back up - a name sign is traditionally given to you by someone in the Deaf community, it's a cultural thing.
20:12:16 steffanie3 oh, I see
20:12:23 WeeHands many of the parents in WeeHands classes though do want to make up sign names for their babies.
20:12:38 Altwig quick ?
20:12:51 Altwig the letter e...where shoudl the thumb be?
20:13:06 WeeHands the best option then is to take the first letter of their name and to hold it or tap it to your heart - where all your love is!
20:13:37 WeeHands let me find you a website with the picture of an e", twiggy"
20:14:02 WeeHands try http://www.signwithsam.com/
20:14:12 WeeHands in the games area
20:14:12 steffanie3 I really like the site http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm   it has really helped us
20:14:42 WeeHands that's also a really really good one with actual photographs
20:15:13 WeeHands the signwithsam site is a fun cartoon site that is underdevelopment - all it has mainly now is the alpabet
20:15:16 WeeHands alphabet
20:15:37 steffanie3 oh I just looked at it, it looks fun when they are older
20:15:53 WeeHands so twiggy your thumb for the letter e" should be just below your finger tips"
20:16:33 WeeHands lots more will be added to the signwithsam site in a few months. the owner, Lisa, has sent me some games that she's working on when her little one is asleep.  they look great!
20:16:46 WeeHands does that make sense twiggy?
20:17:27 geokelkate Hello
20:17:32 WeeHands hi there!
20:17:32 steffanie3 hi
20:17:57 WeeHands i'm sara from www.weehands.com  and i will be your cruise director for the rest of the hour!
20:18:00 Altwig yes...we were just checking both sites
20:18:01 WeeHands :)
20:18:14 Altwig hi
20:18:15 Melanie ?
20:18:15 WeeHands i love enthusiastic parents!
20:18:41 WeeHands go ahead melanie!
20:18:55 Melanie Is four months too young to begin signing with my son?
20:20:40 WeeHands no not at all.  i've had one mom email me that her wee one signed back at 5.5 months - diaper change.  my kids would never do that regardless of the age!
20:20:58 WeeHands just keep in mind that you may not see results until 9-11 months.
20:21:38 Melanie but it has happened? a child signing at 5.5 months? incredible.
20:21:58 ellie my sister in law started signing with her daughter at 3 months and is just seeing results now and she is 12 months old
20:22:25 WeeHands in general anywhere between 4 and 9 months is a good age. on average babies have the memory to recall what you sign to them at about 7 months but that's an average.
20:22:53 steffanie3 I thought a mom had a good point once when they said they wouldn't not talk to a baby just because they wouldn't talk back yet
20:23:07 WeeHands i starting signing with both my kids at 6 months of age (them, not me) Joshua signed back at 9 months and Sabrina, the younger one, signed back at 11 months
20:23:08 ellie that makes sense
20:23:10 Altwig my son finds the sign for milk funny...it'll be fun when he'll understand it better
20:23:27 WeeHands exactly steffanie3
20:23:34 Melanie thanks.
20:23:38 WeeHands that cute!
20:24:34 WeeHands babies born to Deaf parents can understand about 70 words while babies who are born to hearing parents and not signed to understand only about 5-7 words at the same age - 9 months
20:24:52 steffanie3 wow
20:24:55 ellie that is incredible
20:24:55 Melanie wow
20:24:55 WeeHands so even though you may not see them sign - they are learning and understanding
20:25:16 Altwig I have to go...thank you for the information
20:25:23 Altwig Bye everybody
20:25:27 WeeHands have a great nite!
20:25:27 steffanie3 bye
20:25:27 TraceyAasen bye
20:25:32 ellie bye
20:25:55 steffanie3 ?
20:26:11 WeeHands that information has been around for years but i think because it deals with receptive abilities not many people pay much attention to it
20:26:15 WeeHands go ahead
20:26:39 steffanie3 I am curious what signs you all use most?
20:26:55 steffanie3 I am think ours are milk, bugs, and fish right now
20:27:14 TraceyAasen Eat, More Hungry & thirsty
20:27:18 steffanie3 We just look up signs as he is interested in things
20:27:31 ellie we use hurt, scared, happy, laugh and her favourite is cookie!!
20:27:38 steffanie3 lol
20:27:47 ellie oh yeah and stinky diaper
20:27:52 WeeHands depends on the baby - my daughter it's mainly food and signs related to the sea (big Nemo fan)
20:28:15 WeeHands my son as a toddler loved car, train, vaccuum, and fish""
20:28:31 steffanie3 yeah we love ice cream too
20:28:52 WeeHands chocolate" "cookie" "icecream" - all signed together!"
20:29:09 WeeHands = chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream!
20:29:30 steffanie3 wow
20:30:02 steffanie3 that is really great, you definitally know what they want
20:30:10 WeeHands i recommend a combination of words that are REALLY motivating for your baby, e.g., milk, ball, book, and that occur frequently throughout the day, e.g., diaper change.
20:30:30 WeeHands the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is for me!
20:30:43 TraceyAasen That would motivate me LOL
20:30:44 WeeHands *laughter*
20:30:47 steffanie3 lol
20:31:22 WeeHands that's it - no one will ever teach me the signs for liver" "mushrooms" or "olives" - I don't like them!"
20:31:39 TraceyAasen Yuck
20:32:07 WeeHands i'd sign no" really quickly if offered any of them :)"
20:32:32 steffanie3 what do you use as the sign for please?
20:32:42 steffanie3 the one I found was like to please someone
20:32:43 TraceyAasen How old are you guys children??
20:32:58 steffanie3 we have just introduced plead/begging
20:33:11 ellie 20 month old girl and 4 year old boy