Helping Children of All Ages to Communicate Using Signs
Mindy Basara, of Ch 11 WBAL-TV interviews Barbara Taylor, SLP/CEO of Help Me Speak about our Help Me Sign classes for Parents and children of all ages.
Barbara Taylor, SLP, CEO was interviewed and our Help Me Sign class was videotaped on June 19th, 2006. Did you see it? It aired on Wed 8/2/06 during the 5pm newscast of Ch 11 WBAL-TVnews.
Services Available:
- Parent & Child format classes teaching American Sign Language (ASL)
- Based on the award-winning Sign with your Baby program by Dr. Joseph Garcia
- Introductory Classes (90 min)- one session only
- Help Me Sign I– 45 min/week for 8 wks
- Help Me Sign II– 45 min/week for 8 wks
- Saturday workshops available– 3hours each for 2 Saturdays
- Help Me Sign @ Preschool classes available; 30 min/wk; 6-12+ wks
- Help Me Sign & Play classes available– 45 min/week for 4 weeks
- Help Me Sign @ School classes available for Teachers & other school personnel
Download flyer: Help Me Sign info
Registration form: Help Me Sign registration
Parents and Infants/Children will learn:
- The basics of ASL
- How YOU can teach signs to your child
- 10+ thematic signs per week
- How to sign with songs
- How to sign with books
- Parental signing and language strategies
- Developmental speech and language information
- Play ideas using signs
- Resources, and much more!
Benefits of Signing
- Enhances communication and learning by allowing your child (infant, toddler, preschooler, elementary-aged, etc.) to tell you exactly what he/she wants
- Reduces frustration for your child and you!
- Improves rate of IQ development in infants and young children
- Leads to higher levels of language skills
- Enhances bonding and improves self-esteem
- Accelerates speech development
- Research shows that babies who sign start to talk sooner and develop larger vocabularies than their nonsigning peers
- Teaching ASL is beneficial even if your child is already talking and/or is 18months of age or older
- Benefits of signing continue even after a child no longer chooses to sign to communicate
- Allows you to communicate across the room without speaking (great for giving directions to kids!)
- Permits you to communicate without speaking in quiet places, such as churches, synagogues, libraries, movies, etc.
- Provides a way for a child to eat and sign at the same time (no more talking with the mouth open/full) or to cry and sign at the same time (so the child can tell you what hurts)
- It is FUN!
Click here to watch our featured interview!
Help Me Sign @ Preschool:
- Classes have been offered at Peter Pan Learning Center (2006-2008) and at The Young School (fall 06)
- Classes available for 14 months-2yrs, 2 yrs, 3 yrs, 4yrs, 5yrs, elementary, teens, & adults
- Parents are always welcome to participate/ drop in any time
- Learn how YOUR preschooler can sing, read, and play games in SIGN!
- Classes are 30 min of singing, playing, & reading–all in SIGN!
- Classes may be customized for specific ages and/or special themes!
- Contact us for more information
