THE USE OF AMERICAN SIGN
LANGUAGE (ASL) WITH:
Babies and Preschoolers
WHY USE ASL WITH HEARING BABIES?
More
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PAT KUHL, NEUROSCIENTIST, STATED THAT
WE USED TO THINK LANGUAGE BEGAN AT THE
ONE YEAR STAGE WHEN KIDS STARTED
PRODUCING THEIR FIRST WORDS AND THEY
STARTED TO UNDERSTAND WORDS.
NOW
WHAT WE’RE LEARNING IS WELL BEFORE THE
STAGE AT WHICH BABIES UNDERSTAND OR
PRODUCE ANY WORDS AT ALL, THEIR
HEARING SYSTEMS ARE BEGINNING TO BE
SCULPTED BY LANGUAGE INPUT (HOCHBERG, MAY
1997)
DR. JOSEPH GARCIA, AUTHOR OF SIGN
WITH YOUR BABY HAS DISCOVERED THAT
BABIES AS YOUNG AS 6 MONTHS ARE
ABLE TO PRODUCE
BASIC SIGNS SUCH
AS ‘MILK’ OR ‘MORE’.
11-MONTH-OLD SIGNING BABY
To view this video go to:
http://www.mysmarthands.com/Si
te/Baby_Signing_Interview_with_
a_signing_baby_in_action.html
WHY
USE ASL,
WHY NOT MAKE UP YOUR OWN SIGNS?
Eat
THERE WAS A RECENT STUDY WHICH FOUND
THAT SIX-MONTH-OLD HEARING INFANTS
EXPOSED TO ASL FOR THE FIRST TIME
PREFER IT TO PANTOMIME LENDING NEW
EVIDENCE THAT HUMANS SHOW A BROAD
PREFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES OVER “NONLANGUAGES”. (SCHWARZ, 2002)
LONG TERM EFFECTS OF USING
ASL WITH INFANTS

Higher IQ’s when tested at ages 7 & 8

Increased spelling skills and reading comprehension

Increased confidence
CAN TEACHING A BABY SIGN
LANGUAGE DELAY SPEECH?
ABSOLUTELY
NOT!!!
DR. MARILYN DANIELS DESIGNED A STUDY
WITH 16 HEARING CHILDREN WHO KNEW
ASL; ALL BUT ONE OF THE CHILDREN HAD
DEAF PARENTS. SHE FOUND THEY SCORED
17% HIGHER ON THE TESTS SHE
ADMINISTERED THAN HEARING CHILDREN
WHO DIDN’T KNOW ASL. SUBSEQUENT
RESEARCH STUDIES WITH LARGER GROUPS
HAVE FOUND THE SAME RESULTS. (DANIELS,
2001)
WHY WOULD THIS BE?
 One
reason may be that sign language
increases overall brain activity, stimulating the
formation of more synapses, or connections,
among brain cells.
 Studies
with PET scans have shown that
children’s brains process signing both as a
language, in the left side of the brain, and as
image and movement, in the right side of the
brain. This give the child two places to recall
language.


They are also being exposed to three different
inputs: visual, observing the gesture; audible,
hearing the word spoken along with the sign; and
physical, feeling the sign used.
And, as a growing body of research on early brain
development shows, the more stimulation a child is
exposed to at an early age, the more intelligent he
or she is likely to be.
WHY WOULD THE USE OF ASL
INCREASE VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT?


One reason for higher IQ’s could be that signing babies
communicate about complex things earlier, helping
them build the circuitry of their brains.
A child who signs can elicit more communication and
responses from adults and older children around him;
providing him with a language-rich learning
environment that allows him to develop a large
vocabulary.
RESEARCH HAS DEMONSTRATED REPEATEDLY THAT
CHILDREN RETAIN WHAT THEY LEARN THROUGH FUN,
PLAYFUL ACTIVITIES THAT ENCOURAGE THE USE OF
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Physical learning (movement)
Visual learning (seeing)
Verbal learning (speaking or listening)
Musical learning (music or rhymes)
Mathematical learning (reasoning)
Interpersonal learning (with other people)
Intrapersonal learning (individual learning)
PENELOPE LEACH STATES THAT “THE MORE LANGUAGE
THEY (CHILDREN) HAVE, THE FASTER THINKING WILL
PROGRESS. BUT THE MORE THINKING THEY ARE DOING,
THE MORE LANGUAGE THEY WILL USE. SO LANGUAGE
AND THOUGHT EVEN LANGUAGE AND INTELLIGENCE,
ARE INTIMATELY ENTANGLED.”
Milk
I HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US AT
ONE OF OUR FUN AND
EDUCATIONAL CLASSES AT MY
SMART HANDS AUSTIN!
WWW.MYSMARTHANDS-AUSTIN.COM
IMPORTANT WEBSITES:
My Smart Hands, ‘educating young minds’
 www.MySmartHands.com
Mind Bites (videos on how to sign words and
songs, go to the parenting & kids section)
 www.mindbites.com
Babies and Sign Language
 www.babies-and-sign-language.com
MY SMART HANDS AUSTIN CLASSES
Learn Manual Alphabet (ASL)
 Learn 120+ in 8 weeks
 Fun and interactive
 Meet other parents in your area who are
passionate about signing with their babies.
 Learn signs to songs and ways to incorporate
signs into your everyday life

Summer Classes
Level One Class:
June 22 – August 10
9:30am or 10:45am
Heartsong Music on Anderson Lane, Austin
Register today!
RECOMMENDED READINGS:


Daniels, Marilyn, (2001) Dancing With Words, Signing
for Hearing Children's Literacy, Bergin & Garvey,
Westport, CT.
Garcia, Dr. Joseph (2005) Sign with your Baby,
Northlight Communications, Inc. Seattle, WA
RESOURCES

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Blackburn, D., Vonvillian, J., and Ashby, R. (January 1984).
Manual Communication as an Alternative Mode of Language
Instruction for Children with Severe Reading Disabilities.
Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools,15, 22-31.
Bonvillian, J., Cate, S., Weber, W., and Folven, R. (Fall
1988). Early Letter Recognition, Letter Naming and Reading
Skills in a Signing and Speaking Child. Sign Language
Studies, 271-289.
Carney, J., Cioffi, G., and Raymond, W. (Spring 1985). Using
Sign Language For Teaching Sight Words. Teaching
Exceptional Children. 214-217.
Christensen, K. (1984) Reading Sign Language - Use of a
Visual-Gestural Mode to Supplement Reading Acquisition.
Claremont Reading Conference Yearbook. 228-231.
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Daniels, M. (1996). Seeing Language: The Effect Over Time of Sign
Language on Vocabulary Development in Early Childhood
Education. Child Study Journal, 26, 193-208.
Felzer, L. (1998). A Multisensory Reading Program That Really
Works. Teaching and Change, 5, 169-183.
Good. L.; Feekes, J.; Shawd, B. (1993/94). Let Your Fingers Do The
Talking, Hands-on Language Learning Through Signing. Childhood
Education, 81-83.
Hafer, J. (1986). Signing For Reading Success. Washington D.C.:
Clerc Books, Gallaudet University Press.
Hochberg, Lee (1997). Child’s Play. www.pbs.org
Koehler, L., and Loyd, L. (September 1986). Using
Fingerspelling/Manual Signs to Facilitate Reading and Spelling.
Biennial Conference of the International Society for Augmentative
and Alternative Communication. (4'th Cardiff Wales).
Schwarz, Joel (2002). Hearing infants show preference for sign
language over pantomime. www.washington.edu
Wilson, R., Teague, J., and Teague, M. (1985). The Use of Signing
and Fingerspelling to Improve Spelling Performance with Hearing
Children. Reading Psychology, 4, 267-273.