Wouldn’t it be great if babies didn’t have to whine and cry to communicate, and instead could quietly and effectively sign their needs or wants? Baby sign language makes this a reality, with offering children a language, before they learn language, to communicate and simultaneously build their vocabulary.
Megan Taylor owns her own music therapy business called Music Therapy Network of Tennessee, where she works with adolescents who have been abused or are court-ordered to go through treatment. She offers alternative music lessons, as well as Kindermusik programs and baby sign language through the Signing Time! Academy.
Taylor says she knew before she had children she wanted them to learn sign language to aid in communication, to ease temper tantrums and to communicate with them when they needed to be quiet. Growing up, she had several friends who were deaf who took her to their church. She fell in love with signing and the deaf community as she observed their children and how they were able to communicate with their parents even at the age of one or earlier. After having her son in 2010, a friend told Taylor about Signing Time. At first, she was skeptical because she didn’t think she could learn a lot from watching the movies. Yet, watching them with her son, she instantly loved them.
The instructor on the disks is musician Rachel Coleman, who has a daughter who is deaf. The DVDs use music and stories to teach sign, as well as pictures of real babies and children doing the sign, Taylor says. This made it very appealing to her son who already signed at home but learned so many more signs once he started watching the videos.
Taylor incorporated Signing Time! Academy into her business and became a Baby Signing Time Instructor. She is now working on becoming both an Advanced and Master Signing Time Instructor so she can teach children and adults of all ages.
Signing Time! was created for hearing babies and children, although deaf children enjoy it, too. Children have the capacity to understand, learn and communicate before they develop the ability to speak, which means that babies can sign around six to 14 months, and in some cases ,earlier. Even when children begin speaking, their speech is not always clear, and signing is a second way to get that information from them. Taylor says baby sign language is a wonderful bonding experience because it is face-to-face communication and that the physical component of signing can make learning feel like play.
Baby sign language helps with temper tantrums during the “terrible two’s,” especially those tantrums that stem from not being understood. Older children who sign are more likely to befriend a child who signs and have increased confidence in their ability to learn ASL as a second language. Above all, sign language is a parenting tool that enhances natural communication abilities, Taylor says.
“Baby sign works because they can learn it quickly and they can communicate it back,” Taylor says. Taylor has watched baby sign in her home and seen the positive results. Her son still signs and has a huge vocabulary now. When he can’t think of a word for something, he will sign it which is much nicer than hearing the whining all of the time or watching him throw tantrums because of being misunderstood, she says. She is now starting to use it with her new baby daughter.
Participants in Taylor’s classes learn signs such as “potty, diaper, eat, cereal, banana, finished, more, sleep, please, sorry, play, hot and cold. The program is divided into 16 classes with themes based on the movies. The class themes are: Eat and Drink; More, Diaper, Hurt; Pets; Mom and Dad; Clothing and Play; Here I Go; My Nice Words; Bedtime; Day and Night; Outside; Strollin’; Bugs Stop, Bugs Go; Friends and Feelings; Opposites; That Tastes Good; and Toy Box.
Once these classes finish, participants can move up to the two semesters of Signing Time! classes. In these classes, they learn a lot more signs such as animals at the zoo or the aquarium or even birthday parties and outside. Learning just a few signs helps throughout your day, especially when parents learn the signs of things that their child uses most often, Taylor says. “I love knowing that I’m giving my child what he/she’s asking without them yelling at me or throwing a fit or me having to guess,” she says.
“Having a regular occasion for quality, face-to-face interaction with your child can become something you look forward to and something special for your family to do.”
To sign up or learn more about Taylor’s baby sign language classes or music therapy classes, visit www.musictherapynetworkoftn.com, email her at megantaylor@musictherapynetworkoftn.com, or call her at 931-808-2838. All classes are at Ridgedale Baptist Church.