Gen Leung Piano Studio, Oakville Ontario

For those of you who have hung out with Andy, myself and Ellis know that we have been teaching Ellis sign language since he was about three months old. 

"Baby" Sign Language has attracted a lot of attention lately, having been in the paper, apps and videos. That's not why Andy and I decided to teach and do sign language with Ellis. One of my main teaching philosophies is that children are more capable that adults realize. I've seen time and time again who often kids, no matter how young, get told that they are too young to do something or know something. I've never agreed with that, and it is one of my driving forces which makes me the kind of teacher I am. So after having Ellis, I knew that he would be able to do all sorts of things that would blow people's minds. And since Andy is very logical in thinking and scientific, he needs to have things a certain way. So signing was a natural fit for our family.

We started signing simple signs like Milk, Mommy, Daddy and More since Ellis was three months. We had a lot of nay-sayers tell us that he was too young to understand. I didn't listen, nor did I care because I knew he was paying attention to me. 

Well when Ellis was four months old, he signed Milk. 

The signing stalled for awhile, but he continued to sign Milk whenever he wanted his milk. But when he was around nine months, he started to sign More when he wanted more food. He nows signs more, when he wants more of anything... more stories, more food, more toys

Every so often, he would pick up a sign here and there. And now he knows about thirteen signs. He knows: milk, Daddy, more, eat, Thank-you, bye-bye, cat, sleep, fish, cow, cold, all done and car. He knows some better than others, but he will sign them, we just have to catch them and cheer him on when he does. The funny thing is, he signs Daddy for both Andy and myself. 

Here's Ellis signing Bye-Bye:

There are many mornings when I go to Ellis' room to get him, and he rubs his eyes to adjust to the light from the hall. When he is used to the new light; he looks up at me, smiles and signs milk. 

The cutest and sweetest thing happened yesterday, Andy had to work the early shift and he normally leaves while Ellis is having breakfast. So when Andy had to leave, I said to Ellis "Bye-Bye Daddy!" And he signed Bye-bye, followed by Daddy!! Imagine that: a ten month old is able to form two word sentences!!

He really has taken off with the signing as he is realizing that when he signs for something, he gets what he wants rather than crying and getting frustrated. And I don't worry that it will delay his speech because when we sign together, I'm constantly talking to him and telling him what the sign is and we work on sounding out words (I also believe that kids have the ability to learn phonics at an early age).

Yesterday, I took him out to a local toy store because I wanted to get him some fabric books (he likes putting his books into his mouth and his board books are all ruined!) So we walk in, and it's filled with lights and colours! Ellis' little eyes just light up like it's Christmas morning all over again! I push him around in his stroller and he takes in all the sights, and he spots the puppets (We play with puppets at home so he is very comfortable around them and loves them!) He starts fussing because he wants to come out and feel the puppets, so I take him out of the stroller and carry him in my arms. Once I take him out, he signs thank you (I also believe kids can learn manners very early on!! lol!) and a lady walks by at just that time. She looks at both of us amazed that he just signed Thank-you and she and I started talking. She asked me all sorts of things about his signing, and pretty soon, Ellis had attracted the entire store around him. 

Being the little Monkey Boy he is, he did all his signs and everyone was so amazed that this little ten month old was able to communicate with people about what he wanted. They all kept emphasizing that they had seen kids sign before, but didn't think it actually was real. I laughed at that, because it's clear that signing works. 

So anyone who is thinking of starting signing with their kids, I would say; do it. Babies are able to communicate with their parents and caregivers at an early age, and it saves you and your little baby so much frustration. 

I'll post some links to websites that I have found incredibly useful when I started signing with Elis.