Watch this to learn more about sign language for babies! http://youtu.be/yi4sL3mHw_g

Interested in sign language? Our lil omm teacher, Michelle, shares why it's so important to her and her family.

"After the birth of my first child, Annabelle, I knew immediately that I wanted to teach her sign language. Having a background in ASL, I had heard of how other parents taught their children to sign but I didn't know exactly why or how they did it. Once I started doing my research, I found the Baby Signs Program®. They had everything from books and dvds, to classes that helped families incorporate signing into their lives. They were also the first to be funded by the government to research the benefits of teaching sign language to babies.

I started to teach Annabelle how to sign when she was five months old. One month later, she started to sign MILK! I was so excited and proud of my baby girl. I kept teaching her other signs every day and read her the Baby Signs books and we would watch the dvds together and she learned the sign for MORE and PLEASE. When Annabelle was ten months, she went through her "sign spurt" and learned to sign two new signs a day! Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn write about it in their book, Baby Signs, but I never thought that it would happen for us!

I think that the best thing about teaching my daughter to sign was that she was able to communicate with us far earlier than she would have if she hadn't learned to sign. We were able to resolve many situations with ease and I never experience "tantrums" that other parents of older children had warned me about. The best was when my mother-in-law had taken Annabelle to a store to buy clothes, and when they were walking down the aisle Annabelle's eyes lit up as she started signing DOG and pointing. When my mother-in-law looked in the direction that Annabelle was pointing, she saw a tiny book bag with a dog on it. They stopped to look at the bag and talk about the dog that Annabelle found. From that day on, my mother-in-law was even more excited about signing that I was!

When Liam, our second child, turned six months, we started to incorporate signs every day. Annabelle had so much fun sitting alongside him and teaching him the signs that she knew. Signing had turned out to be so much more than just a form of communication for us. Liam is now 20 months old and he is starting to lose his signs now that he is talking, but he still signs when he is very excited or REALLY wants something!

I loved what signing did for my family, so I decided to join the Baby Signs Program® as a certified instructor. I have been blessed to meet many wonderful families and share with them the joys and benefits of signing with their baby. The most important thing that I have gotten out of this wonderful experience is that while we teach our children to communicate with us, we are teaching ourselves to be more aware and mindful of how truly gifted and smart babies are."
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Happy Signing,
Michelle Brady

Baby Signs® with Michelle
Baby Signs® Independent Certified Instructor

Serving Fairfax County
703-638-5333
signwithmichelle@gmail.com

"The World's Leading Sign Language Program for Hearing Babies"

Look me up on Facebook: Baby Signs with Michelle

REGISTER TODAY for a 6-week session, which includes a complete Baby Signs® Starter Kit! Baby Signs® Sign, Say, and Play with Michelle Brady will be held every Sunday starting November 6, 2011 through December 18, 2011 from 11:30am-12:30pm at Saffron Yoga (3629 Wilson Blvd near the Clarendon Metro station).  lil omm hopes to see you there!  Register for Sign, Say, and Play Workshop Here!