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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Signing - Can someone clarify?

We use a few signs with Aiden and are adding a little more now that he's really starting to catch on. While we aren't doing a whole lot (mostly signs having to do with eating/nursing), the few we do use really are helping. It's so nice to have Aiden be able to tell us what he wants sometimes!! BUT...I'm wanting to try to fit in "please" and "thank you" now....and I'm having a hard time with the difference between "thank you" and "good." We just have a book that has drawings of babies/toddlers (My First Signs board book). For "thank you," it says "hand touches lips then moves forwards." For "good," it says "fingertips touch lips then move away." But the pictures look identical. So...can someone clarify what the difference exactly is for us?

Also - Becky, turns out we have been doing "all done" a little wrong, but the correct way is different from how you do it. The book says to have hands open, palms up, and then flip them down quickly. We were just doing the palms up part (and add in a little twisting of the hands b/c it's cute and hard not to do it). I guess we forgot to look and check to see if we were doing it right. ;) The book states the signs are "based on" ASL...

Thanks to anyone that can help with the "thank you" and "good" confusion!!

6 comments:

Deann H said...

Found your blog through gdiapers FB :) Thanks BTW!

GOOD is as you are describing, but the flat palm comes down to land on your other flat palm, here's a site with video for signs: http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm

And our favorite signing product - www.signingtime.com :) Signing Time! is true ASL and quite awesome.

Becky said...

As I understand it (and I could be wrong) Good can be done two ways, the first is as the previous commenter described it and the slap of the second hand is almost to say "VERY good". The other way is to come straight out from your lips and still stay in the plane (sp?) of your face. Thank you come down into you chest area.
I took a year of ASL in college and this is how I remember learning them. I am no expert.

I second the accolades for baby signing time/signing time. I know you are limiting TV, but the videos are realy great and also help with word identification/reading. They present signs in a really fun and easy to understand way with music and lots of footage of other babies which Colin just LOVES. If you don't want to do the videos they also have flash cards and books I think.

Daisy @ Our Growing Family said...

Thanks ladies! I have another friend that knows sign language - didn't even think about that when I posted the question! She replied on fb (my posts are exported there). Her younger sister is autistic and used sign language as her primary form of communication. My friend also said it's the hand from mouth and into the other hand movement. :)

Another friend posted a link to a website that I have used some today and really like - has videos for each word/definition to show an example. I've discovered a couple signs from the book I have are a little off. http://aslbrowser.commtechlab.msu.edu/browser.htm

I would be on board with this kind of video!! I'm a visual learner - need to see and then do things, not just read them. So, the videos would be good for me, too! Might be a bit late for this kiddo, but something to keep in mind for the next one!

Becky said...

Baby Signing Time is for 0-3 yrs and Signing Time picks up from there. So no it isn't too late!! Colin has only just started signing back with the video so now is the perfect time actually.

Daisy @ Our Growing Family said...

Question about the Signing Time videos... We're wanting to get some and looked them up on amazon... Some of the reviews for the BABY Signing Time state that they were more cartoonish and the babies actually learned better with the regular Signing Time. Either of you ladies seen both and have an opinion on that? We're considering just getting the regular (not the baby versions) - think that will work just fine? I did see the "diaper dance" video on youtube, and it was a little cartoonish and didn't show too much signing, but I know that's just one tiny clip...

Now to search for the best price out there... There are so many videos, which adds up. We won't get them all, I'm sure, so we'll also need to decide which ones to get.

Thanks for any info! :) Aiden's really taking off on signing - even started doing a couple more in just the last two days, so we're eager to learn and teach more! He knows a whole handful now, and it makes life so much easier!! :)

Becky said...

I have all four Baby ST and two of the regular ST (Vol 5 and 6 I think). The signs to overlap alot between so you could just go with the regular version and no miss anything. However, Colin's favorite parts of the video are watching the other babies, he doesn't seem as interested in the regular signing time... however we JUST got them so it might take a few times through to catch his attention. I think the songs are better in BST personally, they seem to be better intertwined with the signs. However, I think their might be more signs in the non-baby version.
'Diaper dance' is not a represetentive song, in fact it might be the worst example as far as lack of actual signs. My sister was able to rent some of the movies from her library, you could look and see if that is an option for you.
I don't think I have helped you... but I will say I'm glad to have BST. The songs are catchy and we sing a lot of them with Colin even without the video on. The CD's have helped calm him in the car too.