Saturday, August 20, 2011

Signs

We put off teaching Averie sign language for, probably, much longer than we should have.  I think I was nervous it would be too complicated (I've seen those ASL interpreters who move lightning-fast!) or she wouldn't catch on and it would just be wasted time.


Since life has been so crazy lately, I haven't even gotten around to calling the pediatrician for a referral for speech therapy, so we just decided to try teaching signs.  

And now I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner!  


In just a few weeks, Averie has learned to sign please, more, eat, drink, down (to get out of her highchair), open, and all done!  Last week at dinner, Averie signed "more, please" without any prompting!  There are much fewer tantrums since she can communicate what she wants more easily, and less frustration on our part because we don't have to guess what she wants anymore. 


I am going to be pulling out the sign language DVDs I bought ages ago and start working on more of them! 

1 comment:

Liz Wilcken said...

Just make sure when you teach her "apple" that you don't rotate your wrists. I saw a mom doing that in a grocery store with her kid, and I nearly bust out laughing (ASL was my foreign language at UVSC). It would mean menstrual cycle ;) So, watching her ask her SON if he wanted an "apple" was too hilarious. :)