Baby Signs 101

This just out on Knoodle.com, a comprehensive e-learning website that made its debut this week. Before the launch, their team conducted extensive market research and learned that a significant number of parents wanted to know about signing with their babies. After reviewing various signing companies, Knoodle contacted the Baby Signs Institute and asked Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn to make a short promotional video that introduces parents to the benefits of signing and teaches three signs: Eat, More and Milk. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Signs Video

Here's another great video from Signing Time. This one demonstrates signs for THANKSGIVING, TURKEY, and PILGRIM.

Signs for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving meal is a great time to reinforce manners. Even little ones too young to talk can use the signs PLEASE and THANK YOU. Remember to always pair the sign with the spoken word.

These signs can also be used without speech to to serve as a visual cue for older children to use their manners. Sometimes we start sounding like a broken record with our verbal reminders and our children start tuning us out. Changing it up and using a visual reminder rather than a verbal one can help.

Thanksgiving is also a time for family. Some family signs you may want to teach your child are BROTHER, SISTER, GRANDMA, and GRANDPA

Don't forget to remind your little ones to use the sign for FINISHED or ALL DONE. (See below for an illustration of this sign.) Sometimes babies will start dumping their food out on the floor or even their heads when they have had enough! Rather than getting upset with them for making a mess, teach them to communicate that they are finished so you can quickly take the food away, preventing the extra cleanup and giving yourself more time to enjoy your turkey dinner. So if you notice your baby tossing food, say, "Oh, I see you are FINISHED." as you sign FINISHED. Then say, "Can you sign FINISHED?". If they don't attempt to do the sign, gently take their hands (if they allow you to) and help them sign FINISHED as you say the word. Then praise them for doing it, "Yay, you signed FINISHED. I am taking your food away because you are FINISHED." Note how many times the word and sign FINISHED was used. Try for 5 times!

Remember the 3 R's:

• Relevant: Make signs/words you are teaching your child relevant to his daily life - does it help them express their wants and needs or is it something they are really interested in talking about.
• Repetition: Children needs lots of repetition to learn a new word, so try to use the 5 times rule, and look for and even make opportunities to practice the word throughout the day.
• Reinforcement: Praise your child's attempts even if it is not quite correct. With practice, repetition and modeling, they will improve over time, but if they become discouraged and don't try, they can not improve. You learn by your mistakes! It is also important to reinforce your baby's use of the signs by immediately following through with the action that the sign indicates. If they sign MORE, give them more immediately so they understand the connection between the sign/word and getting more. If something works, then it increases the likelihood that it will occur again. If it doesn't seem to work, your baby will probably stop trying. Consistency is key.
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Charity Begins at Home - In the Crib!

by Linda Acredolo, Ph. D.

The holiday season is traditionally a time for giving—whether it's presents to family and friends, loose change to the local Salvation Army bell ringer, or donations to charities before the tax year is over. What prompts this generosity? Although it's obviously not the only motivation, an important part of the urge to give stems from feelings of empathy for others less fortunate than ourselves. Given the importance of the emotion we call empathy; developmental psychologists have long been interested in how such feelings develop over the course of childhood.

In this month's newsletter, I'll describe some "steps along the way," that is, the progression from the earliest seeds during infancy to the conscious concern for others parents hope to see as their children get older.

Birth—8 months. Newborn babies actually come into the world with a jumpstart on empathy in the form of an automatic distress (crying) reaction to hearing other babies cry. This reflex reaction continues through the first 8 months, although with less and less out-right crying. Instead, a baby's developing ability to control her emotions makes it more likely that she will try to calm herself by looking away and/or sucking her thumb. She does not yet understand the outside event that is triggering her own discomfort.

9—12 months. Babies still automatically become upset at another's distress, but now they have additional strategies available to deal with it. Whenever possible, babies this age look at the faces of trusted caregivers to see how they are reacting and can calm themselves if they see that their caregiver isn't upset.

12—18 months. Although still motivated by their own distress reaction, by now toddlers understand enough about "cause and effect" to identify the other person's situation as the problem and to want it resolved. In addition, they are beginning to remember what behaviors others use in such situations and, therefore, may occasionally try to comfort distressed children or adults by patting or hugging them. The goal, however, is as much to help the toddler feel better as it is to help the victim, and it's not unusual for a toddler to react aggressively in an effort to make the distressed person stop acting that way.

18—30 months. During this period, toddlers develop a "sense of self," a conscious awareness of themselves as people separate from others. They also begin being able to use simple words and phrases. These two cognitive advances combine with a developing awareness of emotional states in themselves and others to motivate the toddler to more frequently comfort other people, express sympathy, and explore reasons for the person's distress. For example, witnessing a parent in distress, a toddler may say, "Why cry?" But overall, they are still primarily focused on their own feelings and aren't likely to spontaneously sacrifice something they value for the good of others.

30--48 months. More and more, the older toddler and preschooler takes his cue from his own experiences, from what he sees the important people in his life do in reaction to his own distress. Children who are hugged and kissed when they are upset are likely to hug and kiss others in distress. In turn, unfortunately, children who are ignored, belittled, or punished when upset themselves are likely to repeat those behaviors, too.

4-6 years. By now children are smart enough to begin paying close attention to how the important adults in their lives react to their behavior towards other people. High on their agenda is the strong desire to get goodies and avoid punishment. Therefore, if they have consistently been acknowledged for being kind, they are likely to continue being kind. Unfortunately, for some children any attention is rewarding. As a result, if their good behavior has consistently been ignored and only their bad behavior has brought them attention, then the bad behavior is likely to continue.

7 years +. Two major advances play a role in shaping empathy from now on. First, children become quite good at understanding how other people perceive events even if those perceptions are different from their own. Researchers call this skill "role taking" or "perspective taking." This skill enables them to understand better when and why people are distressed and to figure out ways to help. It also enables them to detect whether or not the important adults in their lives approve of their behavior. If (and that's an important "if") they love and respect those adults, then their desire for that approval—not just the "goodies" the approval can bring, but the approval itself provides a critical motivation for behaving empathically. A second important factor involves children's evolving images of themselves. No longer do they describe themselves simply in concrete terms—as tall, short, or good at videogames. Their self concepts finally start to include personality traits, like being a kind and helpful person or a dominant, "don't tread on me" sort of person. These self perceptions become harder and harder to change as children automatically seek to behave in a manner consistent with their image of themselves. By this point, the presence or absence of empathy is pretty much a done deal.

Clearly, the early years are critical to the development of this important emotion.

Video on Speech Development in Newborns

Speech Development in Newborns @ Yahoo! Video