My Son

shel90

shel90

Love Makes the World Go Round
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The specialist from the infant/toddler program came today to evaluate my 19 month old son and it was determined that he is speech, even maybe expressive language, delayed so he will get home visits for play therapy/speech development twice a month until he catches up. U know what she said? She said that it was great that he has been exposed to sign language and can express himself using sign language even though he is hearing. I asked her why..she said that she has read research about sign language helping babies develop language differently and something to do with a higher level of cognitive processing. I asked her "Oh u mean for Deaf/hoh babies?"..she said no and that she tells many hearing parents of hearing children to expose them to sign language while they are infants. I was like WOW!!! That's awesome! She was fluent in ASL too..which was a nice surprise cuz I was expecting to have to work hard to catch everything she said but as soon as she found out I am deaf, she started signing right away. My husband and I were like wow! We asked her why she learned sign language and she said that she has worked with many deaf babies and believes that sign language is very important for them and now she is using them on hearing babies too. I was amazed!

I am not worried about my son cuz I know what to do to give him the extra support. :)
 
Cool ! I support ASL as first language. I believe it is good for babies to learn sign language as helpin' to develope cognitive processin'.

My daughter is teachin' her hearin' one year old daughter to learn sign language. :)
 
Did the specialist give you an idea why he was speech delayed or is it unexplained? He's hearing isn't he?

Teaching signing to hearing babies before they develop speech is very widespread. Quite ironic actually!

Glad you had a good visit and it sounded like you clicked well with the specialist.
 
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