Non-deaf stay-at-home father to a 14mo old girl

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bodhisoma

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Greetings,

My name is Jason, I'm a 42 year-old (I actually had to do the math just now to figure that out) stay-at-home father to a 14 month-old daughter, Dava (diminutive for her grandfather, "David").

I also have a 19 year-old in college (we treat it like an airport, one takes off, another one lands =).

I'm a retired programmer, network engineer, amateur photographer and baby photographer (infant through pre-k).

I had read about the benefits -- namely the lessening of the so-called "terrible twos" -- of teaching ASL to infants so I began Dava around 4 months. She's now has roughly 25 words under her belt including some usage not explicitly taught.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlSWdZEtjI8]Dava's ASL - YouTube[/ame]

For example, we tend to use "finished" within the context of "are you finished with cereal?" or "finish chewing." The other day I was playing the part of the lion, chasing her around, turning around, letting her chase me, back and forth. She stumbled and fell, got up and signed "all done" to me. In other words, "I'm hurt, I'm done playing." I thought this was pretty cool.

I'd also heard the best way for a child to learn a language is to have one parent speak one language exclusively and the other parent speak the alternate language exclusively. So I'd been mulling over the idea of using only ASL to communicate to force immersion.

So I was wondering what the ASL community would think about such an undertaking, whether it's been tried before and with what degree of success, etc. It bears repeating that I am a non-native speaker of ASL and my daughter and I are, for the most part, learning in parallel.

Thanks much in advance!
 
Hi! I don't have any suggestions but just want to say how awesome it is that you 2 are learning together
 
:welcome: to AllDeaf Forum. I am trying to understand your daughter's signs. There are some signs I can pick up and that is normal for a baby to sign differently than the grown up ASL.

I had taught my son when he was very little to sign baby ASL and that is easy for me to understand what he wanted to communicate with me. My son is hearing and is getting close to 40 years old (37 years old). So he is a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults).

Your daughter is so cute and I like your video of her trying to understand what you are trying to say to her in baby ASL. I could not see you sign which I would love to see both of you signing together instead of her only. You did a good job signing with her.

I hope you enjoy reading and posting here. See you around here. :wave:
 
bodhisoma said:
I'd also heard the best way for a child to learn a language is to have one parent speak one language exclusively and the other parent speak the alternate language exclusively. So I'd been mulling over the idea of using only ASL to communicate to force immersion.

So I was wondering what the ASL community would think about such an undertaking, whether it's been tried before and with what degree of success, etc. It bears repeating that I am a non-native speaker of ASL and my daughter and I are, for the most part, learning in parallel.
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In Canada we have a lot of bilingual and multilingual families, including my own.

In order for the "only using one language" idea to work you need to be fluent in the language - so I really wouldn't worry about using that method.

What I'd suggest (and what I've done with my hearing nieces, who are trilingual) is saying and signing words together when first teaching them, then Sign first and speak second after that.

For example, if I'm asking my niece where a blue ball is, I'll first sign the question (in ASL, with appropriate ASL grammar) and then wait a few seconds. If she doesn't immediately answer, I'll repeat the question in English (without the ASL). Usually after this I'll repeat the question ASL again.

The ideal is just to keep the ASL and English separate, just like you'd keep English and French or any two languages separate.

Of course with hearing & speaking families these are mostly guidelines (since they aren't relying on ASL as a language as much as they are making it an augmentative communication system.)
 
Anji....I like your reply. It is important that Dava learns how to speak. If Dad is the primary care giver and does not use his words all day long, I think it will make things more difficult for Dava in the long run. If she was deaf, then things would be different of course.

I am totally deaf and have a beautiful goddaughter who I teach a new sign every time I see her. She knows words like eat, more, milk, tired, happy....I do what Anji suggested. I speak the word over and over then sign it. Or when I read her books, say the word red ball, red ball, show me the red ball, and then we sign it. This approach works great for us.

Warms my heart when she sits on my lap and uses a sign I taught her. Kids are like sponges and soak it all up.

David your daughter is beautiful and is lucky to be loved so much.
 
Anij said:
In Canada we have a lot of bilingual and multilingual families, including my own.

In order for the "only using one language" idea to work you need to be fluent in the language - so I really wouldn't worry about using that method.

What I'd suggest (and what I've done with my hearing nieces, who are trilingual) is saying and signing words together when first teaching them, then Sign first and speak second after that.

For example, if I'm asking my niece where a blue ball is, I'll first sign the question (in ASL, with appropriate ASL grammar) and then wait a few seconds. If she doesn't immediately answer, I'll repeat the question in English (without the ASL). Usually after this I'll repeat the question ASL again.

The ideal is just to keep the ASL and English separate, just like you'd keep English and French or any two languages separate.

Of course with hearing & speaking families these are mostly guidelines (since they aren't relying on ASL as a language as much as they are making it an augmentative communication system.)
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How would you know if the OP's daughter might be hearing or deaf? If she is deaf, then he does not need to use the words for her to hear him. But if she is hearing, yeah, she can learn the word from her father's English while signing to her. But for the deaf baby, I would rather have her just only sign her baby ASL better. I would if I was a baby back then. But my mother never sign to me at all. So I probably signed gestures on my own. I wish my mother would sign baby ASL to me. That would be great so that we can communicate better than not be able to understand what is going on. **sigh**
 
Bebonang said:
How would you know if the OP's daughter might be hearing or deaf?
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The OP pretty much stated they were all hearing - by saying they'd looked into baby signs as a way to ease the terrible twos.

If the OP's daughter is actually Hoh or deaf then of course a more proper, immersive language model and support system for the family are absolutely needed.
 
I think this is great. That Dad and Baby are learning together. I do echo that if she is hearing, it's important to keep speaking as part of the daily activities.
 
I should have been more precise, Dava is hearing.

Initially I wanted an earlier outlet for communication but then, when the thought of teaching her another language in tandem with English entered my brain, the obvious problem of me not knowing another language was immediately apparent. That got me thinking about taking ASL a bit further.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think it's a good idea to sign, pause, then speak.

Gosh, did I just use the Oxford comma? I DESPISE the Oxford comma...
 
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