Ever since watching Meet The Fockers, and getting bowled over by adorable little Jack, I've always planned on teaching my (then) future kid sign language.I didn't know where to buy the Baby Signing Time DVDs and went on to dl(shhhh) it off the net. And because it was on my old lappie that did not have a DVDr drive, I could not burn it out. I hardly let Keston watch stuff on my lappie so he watched the show only a handful of times.
Very recently I finally transferred it to my new laptop and bothered to figure out how to burn it out. And thus we got to enjoy it on the large screen. I must say I really like the series as the songs are very catchy and the kids are very cute and animated. We've been watching it for a couple of months on-off and I was wondering why Keston hasn't picked up anything yet. Then I happened to click into the extra features bit where there's a section teaching you how to use this dvd. Duh! You are supposed to help your kids do the sign! Hahaha..and there I was thinking that kids are supposed to figure it out from watching tv. Of course you're supposed to be using the signs with them as well, which I do only when I remember so no consistency there.
Anyway, I started straight away. And since food is Keston's main vice, I used that as a 'bait'. I started out during his breakfast. I'd ask and teach him to sign 'please' when he wants the next spoon of apple. I did it consistently with every spoon of apple. During lunch, he surprised me by signing 'please' when I asked him to. So it would be like Keston pointing to his porridge and I'd say PLEASE and he'd quickly sign it.
By dinner time, he was doing it voluntarily half the time. And by the next day he used 'please' with every request-- food, toys, carry, etc. A big WOW moment came when he was playing with a tennis ball on my bed and I told him to stay put till I came back. I went outside the room and heard him drop the ball off the bed. I wondered briefly if he'd get down from the bed. When I came back into the room, he was still sitting obediently on the bed minus the ball. He immediately pointed to the ball on the floor, said 'BALL' and signed 'please'. I laughed and said ok and he scrambled after the ball immediately.
He's moved on to 'thank you' (although he covers his mouth instead of just his chin and it looks similar to his flying kiss) and 'apple' (not very accurate but close enough). My pet peeve is he does not thank voluntarily, only if I prompt him. The only time he does it voluntarily is when he really really wants something that's out of reach. Like his cheerios, he'd point at it and sign please and thank you repeatedly! I'm finding it hard to advance to words that do not require the use of food as a reward. He sounds like a pet here :P
I'm still concerned that his vocab is very very limited but I'm glad he's picking up signs to help him express himself.
