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Baby Signing on BBC Breakfast News

51 replies

hotmama · 19/05/2005 09:16

Just had this on.

Classes/groups are run by Tiny Talk and can be started after babes are 6/7months and can clap/wave.

Anyone had any experience of baby signing - any good - or a waste of time?

I'm quite interested as it could be fun and I haven't taken dd to any parent/baby group.

OP posts:
koalabear · 19/05/2005 12:51

we went - it was lots of fun - babies enjoyed it - loads of singing and actions, and a general play/chat time at the end with a cup of tea - so my view is that it is a good class for both parents and babies, and IF the baby learns to sign something, well, that's a bonus

fee77 · 19/05/2005 13:30

I have been going to tiny talk for 8 months now - dd has really enjoyed it, but is now 18 mths and doesn't want to sit and sing so am knocking it on the head though.
They do a fantastic cd, which is basically one woman singing the songs, and no instuments - it is the only thing that calms dd down when she loses it in the car!! It does my head in though!

hub2dee · 19/05/2005 13:52

Has anyone seen any blokes at baby signing BTW ?

koalabear · 19/05/2005 14:03

hub2dee - my hubby is stay at home dad and take DS - has fun, although was a bit sceptical to begin with

leahbump · 19/05/2005 14:08

Oh YEs!! Hub!!

On the saturday classes there are several Dads who come! I have two Dads on a Friday as they both look after their ds's on that day
!!

dh also comes when he is free!

merglemergle · 19/05/2005 14:22

We do Tinytalk because ds is a bit behind with speech. Its BSL based so-just in case.

Our class may be atypical but I'm not getting a huge amount out of it.

  1. Quite competative-like "and how many signs did YOUR baby do this week". (mummies and teacher both).

  2. None of the really little babies can really sign, that I've seen, but the teacher and mums are so desperate that they should. Eg baby waves her arms a bit-teacher goes "she's signing MILK! Look everyone, Xanthe's signing MILK!" (round of applause).

  3. Its a class, not a group, so no chance for interaction with other mums. They do sometimes go off together for lunch but I feel out of place cos they all have sedate babies and I have a tearaway 20 month old.

  4. Round here it attracts the build-a-baby-genius brigade. Ie people who would pay for a weekly class on "how to let your child get on with playing".

However, with Tinytalk I think you only have to sign up for 5 lessons at a time, so about 30 quid.

Hub2dee-dads often come for a class or two.

merglemergle · 19/05/2005 14:24

Dads quite often come though, hub2dee. And I think a lot of people get their partners involved through the dvds and cds etc.

hub2dee · 19/05/2005 14:25

So that's a resounding 'yes' to the Bear Grapplers.

(There must be a lot of yummy mummies in these classes then).

merglemergle · 19/05/2005 14:27

Sorry, that sounded really negative. I'm sure it could be fun, just that the class I've been to has been really competative-and these kids are 6 months old! Leahbump's classes sound a lot less presurised.

Dingle · 19/05/2005 14:50

I know our situation is different-dd is 3.5 and has Down Syndrome. but i can only praise the use of signing from an early age. I learnt signalong, a BSL based system of sign, similar to Makaton (what they use on Something Special) when dd was about 6 months old.

I don't mean to sound competitive or anything, but dd now know between 150-200 signs and I am proud of that. If I hadn't encouraged that signing I would have one very unhappy, frustrated little girl on my hands.

DD's speech is coming along great guns, especially since starting mainstream nursery in January. If only more of the children in her nursery knew a few signs, how much easier would it have been for her to settle in and make friendships that much easier.

Surely baby signing should be a fun way for both mums and babies to widen their outlook rather than see it as one big competition about who learns the most, quickest....

sorry, little rant over, I hope you can understand where I am coming from!

koalabear · 19/05/2005 14:51

our class couldn't have been less competitive - it was all a bit of a laugh TBH - and we had loads of time after to chat and eat copeous amounts of biscuits

Hausfrau · 19/05/2005 15:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JulieF · 20/05/2005 00:19

I've been going to sing and sign for a few weeks now and we are enjoying it. Ds is 15 months and it can be frustrating when I can;t tell what he wants. He isn't actually signing yet, but I'm sure it will come and he loves watching the video at home.

The teacher says that the most important thing in not hindering speech is to always say the word when you sign it. If you sign in silence that can hinder speech development.

After the class the teacher gets a load of toys out and the babies play whilst the mums chat and have a drink.

bobbybob · 20/05/2005 03:50

Hub2dee

merglemergle · 20/05/2005 06:46

Oh no! I really don't want to imply that signing in and of itself is competative, or pushy or anything or that anyone who goes is pushy or competative.

The class I go to is in an especially yummy mummy area (probably better not to reveal where!), so maybe thats all it is. It could so be a great way to have a laugh, but its not done like that.

I'd say go, and see for yourself. It really looks like all classes are different.

Also I am completely over sensitive to the whole competative mummy thing, partly because I've never really been able to join in on the "how many verbs can your baby conjugate" conversations-ds is pretty behind. Other people maybe have a higher tolerance for such things.

merglemergle · 20/05/2005 06:47

And we don't get any biscuits .

That would put a different spin on things.

meggymoo · 20/05/2005 07:35

Message withdrawn

hub2dee · 20/05/2005 08:49

Glad you've been encouraged to teach signing, meggymoo. Sounds fun.

merglemerglemergle - are there alternative classes near you worth trying which might have a more 'relaxed' atmosphere ? (and biscuits). I'll have to come just for the yummy mummies. LOL

Hiya bb.

Hausfrau · 20/05/2005 13:28

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hunkermunker · 20/05/2005 13:31

Yes, I take DS - we go to the class that was shown on BBC Breakfast

It's a lovely class - DS really likes the teacher and loves the music element of it. He has been signing all gone for a while and yesterday signed milk to me.

hunkermunker · 20/05/2005 13:38

Just read the rest of the thread - the class I take DS to is very relaxed (with biscuits - lol!), you only pay for the class you go to (another big plus - we do tend to go most weeks as DS so obviously enjoys it, but some weeks it's not poss).

I am totally the opposite of pushy with DS - I just figured this was something fun to do. We do go to a mother and toddler group (which I don't enjoy nearly as much, nor does DS, though he doesn't dislike it iyswim).

As far as speech goes, DS also has a number of words - he seems to be using signs in addition to speech. And I know several older toddlers (2-3) who don't use sentences, have very limited vocabs and who don't sign either.

stringbean · 20/05/2005 21:20

I've just started taking dd - she's nearly 8mo - to a Sing & Sign class. However, she's deaf (moderate-severe we're told, but still need to have further tests before we know for sure) and does not appear to be hearing anything with her hearing aids, so I thought signing might help her communication. She will inevitably talk later than her peers, so anything we can do to reduce her frustration is a positive thing. She tries desperately hard to communicate by 'hand-babbling' - I thought she just liked waving her arms and wiggling her fingers a lot! - but our visiting teacher for the deaf tells me this is what deaf babies do, so hopefully she'll be receptive to signing. No biscuits in our classes though......

triceratops · 20/05/2005 21:30

I did signing with ds when he was about 12 months. He first learned the sign for bird and we all enjoyed the game. He could find a bird anywhere, I used to think he was just making it up but sure enough if you looked where he was pointing there would be a bird or a picture of a bird. He was so happy to be able to communicate and to tell us things. We made up most of our signs between us although some of them were based on maketon, he never learned anything useful but he knew all the animals. I don't know if it made him speak any earlier but it was great fun for us and for him.

jollymum · 20/05/2005 21:44

Ok-here goes. Tinytalk is a signing class, great, but it's based om ASL and made up signs. Sing and Sign is Makaton based, so better for here in that SN kids today are integrated more often than not into NT schools. It's another language, like French or German. How useful would it be in a job to know how to "talk" to someone that couldn't speak your language. I use Makaton in my work, and I'm not saying what it is because I won't advertise. I started using signs because of the kids I worked with and realied how useful it was with a stroppy not very verbal 2 year old. Life changed quickly, because he signed instead of screaming and I actually could understand him. I still work with SN kids and I still use signs with babies. It does NOT stop them talking if you use signs properly...say the word and sign it. I have proof of this..my 6 year old, who I was told was very lazy at speech etc is top in his class at reading, writing and maths and he is asked to help the new little Nursery SN kids to integate, because he can still remember signs as a way of life and is still fluent at them.

Hausfrau · 21/05/2005 12:56

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