My experience with Sign Language began at California State University, Northridge, where I received my degree in Deaf Studies and completed their accredited Sign Language Interpreting program in 2011. Since then, I’ve provided Sign Language interpreting services with the Deaf community in both California and Colorado.
When my daughter was born, I knew I wanted to teach her sign language. I’ll be honest - I wasn’t as consistent with teaching her to sign as I should’ve been. One day, around 10 months old, she was crying and fussy, and I didn’t know why. I was frustrated, she was frustrated. Like so many parents, I clutched my head in my hands and thought, I wish she could just tell me what’s wrong. I realized I needed to put more effort into teaching her signs ASAP. By the time she turned one, just a couple months later, our daughter was using a handful of English words and signs - right on track. Then, month after month, her vocabulary grew exponentially and began to surpass language-learning milestones. Suddenly, we were able to know what she needed from us. Her tantrums from lack of communication disappeared, and instead we were so relieved to be able to talk and sign freely with out little girl.
Along the way of teaching our daughter to use sign language, I learned a lot about what works, what doesn’t, and how to encourage language learning in babies. I developed several tips and tricks to help parents teach their babies in the most efficient and hassle-free way possible. I’d like to share everything I learned with you. My hope is that sign language will lead to early bonding for you and your little one just as it has for my daughter and me.
Now I am the founder and instructor of Sign ’n Grow®, a small business that helps parents teach their babies Sign Language for early communication. My degree in Deaf Studies with a concentration in Deaf Education, as an ASL Interpreter Training Program, I have been working as an ASL interpreter since 2011.
I launched Sign ’n Grow in 2020 after using Sign Language with her own daughter to great success. This led me to developing my online program, Baby Signs for Growing Minds®. (Cont'd at Right)
I have now taught thousands of parents all over the world how to communicate early with their babies to ease frustration.
Although many parents start out with teaching the sign PLEASE as one of their baby's first signs, you might choose to focus more on functional signs first. Signs like “milk” and “more” will help your baby communicate their needs and ease frustration a lot more than "please."
But if you're at the point where you're ready to teach your baby this sign, feel free to add it into their daily routine!
You may notice your baby signing PLEASE back to you in these ways:
👶🏾 moving an open hand around their torso (up and down, side to side, one long motion, or in a circle)
👶🏻 starting with an open hand on the chest but then closing the hand into a fist
👶🏿 you may see any of these movements done with 1 or 2 hands! View Here. See how easy it is!
Nothing is more satisfying to me as helping parents find a truly easy way to communicate with their children who are too young to use words.
