See how much she loves it? (make sure you turn down music down below-- sorry about laughing!)
Let me start off by saying that I am so grateful for and blessed that there are people like Dr. Shprintzen, Karen Golding-Kushner, Dr. Ysunza and so many others that are so dedicated to the VCFS Education Foundation. They dedicate their careers to our children- where would we be with out them? They work so hard to learn more about and teach others about VCFS. I mean VCFS is one of the most common genetic disorders.....yet how many people have heard of it? How many of us hadn't heard of it until our own child/ family member was diagnosed with it? So for their help and dedication I have utmost respect and gratefulness.
Having said that, I'll have to admit I was flabbergasted at how adamant they were about not teaching our kids sign language. When Dr. Shprintzen specifically said NO SIGN LANGUAGE to me I was sad, but said OK! I mean he's been doing this for a long time right? And Lord knows the last thing I want to do is delay, or interfere in Angelina's speech and language development.
As I sat thought the conference it kept bugging me. They wanted me to from now on ignore her signing and only use spoken language. I felt like, "How can I do that to Angelina, isn't that kind of mean?" Then I heard what other parents had to say and realized how many parents were using it. So now I had heard both sides and realized I could argue for both- great! Now what?
They say no because: it gives kids easy way out of talking, especially if others can't understand them; also they feel why waste time and energy on teaching ASL, when you can spend that time just focusing on speech and language therapy. Basically, they are saying "it does not improve speech production nor does it make them more receptive to speech therapy."
Why yes: start communicating with kids sooner, and for those moments when you've tried really hard and still can't understand them. Some VCFS kids have speech delays, so what if cognitively they can't speak until they are 2? I personally think that by learning sign language they are having to use their brains, they are learning- isn't that good? For more benefits check out the Signing Time website.
So Alex (hubby) and I talked and discussed issue. For now we will continue with sign language. Why stop the communication that we already started? At least we are ahead of the game by knowing what problems might arise in the future. We will resume speech therapy and do as much as we can at home!
Eat and Drink song
See her telling brother she wants water to drink?
What do you all think?
5 comments:
Hi, my name is Crystal and we are in Temecula. Thank you for explaining why they are so against signing. But I am still shocked that they are. It really goes against all our instincts as parents. I just don't know. We have just started a bunch of new signs with our daughter, Tina. She is 11 months old. (So her geneticist recently told us about a 16 year old girl he follows. She is doing well, but has been non-verbal. They just introduced signing last year and she really flourished with it. It was really good for her.) They say signing does not improve speech production, but does it really make it worse? How can signing be good for our healthy kids and be bad for our DiGeorge kids?? our brains are hard wired for verbal language. I think that if the 22q deletion has knocked that wiring out then sign is crucial. If the wiring is still there then the child will want to learn to talk. But maybe I'm wrong. But I don't think so. -Crystal
I'm certainly no professional, but I just can't understand what the harm of signing is. I can see where their concerns stem from, but I just don't see signing as a crutch. It's a very useful tool! Just my opinion. You have such a cutie pie!! I just love how she signed water. :)
I think you're making the right decision. Its what's best for YOUR child! Like I said in my comment on your original post about no signing... Vaeh's speech has gotten better with signing!
I have nothing but admiration for these docs who take care of our kids & figure things out to make their lives better. But, having worked as a therapist (Physical Therapist Assistant) for 10 years prior to Vaeh's birth, I know first hand how Dr's. & therapists opinions can be polar opposites on the same subject. Do you have Angelina working with a SLP (Speech Language Pathologis or therapist)? Our SLP is the one who started signing with Vaeh, so we reinforced it. Reluctantly at first because we didn't want to give her an easy route... its been just the opposite!
I've befriended another heart mom, Vanessa. Her daughter, Arianna, is a DiGeorge child also (same as VCFS?). You may want to check out her blog & chat with her. Arianna knows something like 70 some signs & is progress well. She's just a little behind, but is communicating! I guess to me that's the most important! Sorry I got so wordy... Hope I didn't put my foot in my mouth!
I knew this would be a touchy subject for me but I read your post with an open mind and I'm glad to see you are going to continue signing with Angelina.
First of all I can understand somewhat where they are coming from and believe me I appreciate all that the medical professionals are doing to help our children but I think none of their reasons are good enough reasons to NOT sign with your child.
(1) It gives the child an easy way out of talking.
I guess I can see that somewhat but I have noticed with Arianna that she is more receptive to words when I do the sign with her. She may only sign in at first but once she gets that down she will try to vocalize something with it.
(2) They feel why waste time and energy on teaching ASL.
Okay, this one really upsets me!!! Why waste your time?!?! It's not wasting your time. How many children are bilingual because a parent speaks more than one language? Thats not a waste of time and it's beneficial if it will help them communicate with others in the community. We have a large Spanish speaking community here in Arizona and anyone will tell you that is a benefit if you can speak spanish. So why is it different with sign language. Wouldn't you want your child to be able to communicate with the deaf?!?! I'm sorry this is not directed at you but I had to get my point across because I absolutely LOVE sign language and hope to one day work with the deaf community. I plan on continuing sign language with Arianna once she starts talking because it is a second language. I'm also teaching her spanish as well since her Dad speaks spanish somewhat and her sister is fluent. Okay...sorry for going on and on here.
(3) It does not improve speech production nor does it make them receptive to speech therapy.
Okay, but it doesn't hurt it!!!
Sorry you asked what I thought so there it is. LOL! I'm sure I just wrote a novel here. Sorry for taking up so much room.
Thank you for sharing this information. I absolutly LOVE the videos. Angelina looks so cute when she is signing 'baby'. I just want to eat her up.
Speech is a SKILL, ASL is a LANGUAGE.
Sign, but still work on speech, and she will speak when she is ready.
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