A few weeks ago I found out that my 2 year old niece has some hearing loss, which in turn is making it so she isn't talking. My parents have started taking her to see a speech therapist to help her work out sounds and word association. She is also going to a developmental class that has a teacher that works with her on sign language.
I went to both classes with my mom earlier this week. I was fascinated by how fast my niece is learning sign language. She has only had 3 sessions and already knows how to ask for more, to have something opened for her and to tell us when she's finished.
At the developmental session, the teacher was having my niece put plastic coins in a can and when she wanted more she had to use the sign. After each coin my niece would start asking "more." Then when she got bored with that she signed "all done." And as we were about to get in the car after the session, my niece ran up to the door and did the sign for "open."
I am so glad that my niece is learning sign language. Not only because she can now tell us what she needs and wants, but because it's a good thing to know in general. I for one have always wanted to learn and now I get that chance.
When I was in high school I learned the alphabet, but that's as far as I went. The funny part of all this is that I've been doing a few signs and using them correctly. I've used: to eat, sleepy, sad, car and duck. I had no idea that what I was doing was signing the actual word.
The teacher gave my mom and I a sheet as a quick reference guide, so we can work with my niece on things she would need. I can't wait to go to the next session to see what my niece has learned and what the next word will be. Cause when we left she said to work on "help."
