The best baby sign language videos!
As you all know, we’re beginning to sort out the future with Baby Zeke and his health, but in particular at the moment (since it’s all we know for sure), his hearing impairment.  Despite the fact that his hearing can be improved with hearing aids, we’re still solidly in the deaf and hearing impaired community.  As such, we’ve begun the process of learning sign language!

We’ve had tremendous success with a series of videos produced by the Coleman family, pictured to the left.  We discovered their story only after we began using their videos – it resonates with our experience very well as their business grew out of a need to respond to the birth of their deaf daughter.  Things then accellerated with the birth of their second daughter, which you can read all about in the “about us” section of their website.

Their compelling story aside, the product that they have produced has been fantastic for our kids.  Zeke is obviously too young to begin signing yet, but the other three kids have been fascinated and enraptured with these videos.  I have been amazed to watch their signing vocabulary grow over even just the last two weeks as the signing begins to sink in.  Even Jed at two years old jumps up and down and screams when it’s time for Baby Signing Time; he’s using signs almost as much as he’s using the spoken word.

The most exciting thing is that as Zeke grows and hopefully begins to comprehend communication, our other children are poised and ready to teach him their new language.  It’s also becoming a regular part of their lives and won’t be a new change or adaptation when Zeke gets older – their signing skills are already in place!

I want to also be clear on the benefits of signing in young children even absent any hearing or speech impediments.  It has dramatically cut down in the frustrations that Jed (at 2 yrs) experiences in his  efforts to be understood.  He regularly comes upstairs and signs “hungry” or “thirsty” to Jesi.

We’d really encourage everyone with young children, hearing or otherwise, to check out these videos… They’re having a big impact on our daily lives and we’re excited to keep learning with the kids as they grow!