Monday, October 11: Introduction to Baby Sign Language

The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., will host a program introducing Baby Signs, the original sign language program for hearing babies, on Monday, October 11 from 6:30-7:30 pm. The program is free and open to the public; registration is requested. Visit the library to complete a registration form, call 262.636.9245 or register online at racinelibrary.info.

During the presentation, a representative from Baby Signs, will introduce and explain the Baby Signs and Kids Love to Sign programs and discuss the benefits of introducing sign language at an early age. Some basic beginning signs will be introduced.

In 1982, Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn discovered that babies between the ages of 10 and 24 months were spontaneously using simple gestures to represent words they weren't yet able to say. They might sniff for "flower," pant for "dog," or flap their arms for "bird." What would happen, Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn wondered, if parents just helped the process along?
Thus began a major breakthrough in infant-parent communication called the Baby Signs Program-a natural baby sign language that allows babies and their parents to use simple signs to communicate important things like being hungry or thirsty, hot or cold, afraid or sad-often a full year before babies could otherwise speak.

Through two decades of research, much of it funded by the National Institutes of Health, Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn have demonstrated that their Baby Signs Program has dramatic benefits, including decreasing frustration for babies and parents, enriching the parent-child bond, boosting emotional development, and helping babies talk sooner.

Their ground-breaking book, Baby Signs: How to Talk to Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, was published in 1996 and quickly became a bestseller (over 400,000 copies sold in the U.S. alone and translated into 14 foreign languages). The Baby Signs Program has been featured on national television, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Today, ABC 20/20, Dateline NBC, CBS Morning Show, ABC Good Morning America, and NBC Nightly News. Articles about the Baby Signs Program have also appeared in leading newspapers and in national magazines including Newsweek, US News and World Report, Child, Parents and Parenting.