[shycar]

Im so proud of myself and my kids right now. Becouse of doing foster care, having speech delayed kids, I took a class on sign language. I teach all my toddler sign language and it helps them a lot.

Well it has come to use again. Today I lost my voice. Completely gone. Bad cold. So I have been using sign language for my kids. My son has not used it since he was 3, he is almost 6, but he remembers. Its been great. I snap my fingers to get their attention and then sign what I want done and it gets done. Im so proud of them. They thinks its fun too.

[Godmother]

My second foster child was 10 and deaf. I call it the Berlitz method of learning to sign. Within a week I could sign "If you want to play with your friend when we get home from the park, we need to leave now." There is nothing like an insistent 10 yr old to make you learn quickly. She was used to living in foster homes that didn't sign and could make herself understood for the most part. I had a deck of cards with the sign on one side and the written word on the other. We used them to teach me to sign and her to read. I used signing with all my kids after that and sure did help.

[Withay]

I automatically teach every fc through my home to sign. 95% of my fc come straight from the hospital after birth so they are exposed very early. Many of them stay for an extended period so right now I have a 10 mo old and 2 toddlers who are all signing. It greatly reduces the childs stress level as they are able to make themselves understood far earlier.