Daycare Provider that Uses Baby Signing

I am a child care provider and teach basic sign words to all of my babies. We continue to use it at all ages.

Parents have thanked me many times for this. More families than we realize have someone in it who is "hard of hearing" or deaf.

I even had a baby teach her Grandpa how to sign. He was hard of hearing, not stone deaf, but he needed to learn an alternate means of communicating.

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Baby Signing Thoughts.. From A Daycare Teacher...
by: Kristi

I teach a 9-18 month old class at a Texas daycare, and I chose to start signing with the kids.

It is a lot of work in the beginning, but not nearly as much as I thought it would be, since they are all on the same schedule and I am mostly teaching eating and sleeping type signs.

It relieves stress in the long run when you are able to communicate with them before they are capable of speech, not just for me, but for them.

Because of this, they are typically less fussy. And of course, the parents are generally thrilled about someone taking the time to teach their child.

As far as encouraging a teacher, this is entirely based on how the daycare operates and how much the teacher is actually willing to work.

Some centers do not allow teachers much breathing room as far as funding teaching something that is not required. Without the support of the director, it can be very difficult to do anything 'extra' with a child. Sad, but very true.

Surprisingly, I have found in the long run, it is actually a lot less stressful to teach all of the kids at once, instead of focusing on just one child. But this is just from my own personal experience.

Hopefully, you are in a good daycare with supportive staff and you will be able to work together to find something that works for you. But you are never going to know if you can or not until you just ask. Good luck!
How would you encourage a daycare provider to sign?
by: Anonymous

My daughter goes to KinderCare. She used to have a teacher who signed with her. The teacher knew sign because her relatives were deaf.

The signing teacher has moved on. How would you suggest encouraging a daycare to add a sign language component to their program?

I'm especially interested in your views as a daycare provider.

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