Friday, March 30, 2012

APRIL FOOLS!

Growing up we enjoyed APRIL FOOLS - we surely didn't go extreme, but we did enjoy changing the salt shaker and sugar bowl  and other little things :) Lil's surely too young.

Here's some funny links I found:
http://aprilfoolzone.com/
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1939-april-fools-practical-jokes-and-pranks

I read every day now with Lil, so I was curious about April Fool's books. I sure found a lot of different books!




Happy April Fools Day! (four words - four signs!)
ASL for April fools

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Top Ten Reasons to follow us on Facebook

Top Five Reasons to Follow us on Facebook
1. We love meeting new people and teaching others sign language!
2. We enjoy sharing our passion and love for American Sign Language & Deaf culture/community
3. We're so excited to introduce more of Signing Simon! (don't know the info about Signing Simon - read this)
4. We currently teach infants (6 months +) to adults. 
5. We have the Sign of the Day, What's the Sign Wednesday and so much more in store for you!



Thanks HoJo's Teaching Adventures!

HoJo's Teaching Adventures

EASTER BUNNY sign and coloring page!

Easter Bunny
coloring page!


Just wanted to share a little homemade coloring page!
If you can't save image here, try here (I hope it works! If not, please let me know!)


I haven't decided if I'm taking Lil to see the EASTER BUNNY. I didn't appreciate Santa's attitude in the winter .. I guess I need to find a different place.  Do you take your kids to see the EASTER BUNNY?

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Easter Fingerspelling Scramble! 1st free handout!

We're so excited to announce that we are working on some great free worksheets, coloring pages, and other resources for you (and your family/students) to learn American Sign Language. Some are provided to you by 

Check out our first handout - 
a quick Easter scramble! 
Click here



Disclaimer:

Creative Commons License
Easter Fingerspelled Word Scramble by HearMyHands is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.hearmyhandsasl.blogspot.com/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.hearmyhandsasl.blogspot.com/.

EASTER EGG HUNT What's the Sign Wednesday!

Thank you to those (Katie from Playing with Words 365 and Jennie) who participated yesterday in helping us come up with What's the Sign Wednesday. I'm so happy to hear everyone else's excitement for Easter/Spring signs so let's get the ball rolling!

I know locally we have tons of EASTER EGG HUNTS so I thought let's start there! But with an added bonus (there's an additional blog post today - go check it out!)
ASL easter egg hunt

I already started EGG HUNTS in my early intervention therapy with my two years olds. I put little treats inside (e.g. veggie sticks, Cheerios, popcorn, etc.). We talk about numbers, colors, verbs... It's great! (more description coming soon)

What do you do for your EGG HUNT?

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

sign: DADDY

Obviously if we talked about MOMMY a while (Click Here) we must mention DADDY!


DADDY plays his role too! He gives the tubby time, he feeds her when I'm doing homework... He wakes up on one of the weekend morning to let me have one morning to sleep. He taught her the sign MILK (click here). He got her trying to say 'two' when he counts her snaps on her onsie when changing her. Yah for DADDY!


Last week he taught her how to say 'baby.' He reinforces all signs I ask him to sign with her ;)


One of the more important things recently, he helped me maintain my sanity last week when we took Lil off the bottle! She was a trooper  ... I was a stress ball! (haha). He was strong though.


DADDY
compliments of Sign2Me

Monday, March 26, 2012

Itsy Bitsy Spider!

Itsy Bitsy Spider - our first of the songs/chants we are going to start posting for you here! In the next couple months check out our songs with our own Signing Simon, but for now I wanted to share some old classics! We'll let you know later when this song is available with Signing Simon! I sing/sign this in some of my Mommy & Me classes!

What songs do you sing regularly with your children? I have a few classics of my own growing up that I'm passing on with Lil (you'll see in the upcoming weeks). How about you?

Friday, March 23, 2012

sign: DOCTOR & MEDICINE- Lil's too happy to go to the DOCTOR

We went to the DOCTOR'S last month when she had the croup and ear infection. And well, see for yourself- she's much too interested in the room.


She wanted to play with the equipment and walk all over the table... It ended with her getting MEDICINES.


We had to go back a couple weeks ago for a minor rash and here she is playing again! I tell ya - I wish I had her pain tolerance! And again - she was given MEDICINE.

Some children don't respond well at all to the doctor. This is where sign language can help those young children (and toddlers) or children with various special needs because you can use the sign when you're talking about going to the doctor as a visual reinforcing schedule so they gain understand better with the use of sign language as their visualize.

Compliments of Sign2Me

This sign in case you can't see it is as follows: the dominant hand's middle finger is shaking on the open palm of the non-dominant hand.

How are your children at the DOCTORS? I feel very fortunate Lil's so good at the DOCTOR'S office.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

sign: FROG Hopkins

Like we mentioned last week, Lil's first birthday party was March 10th. We used Hopkins (the Signing Time frog) and her bed linens with baby animals as the theme. 


Lil's cake toppers had Hopkins on it. So Cute! She really enjoyed her first ice cream cake and regular cake experience. Hopkins was also on her banners that Sherri's Hobby Shop made for us!
She doesn't have any favorites yet, like a blanket, toy, or stuffed animals, but she surely does enjoy watching her Signing Time DVDs so Hopkins was surely appropriate!


What animals do your children like? Perhaps they will be featured in the upcoming weeks!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Sign: WAIT for What's the Sign Wednesday!

Today's sign, compliments of our Facebook fan Barbara H., is WAIT. It's a great one I teach in almost all my classes (except intro to conversational sign) - WAIT is so appropriate for so many people for so many reasons!

WAIT
compliments of Super Duper, Inc.
In the sign you will see the one arm is slightly extend compared to the other arm.

What's the Sign Wednesday!

It's Wednesday!

What sign are you searching for today? 
Leave us a comment here or on our Facebook wall.

Last week Kristy from Virtual Boutik requested movie

What are you looking for?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Get ready! What's the sign Wednesday's coming!

What's the Sign Wednesday's tomorrow!

Get ready! What sign are you looking for!? 

We love being able to help!
Last week we helped with the sign MOVIE

Tell us, what sign are you looking for? 

Comment below to let us know how we can help.

sign: CHILDREN - Helping CHILDREN's Hospital of New Jersey

Today's sign is CHILDREN in hopes to reach out to others to help CHILDREN in need. 


CHILDREN'S Hospital of New Jersey created this awesome concept Building Blocks. Building Blocks was created as a way to raise money to create a home away from home for families with ill or injured children that are staying at the CHILDREN'S Hospital of NJ. 


One of my favorite parts that caught my eye:
"WHY WE'RE DOING IT: Imagine that you have a child in the hospital and you don’t want to leave their side for long. Maybe you don’t have bus fare or a car to drive back and forth. All you want is a place to shower or a warm bed to sleep in. We want to remodel an entire floor in our now vacant nursing dorm to give these families a home away from home." (compliments of http://www.buildingblocksofhope.org/how.html). 


For more information about the hospital and their hopes to help others please visit here. With my very small donation, I was able to leave a lasting impression on the CHILDREN at Newark Beth
Need more information?  check out this video. They also started this great blog! (Click here)

I don't live very close, but moments like this matter and I will do what I can to help the CHILDREN in need.

Another two-part sign! CHILDREN

Monday, March 19, 2012

SHOP - love the SHOP!

Today's sign is SHOP! (as in the noun)


We have a great giveaway going on that we mentioned last week at Dragonflies and Ladybugs. It's my favorite children's consignment boutique locally. But the great thing is - they ship nationwide. So now I can share my love for this SHOP with my friends nationwide.


So head to the SHOP and see what I'm talking about! First don't forget to participate in our contest!


The sign SHOP is the sign for STORE as well. Remember it's the noun, not verb (meaning it's not 'to shop' like buy, but to go to the SHOP). These things aren't the same ;)


Oh the link in case you forgot! http://hearmyhandsasl.blogspot.com/2012/03/25-gift-certificate-to-dragonflies-and.html


It's a two-part sign. STORE 
The fingertips swing forward and back a couple times. The thumbs are touching the fingers as if you were holding a piece of paper.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Pot O' Gold Signs & Craft choices! Happy St Patty

Happy St Patty's Day
Everyone's Irish roots come out this weekend! 
So Go Green and Enjoy!

St Patty's clover

gold

 Unfortunately there isn't a sign for leprechaun ... or shamrock (you need to fingerspell that one as well!)
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Check out some cute St. Patty crafts!

Playing With Words 365

Speech Room News
http://speechroomnews.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-patricks-day-craft.html


Can Do Kinders


http://www.candokinders.blogspot.com/2012/03/whew-its-been-long-time.html

                                                   
http://his4homeschooling.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-patricks-day-muffin-tin-meal.html

Thursday, March 15, 2012

sign: GREEN- in honor of St. Patty's Day!

In honor of this weekend's holiday - 
we're throwing in a little GREEN!

St Patty's Day

Green! 
ASL for Green
compliments of Sign2Me

What did you make that's green?!

Signing & Apraxia - the awesome benefits from the eyes of Apraxia Mom

 THANK YOU Apraxia Mom for this awesome post!

Last month we did a post on the benefits of using sign language with Apraxia (Check here!). We paired up Apraxia Mom for a similar post and I wanted to share.

Here's the link to Apraxia Mom's article. We also copy/pasted it here for you to read about Apraxia Mom and her journey with apraxia and sign language.

Long ago, back in the day when my girl was barely a year old and even had a diagnosis of apraxia, we were signing with her.


At the time, I thought it was so cool that my little baby girl could tell me "milk" and "more" and "please" and "thank you" with her little hands. 
She wasn't talking, but we were communicating.
Time went on and she still wasn't talking.


We were communicating, but it was hard and it wasn't the type of communication that I thought I would be having with my baby girl.
Back then, I didn't realize that I was actually paving the way of communication for her.


Back then, I just thought it was cute. Once she hit 18 months and still wasn't talking as much as a typical child of her age, we got our apraxia diagnosis. I spent countless hours on Google, trying to find ways to fix her and help her. And the funny part was that many sites encouraged signing with your child.


By the age of 2.5 years, my daughter was able to sign up to 100 different signsPeople in the grocery stores were amazed at her "talent". Family members accused me of delaying her speech even more.

What did they know?

By pairing a word with its visual cue, I was allowing my daughter to feel less frustration and to express herself. I always gave her the verbal cue as I signed it to her, and she picked up on it very quickly. Soon, I saw that she was attempting the verbal word as she signed. Then, I saw the sign slowly fade as the word became isolated in her vocabulary.



Genius approach!



This was NOT the be-all-end-all-cure-all for apraxia.
What is did do is allow an avenue for myself, my husband, and my daughter to communicate while we were working on her speech therapy.

Fast forward 7 years and I am still a HUGE supporter of signing.
Whether your child can speak or not, this is a great way to facilitate communication with your baby.

A great lady named Kristy over at Hear My Hands has a wonderful site to teach you just about everything that you need to know about ASL. Here is a little about her:


HearMyHands was created 2008 after a research study conducted by Kristy at LaSalle University using sign language and hearing infants. The study was a success and HearMyHands launched from there! HearMyHands provides workshops, classes and tutoring for babies, children and adults.

Kristy is a masters level certified Signing Time instructor in South Jersey. She has been a member of the Sign2Me Presenters Network since 2006.

Kristy has her bachelors in Communication Science & Disorders and masters in Speech-Language Pathology. She is currently enrolled at Nova Southeastern for her doctorate in speech-language pathology.

Kristy truly enjoys learning the language of ASL and is eager to share that joy with others. Knowing infants' minds are like little sponges, learning ASL is just a great way to help them absorb everything they have at the tip of their little fingers.

It is people like Kristy that make our jobs as parents with children with speech and language issues a little easier.
I just wish I knew her back in 2004 when my journey just began.
You can find Kristy and her site on Facebook as well as Twitter, too!

post signature

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

$25 Gift Certificate to Dragonflies and Ladybugs giveaway!

New Giveaway! 


It's our first Rafflecopter! 


Win a free gift certificate to Dragonflies and Ladybugs for $25! 


You can check out some of our great sign language products there!


They carry high end gently used children's and maternity clothing, toys, books, DVDs, strollers, and more! 


It's spring season and they have some awesome outfits! Lil's first birthday party outfit and first year photos by Adia Photography (posting late next week) were bought from Dragonflies and Ladybugs


Not only clothes but the trunk of my SUV is full of their toys I use daily for speech-language therapy. Many of my kiddos' parents love my awesome games, gadgets, and toys I was able to get at some great prices. 


But the other amazing reason I decided to do a gift certificate to Dragonflies and Ladybugs is because they ship nationwide with their new online store! So ... if you see something you like with their weekly pictures posted on Facebook of their new items in the store, you can call or email and discuss it being shipped to you directly! How cool! 


Ok, the contest has started - ends in 5 days! Good luck!

sign: MOVIE - What's the Sign Wednesday!

Today's sign compliments of Kristy from Virtual Boutik is MOVIE. 


MOVIE can be used "to go to the MOVIES" and "What MOVIE do you want to watch?"


Thanks Kristy!


Sign: MOVIE - you wave your dominant hand (that's leaning
on the non-dominant hand) left to right.

What's the Sign Wednesday

It's Wednesday!

What sign are you searching for today? Leave us a comment here or on our Facebook wall.
 

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

We've got some exciting new things up our sleeves

I'm vey excited to announce some exciting new things going on here at HearMyHands. We're excited to announce Signing Simon exclusively designed for HearMyHands! Simon already has some awesome ideas of how to help you learn sign language, but he'd love to hear your ideas.

We're excited to announce the new Home Party feature from Signing Time that fits so nicely in our Hosting Hands program. More details coming soon! Are you one to scrapbook on the first Friday of every month? or join a book club that meets monthly? Why not learn sign language the first Wednesday (or another day) of every month!? Get new products, new tips/techniques, fun ways to sign - how cool!


We're looking forward to our new series to help teachers with thematic units. We'd love to hear from you, teachers, with your thoughts of what you would like to see. First series is spring - check back soon for our lesson plan ideas for spring! 

What's the Sign Wednesday

What's the Sign Wednesday's tomorrow!

Get ready! What sign are you looking for!? 

We love being able to help!

Tell us, what sign are you looking for? 

Comment below to let us know how we can help.

sign ICE CREAM - fav type of cake!

One of my favorite memories growing up was having an ICE CREAM cake for my birthday. So we decided to keep the tradition with Little Fingers and get her fingers in an ICE CREAM cake instead of regular cake (well I should say along with regular cake). I'm so EXCITED to have Lil's cake come in and see her face when she puts her fingers in the cold cake. She loved it! ICE CREAM.  And we have plenty of left overs - more for mommy and Lil!

This ice cream cake was over 5 inches tall! and weighs - well we should have weighed it because saying it was heavy is an under statement!

Monday, March 12, 2012

sign: THANK YOU & CELEBRATION

We had a great birthday party CELEBRATION this weekend! We have lots of THANK YOUs to give out to all our friends and family and those who helped make the day possible.


The day was great; Lil opened her gifts, dug into her ice cream cake and regular vanilla/chocolate cake with the awesome buttercream icing - yum! 

THANK YOU to:
1. Sherri from Sherri's Hobby Shop for not only Lil's great banners and cake topper signs, but the awesome surprise gift to Lil from her favorite aunt - this awesome sign (in the background)!
The sign to measure her height annually is in the background  (above)
(below) - we hung it up, but she won't stay still long enough to measure 
and take the picture!


2. Adia Photography for Lil's first year old pictures  (pictures coming soon)
3. L&M Bakery for the awesome cake 
These are the some of the cake toppers I was referring to earlier.
And - do you see Hopkins!? (from Signing Time). 
4. Holiday Ice Cream for the great ice cream cake
5. Dragonflies and Ladybugs for her cute outfit!
I know, it's hard to see. A better picture coming soon!
It's a cute cupcake with one candle on her dress

6. and of course all our friends and family for her awesome gifts and love they have for our precious baby girl! 
THANK YOU!

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