sign: GRANDMA'S in town!

Lil's grandma (aka gramma) and grandpa came to town for a couple days! That means extra hands for mommy and daddy! Score! It's great that they get to see her. Each time they come, she either has more teeth, or closer to walking, or saying more sounds ... this time they get to see her sign!

Lil enjoyed her time with her grandparents... and mommy here is very appreciative to all the help received from just a short amount of time!

Compliments of Sign2Me

sign: HURT & DOCTOR- Mommy's boo boo

So a week ago I was making Lil's baby food like I always do, but this time I had a slight knife accident... I ended up getting stitches in my thumb! That made for quite the night and whole next day (when I finally decided to seek medical attention ... and as a result, stitches).  The doctor wasn't happy with me that I didn't seek medical attention the night of the incident but I figured I've been through way more severe things (e.g. child birth!). 

compliments of LifePrint.com
sign: DOCTOR. Some make a D handshape at the palm-up
wrist and some sign it this way

compliments of Sign2Me

Today the stitches finally came out - can I say 'ou-wee' again! Ouch! But, now I can get back to business - making baby food, washing my hair with both hands, getting the tabs on her diaper without a 5 minute ordeal! ... Oh - the adventures of motherhood!




**Note** about the sign HURT. It's called a 'directional sign' - meaning if your head HURTS you can move the sign to your head region and ta-da! The sign then becomes HEADACHE. If your tummy HURTS, you merely sign HURT in your tummy region and the sign becomes TUMMY ACHE. Now don't go to the extreme! Don't kick your leg up to show me a boo boo HURT on your shin! Merely sign HURT in neutral space in front of you and point to the spot! Don't worry. We'll teach more tips soon enough! 

**Learn these and other great signs in our upcoming classes! 

Check out our "Classes" page for more details!!**

sign: WONDERFUL - Versatile Blogger Award - Wow!

Wow, this was unexpected! Thank you Nikki from Peace, Love and Purses http://peaceloveandpurses8.blogspot.com/

compliments of Lifeprint.com
Sign: WONDERFUL - open hands (called "Five handshape")
and pretend you are double high five high, then double
high five down 5 inches ... WONDERFUL

The rules for this award are:

1. Thank the person that nominated you with a link back to them. 

2. Tell 7 things about yourself. (see below)

3. Pass this award on to 10 newly discovered blogs and let them know that they’ve received an award.

Seven things about HearMyHands :

1. HMH started in 2008 as a result of a required assignment in a graduate research class. I just took it to the next level and 10 months later - bam! proved sign language is beneficial with hearing infants :)

2. We are very new to blogging but enjoying it more and more each day! 

3. I started signing at a community enrichment course at night while I was in High school and now I teach those courses!

4. I went to a separate college at night for signing b/c the universities I went to during the day (full time) didn't offer ASL. 

5. I've been married for 3 years and moved back in the house I grew up in, which used to be my great-grandmother's house. We have a beautiful happy little girl we call Little Fingers (aka Lil) here on the blog. We enjoy traveling, roller blading, taking Lil for walks, going out for ice cream, bowling, horse back riding and anything else that gets us outside and in the fresh air.
6. HearMyHands has a sister company Speech Language Associate, LLC which provides speech language services and specializes in AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication). I have my Masters degree in speech language hearing science. I am currently a doctoral student at Nova Southeastern University and starting my dissertation too (which sign language is a part of!).
7. HearMyHands has such awesome ideas in store, we can hardly sleep at night! :)!!

10 Blogs that I love and awarded the Versatile Blog Award to are...

I encourage you to visit each one of these blogs and congratulate them on being awarded the Versatile Blogger Award!

www.playingwithwords365.com
http://melomomma.com
http://speechroomnews.blogspot.com
http://speechladyliz.blogspot.com
http://thespeechladies.blogspot.com
http://www.handsonaswegrow.com
http://www.swankybaby.net
http://greeneggsandmoms.com/
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com
http://www.thehowtomommy.com/

Thank you again! Much appreciated!

Check us out on Mom2MomNJ

We're growing quickly! Thank you Thank you! Check out our sign language classes on the Class list Mom2MomNJ! Mom2MomNJ offers a variety of services. They are online 24/7 (it appears to be anyway because they are always in the know!). Their motto: "Give. Share. Save. Grow" - so true! Thank you to all of our NJ fans. 


Please stay tuned; we have great things planned for our future! 
Thank you again!

compliments of Label & Learn

Don't forget! Classes starting soon! Mommy & Me February 9th and Intro to Adult Conversational Sign February 21st!!!

sign: BUBBLES in Tubby Time!

Lil loves her bath as I mentioned before. For Christmas she got a bubble maker from her grandmother. Needless to say, the battery died within two weeks. Her baths are only 10 - 15 minutes but it's on the whole time she in that tub the little machine is on. Again, since it's my husband job ("tubby time"), he's signing to her BUBBLES BUBBLES as she's reaching up with her little baby marshmallow arms giggling and laughing. We haven't moved the bubble situation outside of the tub but I do foresee our springs and summers full of bubbles.


Being the speech therapist in me - I already know what great language and signs I can use to bring about more signs and more speech! But -  you'll have to stay tuned 'til the spring. I can't give it all away right now! ;)

compliments of Sign2Me
Sign: BUBBLES: pointer finger to thumb (both hands
in an upward motion)

Sign: GIRL Welcome Sandy's baby girl to the world today!

In honor of Sandy from Mom2MomNJ, enjoy the sign GIRL. Sandy had a baby GIRL this morning... and she's already back on Facebook. Too funny! Welcome Sandy's baby GIRL! 

compliments of Sign2Me

sign: DIAPER! Do the DIAPER Dance

Obviously Ms. Lil is in DIAPERS. So why not make it a teachable moment! How many times does she get changed a day?! Oh goodness - I couldn't tell you - a dozen or more?! Baby Signing Time Volume 1 has an awesome DIAPER song that we sing while we're getting changed! "Do the DIAPER dance. You gotta wiggle ... " (it's contagious!)

Years ago, I had a friend tell me that her child learned DIAPER in daycare and then came home and signed DIAPER when she needed it changed! Wouldn't that be great?! This could lead to early potty training! (Stay tuned for more information on that because that is our hope for sure! Especially with the new Potty Time DVD and CD.

So let's hope in the upcoming months not only will Lil be signing DIAPER like mommy and daddy are doing but she'll be telling us she needs to go before her DIAPER's dirty! :0 - how great would that be!?

Sign: DIAPER
compliments of Sign2Me

Check us out on PlayingWithWords365!

We're very proud to say that our HearMyHands badge can now be found on the side bar of PlayingWithWords365! PWW365 is a great site for parents, teachers, and other professionals to find resources to expand language for all ages. Katie, a fellow speech language pathologist, blogs about great tips & techniques on working on language skills in the home setting. She understands my passion for American Sign Language and values its importance in her children's lives as well. Check out her great crafts and activities for children to enrich their language skills. PlayingWithWords365

Mommy&Me Class schedule

Please note - there is a change in the Mommy&Me classes starting in a few weeks.

Monday class is merging with Thursday morning class.

Please check the schedule and email us if you have any questions.
Thursday morning class hosted by Dragonflies and Ladybugs (Maple Ave in Marlton, NJ) starts @ 10am. This class is geared towards toddlers 1year - 3 years old. To register please go to 'classes' page and see more details!

Looking forward to signing with you soon!!

sign: RUN, Go Now RUN! Contest Almost Over!

RUN! Don't walk, RUN!  

SwankyBaby's contest over tomorrow night! HearMyHands is giving away the book Sign with Your Baby by Joseph Garcia and Baby Signing Time Volume 1 DVD!


Ok, so the sign RUN - it's truly the verb sign :)! So for all you teachers and parents out there, yes, you can use it to say "RUN" or "Stop RUNNING!" or "NO RUNNING in the hallways" (remember we learned NO already - psst check the old posts!) or when I'm in therapy teaching young kiddos to expand their language I might take their dolls or figurines and make them RUN and say RUN RUN RUN.

Sign: RUN
compliments of Super Duper Inc.
Disclaimer: I do not promote all Super Duper Inc sign language
products. You will hear more about me and my thoughts
on Super Duper Inc signing products soon in our
product review page.

sign: SNOW. Oh winter is finally here!

We are lovers of cold and SNOW here at HearMyHands. Yesterday was the first SNOW of the real winter season. We're were very excited about this, but unfortunately because of my newly stitched thumb and Little Finger's nap schedule, we didn't go out to play :( 


But we did get some great snow and it's still on the ground! We're very happy! Perhaps we'll go out today to play! Who else has snow this lovely weekend? What's your favorite traditions when it snows? Our are usually me watching the men SNOW blow our driveway and street with the neighbors while I'm out back throwing SNOWballs for the dogs. Times have changed! Now Little Fingers is in the mix and we get to create all new traditions :)

Sign: SNOW
compliments of Sign2Me
(Gently wiggle your fingers downwards -
like snow falls)

If I have other snow enthusiasts here, maybe later I'll throw some more SNOW related signs out there :)

sign: Don't FORGET! Contest Ends Soon! & Classes Coming!

Don't FORGET we have two exciting things in the mix!

This week our contest partnering with SwankyBaby @ Http://www.swankybaby.net ends this week. You can win Sign With Your Baby book and Baby Signing Time Vol 1 DVD. 


Also! We have our classes forming and starting in just a couple short weeks. Two Mommy&Me in Marlton @ Dragonflies and Ladybugs and one Adult Conversational Sign in Haddonfield @ Dynamic Language. 

Sign: FORGET

Don't FORGET !

sign: NEW

As you all may know, this website/blog experience is quite NEW for us! Please accept our sincere apologies for the errors on the links to the registration forms for class and the Pay Pal you may have been experiencing this week. But it is up and running! Thank you for staying with us during this new journey. We've been signing for years... but the technology, websites, and all the above - we're NEW. :) So thanks for staying with us. 


We have plenty of NEW signs coming and NEW tips/techniques to use the signs :)!

Guess what today's sign is? You guessed it! NEW!

Happy Signing!

Classes forming & registration is up!

Happy Thursday to everyone :)!

Class registration forms are now up! Please check out our 'classes' page to complete the form. Thanks to those who have already registered!

Again, classes are starting February 6th (for 4 Mondays) @ 11am for 12 - 23 month olds; February 9th for the next age toddlers @ 10 am; & February 14th for Introduction to Adult Conversational Sign @ 7pm. For more information, check out the 'classes' page.

Sign Language Giveaway!

Check out our first give away of the year at SwankyBaby! You can also see my guest blog post discussing the benefits of signing with your children. :)!


These are the two things we are giving away - go check out SwankyBaby for all the details!

 

Sign: BATH

I feel very fortunate that Lil loves the water and loves bath time (a.k.a 'tubby time'). Only problem is it's my husband's role. When he was deployed over the summer and into the fall my father came over nightly to give her a bath b/c I was recovering from arm surgery ... I called it my 'me time' (everyone needs it right?). Well my husband's home and some nights he's unavailable ... so I step in :)

I've come to realize Lil is expecting routines during tubby time that I'm unaware of! Yikes! She is able to do so many things I'm in awe each time I see something new. She plays imitating games during tubby time! When I wasn't playing with her - she just looked at me like 'why aren't you splashing back? It's your time!'. A night or two later I peeked in while my husband was giving her a bath and saw the games. (So cute by the way). Another night I walked her in (holding each of her little arms as she walked herself into the bathroom) and my husband remembered the sign for BATH! :) How cool! I watched him sign it to Lil, she continued to smile.

Sign: BATH. So baby here is approximating the sign but
I thought it was adorable! BATH is: closed fists going up and down
the chest in rotating fashion (e.g. left up/right down, etc.) like
you are scrubbing yourself clean!

So lesson learned ... play imitating games whenever you can! We always play vocal games. Lil vocalizes a sound, so I vocalize the same sound. Lil verbalizes a sound (baba, ga-da), I verbalize the sound. Months into these games have now led to Lil being able to change her vocalization or verbalization to whatever I am doing. Awesome! Now (late 9 months & 10 months old) she is able to use intonation (tone of voice) and we continue to play our imitating games but now adding intonation! These imitating games also help her signing abilities.  Happy Signing!

Pay pal error fixed, classes are ready!

Thank you everyone for your patience!! The option to 'add to cart' is how we are now working the payment for the 3 different classes offered next month. Please check out our 'classes' page and click the one that suits your needs. We look forward to signing with you soon!!

Picture Compliments of www.labelandlearn.com

Class registration

Hello everyone,
Thank you for the overwhelming positive response to the upcoming classes in February. My apologies for the Pay Pal button dilema. It should be fixed tomorrow and payment will be made via email or through the pay pal button. Stay tuned for more hopefully tomorrow. 
Thanks & Happy Signing!


~HearMyHands

Signing Books! First Product Review & It's Free!

I'm very excited to share Signing Books "Dear Zoo"! This website  has the great idea of having the illustrated story with signing, speaking, and most of the times the original words from the book. Each story is slightly different; some more interactive and illustrated than others. SigningStories has a variety of books for different age groups. You can fast forward or rewind the story. The con that I saw was I got excited when I saw 'buy this' thinking maybe I could buy some permanent download for my computer to have this read signing book on my computer (like a digital format if you will) but it's just a link to the actual book (no signing).


I understand this isn't anything to buy (which actually makes it better right?!) but it's definitely a must have!

Enroll in Classes Today!

For those who haven't ventured to our 'classes' page, please do! We have 3 classes ready for enrollment in February - two different mommy (or daddy) & Me toddler classes at Dragonflies and Ladybugs and one Adult conversational sign at Dynamic Language. Time to get those fingers moving and Let Our Hands Do Some Talking!

Expo = Success! Sign: THANK YOU!

We wanted to thank everyone today for visiting us at the South Jersey Mom Summer Camp Expo at the Moorestown Mall! We had a great turn out! It was awesome to hear our clapping hands throughout the whole mall! It was a success and we have you to thank! We are excited to launch two series of Mommy&Me classes and Intro to Adult Conversational Sign classes. Check out "Classes" page for all the info! Thank you again! We were overwhelmed by the number of awesome people we met. Also - we had some great conversations about the speech/language services we are able to offer through Speech Language Associates ... THANK YOU!

Sign: THANK YOU compliments of LabelandLearn(r)

Come Visit Tomorrow! South Jersey Summer Camp Expo!

Tomorrow we are hosting a table for the HearMyHands classes forming, tutoring services, workshops offered and Speech Language Associates services! We're very excited to meet our fan base and those we don't know yet as well! Check it out! - Tomorrow 11am - 6pm
Summer Camp Expo - Moorestown Mall

Sign: CAMP
(You know how I try to include a sign each post :) Compliments
of www.Lifeprint.com)

We currently have a Mommy & Me class forming February 6th (for 4 Mondays) @ 11am- 11:45 @ Dragonflies & Ladybugs in Marlton, NJ. Please inquire!! Class size is limited so it will first come first serve basis.


We are also forming Intro to Adult Conversational Sign starting February 14th (for a 4 week series) 7pm - 8pm @ Dynamic Language in Haddonfield, NJ. Space is also limited, so please inquire sooner than later :)!

Sign: NO ... is she too young?

I consider our parenthood journey to be relatively successful thus far feeling pretty proud of our decisions as parents .. there's a few things minor things but sometimes I feel like we've created a monster! My husband and I joked last night that we should introduce the sign NO.  A few weeks ago we decided she was old enough to hear the word 'no' ... but needless to say we've created a monster. It's called "Lil goes to town on her changing table". She does nothing close to sitting or laying or anything else that might make the process relatively easy for mommy and daddy! So we joke - perhaps NO is being added to the list. We'll keep you posted! We could have the only 10 month old signing NO to everyone .. YIKES!

We are now guest posting!

While I continue to have crazy stories about Lil and our signing together, today's post is about my guest blog piece for PlayingWithWords365. Katie is a fellow speech-language pathologist who sees the value in ASL and is using it with her own children!
Check out The Benefits of Using Sign Language! on www.PlayingWithWords365.com


Happy Signing!
~HearMyHands

HURT - another sign I wish Lil knew

Last week, Little Fingers (a.k.a "Lil") had a bad diaper rash. For being almost 10 months old, I can tell you she's only gotten one other rash to this degree! She was mighty upset to say the least. As she laid there screaming and crying, I thought, "I wish she knew the sign HURT." If we knew ahead of time just how severe the rash was before going in there and trying to help we might have tried something different (e.g. put her right in a luke warm tub - anything but what she was going through). Our hearts HURT watching her. My husband, father, and I all tried to calm her down, distract her and get the diaper changing job done as quickly as possible!

We've surpassed the rash but it's definitely a sign on our list!

Sign: HURT
courtesy of Sign2Me
HURT is a 'directional sign'! What does that mean?
When your head hurts, move the sign to your head! When you
have a sore throat, move the sign to your throat area!
See - Learn something new every day!

Check out Sign2Me(r) products (and other products) on our Amazon Store!

Signing & Apraxia: Why should you use ASL?

Why Sign Language is Beneficial for Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

            Sign language has shown to be beneficial for children diagnosed with CAS.  First, what is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

-       CAS is a motor speech disorder. Therefore it’s important to understand the component of the brain that is negatively impacted – the motor strip area.

-       Motor planning is difficult. What’s that mean? Coordinating movements of the jaw, tongue, lips, and palate can be challenging.

-       Difficulties happen when the brain tries to tell the mouth how to move, and how to achieve sounds, words, sentences, etc. The brain knows what it wants to say but can’t relay that message to the mouth (lips, tongue, palate) effectively.

It’s important to stress the motor planning component of CAS because I truly believe sign language can help children with CAS because of the motor planning skills that are used in sign language!

Motor planning in layman’s terms examples:

1.                    Think about brushing your teeth. Think about which hand you use. Think about how you brush your teeth. You don’t typically change the hand you use to brush your teeth. You don’t typically change the set of teeth you brush first (top/bottom).  You don’t necessarily have to look in the mirror and concentrate while brushing your teeth. 

2.                    Think about texting on the old fashion flip phones. Think about how quick you got at texting and perhaps you didn’t even have to look at the keyboard!

THESE are SUCESSSES we have on a DAILY basis because of our ability to MOTOR PLAN!

Again, children with CAS struggle planning the speech movements to communicate effectively. 

Sign Language can be used to:

1. Reduce Frustration
2. Provide Symbolic Communication (the signs mean something)
3.  Increase Expressive Communication
4. Relieves Pressure to Verbally Communicate and Allows for More Focus on Academics
5. Positive and Successful Communication Attempts
6. Better Control of Rate of Speech for Both Adults and Children (when signing individuals tend to slow down to allow for simultaneous verbal and sign communication)
7. Provides Visual Cues
8. REINFORCES MOTOR PLANNING!

Sign Language will not limit their speech attempts or increase their difficulties verbalizing. The first fear is that a speech therapist is going to put speech therapy (training, drills, etc.) on the back burner and focus on sign language. It’s important to note – sign language is an awesome supplement!

Check out other resources that express the positive change ASL can have in your life

Signing Time explaining Benefits

Sign2Me explaining Benefits

www.apraxia-kids.org

For great sign language products to help you along the way, check out our  Amazon Store!

Don’t see what you want? Email me! hearmyhandsllc@gmail.com

We'd love to hear your success stories with CAS and ASL! And if you don't have one, this is the year to create one!

Signing Time Sign of the Week

Book. Sign for Book
Check out last week's sign of the week if you missed it on my Facebook page. Facebook HearMyHands
Book. So what book have you read using sign language? Or - what book do you wish you could read with a little sign?

Here's an added bonus you won't find from last week's Facebook post.

Tips when Signing and Reading:

1. Add signs to favorite books, especially ones read over and over again. Don't ever stress about signing the whole book -that's not practical :)!
2. Books with a single picture or word per page allow the baby to focus on just one sign at a time.  Try simple baby vocabulary books.
3. Repetitive books allow you, the signer, to use the same sign (or signs) again and again.  Try the Five Little Monkeys, Brown Bear, or Goodnight Moon.
4. Make your own books with signs from the included sign dictionary (photocopy or from a computer), or take photographs of the baby signing his/ her first signs. Match them with photographs or clip art that represent the sign.  Insert them into small photo albums and read together.
5. Make books with photos taken during outings, including walks, zoos, farms, playgrounds, and friends’ or relatives’ houses. When you look through them, use the signs of the animals from the zoo or farm, or family signs such as sister, brother.
6. And Don't Forget - Have fun!

~ HearMyHands

Signing Time - Great story of why Sign Works!

In case you didn't see this on my Facebook wall.. Check out this story. Firefighter uses sign language 

Baby now knows MILK!

I think this is a great way to me to document baby's signing progress :)! We now have sign #3. MILK
Not only sign #3, but my husband taught her! My husband simply had the bottle in his hand, signed MILK in his other hand and let her imitation skills do the rest! She did it immediately! I tried it myself the next day because of course I had to see for myself first before I say 'yah, she knows MILK!' And she did it - with a smile on her face! So ... next question .. what's sign #4? Umm.. what do you think? I'm thinking MOMMY but maybe I shouldn't be selfish :) PLAY? ... UP? ... POTTY?

Check Out Dragonflies & Ladybugs selling sign language products!

For those who are local, check out Dragonflies and Ladybugs carrying our products! If you want different products, please check out our Amazon store. If you still don't see what you are looking for, email us! We have more!

https://www.facebook.com/DragonfliesAndLadybugs

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=273572539363133&set=a.273572532696467.66552.127560327297689&type=1&theater

Happy Signing!

Wish the baby knew the sign HELP

Friday night I was feeding Lil some apples that I was peeling and pureeing some for her to make baby food. She loved munching on the whole peeled apple with her teeny gnawing marks on what appears to be a large apple in front of her small face. So I peeled a single thin layer of the apple off for her to nibble on. The family was in town for the New Years weekend and Cmas part II. We were all around the kitchen table. I proceeded to get the food processor out and begin making her food when my sister called out, "something's wrong. .. Something's wrong!" Some reason I didn't take her seriously, but the next thing I knew I turned around and my husband was performing acts we learned in our annual CPR classes! Lil was truly choking! Her face was as red as the original apple before I peeled it. Her eyes were huge ... she was so scared!

Thinking back, I wonder wow it would be nice if she learned the sign for HELP relatively quickly ugh?...  Not that she would have it in her to sign HELP when she's choking, but I know there will be more times in her life in the near future that could be of benefit to know the sign HELP. So ... sign of the week: HELP!