Sign on...

If I were to list some of my favorite baby moments, watching a baby sign would be somewhere at the top. It just makes me go "Aaaaawww, that is soooo sweet". And we're having plenty of those moments these days with Angel's expanding 'vocabulary'.

We started teaching Angel to sign a couple of weeks ago after I read some articles that said that teaching a baby to sign not only helps them to have a meaningful interaction with other people but also helps to increase their IQ. Because babies with Down Syndrome could have some speech delay, teaching them sign language could go a long way in broadening their horizon.

Though our initial efforts weren't consistent, she picked up some of the signs pretty quickly. She has already learned to sign 'bath', 'eat', 'no', 'stop' and 'hello'. The first thing she learned was 'bath'. So everytime we would take her to the bathroom, she would sign 'bath', sometimes moving her little hands over her tummy really fast just so we got the message :) Oh yes, this baby loves her bath time.

The developmental pediatrician who saw Angel last month was surprised that we were teaching Angel to sign - all credit to the various sites and blogs I read :) Anyway, she recommended the book 'Baby Signs' which I didn't find at any book store here so will order it on Amazon. Until then I'm relying on the internet for all the information I need. There are some very interesting sites out there and one of them called My Smart Hands, which has been developed by an enterprising mom, is quite good.

The speech therapist (who we met later) reiterated the importance of signing and suggested that we use gestures for every word. We have plenty of scope to get creative and have fun. It's like we're doing action play all day. Even Princess has caught on :)

If you are a new parent and would like to teach your baby to sign, here is a great video that could help you get started:



There's another good video that you can find here.

Teaching Angel to sign has been a high point for us. Yes, my baby can now 'talk' - in her own sweet way. And I'm loving it.

Thanks for reading,
JD

Baby talk

We've finally started Angel on speech therapy. Yesterday, we met a therapist who was recommended to us by the pediatrician at Ummeed. And I'm happy to say that it was a nice, positive experience.

I was initially apprehensive that we were probably very late in starting Angel on speech therapy considering she is already 15 months old. Thankfully, Palak (the speech therapist) reassured me that it was fine to start now.

She did an assessment of Angel's speech even as the two of them carried on a conversation. It was great to watch them both talking. I could see Angel was in a happy place, what with the new toys and someone actually 'understanding' what she was saying. That itself was a big learning for me.

Palak drew up an therapy action plan for us to work on with a two month timeline. What I really liked was that all of it can be done easily at home. The key actions that we have to incorporate in our daily routine are:
- We have to use short sentences, stretch words and use a lot of gestures while speaking with Angel.
- She has to learn to sign 'eat' and 'finished'.
- We have to incorporate doll play into our routine. We have to take the doll everywhere and make the doll do whatever Angel is doing.
- For oro-motor stimulation, Palak recommended we buy a set of training toothbrushes and use the beginner brush - which looks more like mini paddle - and roll it around her mouth five times each day. The brush has to be dipped alternately in honey and lemon juice and we need to do five repetitions each time.
- We have to record Angel's vocalizations and play it back to her.
- We have to imitate her vocalizations and do vocal play with her.
- We also have to talk for her. So when she says boo....we say boo...book? Do you want your book?
- Within the next two months Angel must be able to recognize 20 commonly used objects.
- We need to buy her some cause-effect toys. If you'd like to pick up such toys make sure you have the time to look around all the stuff before you pick what will really benefit your child.
- We have read the book 'The new language of toys'
- Palak also suggested that we play a DVD on signing for her. It's called - My baby can sign. We haven't managed to locate this and the book yet but as soon as I get them, I'll add the details to this post.

I left Palak's clinic happy and with a sense of having achieved a milestone even though it was just the first step. I guess you, dear parent, will know what I'm talking about.

We'll keep you posted on how the talk therapy is going with us.

Thanks for reading,
JD