Michelle Melani, co-owner of Happy Hands Signing Academy, has offered free story times and informational programs this month, and plans more for June, at Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library branches.

Rachel Hewlate brought her 8-month-old son Atticus to a program at the Nora branch May 17 after hearing about the class that shows parents how to communicate with their babies.

"He's (Atticus is) to the point you can tell if he's getting bored," Hewlate said. "There is a wider range of things he wants. I wanted to know how to do it (sign language)."

The best time to start signing is when children are 6-8 months old, Melani said, but added that parents can start when children are older or younger, too.

American Sign Language hand signals are used because most are iconic and it's a real language, Melani said. For example, "milk" is communicated by squeezing fingers together like milking a cow, and "dog" by slapping the side of the leg as if calling a dog.

By communicating before they can speak, children get less frustrated and angry, Melani said. Signing also helps children learn to speak earlier and develop larger vocabularies. Parents should always speak the words when signing them so the child learns the work in two ways. This also helps children read and spell better when they are older, she said, and they're often able to learn a second language more easily.

"The reason that signing works so well with young babies is because babies' gross motor skills develop long before their fine motor skills do," Melani explained. "Babies only need gross motor skills to use their hands to make simple signs, but they need fine motor skills to use all the tiny muscles in their throats required for speech.

"Their cognitive development is already in place for understanding speech and if we give them the tools they need -- a few simple signs -- they can easily communicate with their hands as young as 7 to 8 months of age," she said.

During the program at the library, parents learned basic signs for the words milk, eat, more, crackers, ball, dog and cat through lessons, video and songs. Melani instructed them to make the sign in the baby's sight line of the object to create an association between the action or object and the sign.

Children won't learn the signs without reinforcement, she said. Parents should make signs throughout the day but also pick consistent times like at mealtime or bedtime. Children are also motivated to sign things they are interested in such as toys or animals.

"It varies how soon they will sign," Melani said. "It takes consistency and patience. The more people who sign, the better. It helps if adults sign with each other in front of the baby."

Children might begin by making approximate signs, such as using one finger instead of all five, but parents should always sign the correct way, Melani said.

Regular six-week sessions focus on a different topic each week such as dinnertime or playtime. Classes last 45 minutes with 15 minutes for questions, Melani said. Classes are limited to six families with a minimum of three to allow for one-on-one interaction. New classes start in mid June.

By Gretchen Becker
http://www.thenoblesvilleledger.com/articles/9/071427-8419-114.html