Parents, teachers and caregivers, of young children, are always looking for ways to foster learning in a fun playful way and to build strong relationships with interactive activities. With all the choices that are available we would offer these considerations for using sign language, to communicate, play and sing and sign songs.
 
Research across the U.S. and in many other parts of the world have shown that hearing children receive many benefits as a result learning sign language along side verbal communication. Here are the top 10 reasons to incorporate ASL into your child's daily life:

1.    IT'S FUN AND PLAYFUL
Parents and teachers alike have discovered that young children, into elementary school, love to learn to sign and are genuinely excited to participate in signing activities. It is a fun playful activity for families to share.
 
2.    EARLY COMMUNICATION
Young children have the ability to use their hands to communicate wants, thoughts and desires often many months before they can say the word. For very young children, as young as 10 months, this offers a way for parents to give their children communication skills and ease the frustrations of the crying guessing game.
 
3.    REDUCES COMMUNICATION FRUSTRATIONS
Parents around the country have been reporting for years that signing gives them and their children a usable communication tool that enables children make clear wants and needs long before they can speak and thereby reducing the crying game frustrations.
 
4.    INCREASED VOCABULARY
Hearing children who learn to sign have been shown to have up to twice the usable vocabulary, signed and spoken, than their non-signing counterparts. Signing offers children an additional way to communicate that is stored and accessed in a different part of the brain from verbal memory. It is a wonderful means of scaffolding or a way to build skills that will raise a child to the next level of learning. For infants it is a way to communicate using words prior to verbal skills being established. For toddlers it is a way to expand their usable vocabulary by getting more information and expanded language skills.
 
5.    GIVES CHILDREN HEAD START ON EDUCATION
Children who sign have been found to have twice the usable vocabulary of non-signing children. Signing also provides children with a way to manipulate letters, sounds and to spell before they are able to write.
 
6.    STIMULATES BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Signing has been shown to improve IQ scores.
 
7.    HELPS BUILD FINE AND GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
A great way for children to move their hands and bodies and develop hand – eye coordination.
 
8.    SELF-ESTEEM
Learning to sign enhances children's self esteem and helps to encourage a real enthusiasm for learning.
 
9.    LEARN VOCABULARY TO A SECOND LANGUAGE
We Sign uses American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary. ASL is the 4th most common in the U.S.
 
10.    IMPROVES MEMORY AND RECALL
Signed words are stored in a separate part of the brain, learning sign along with spoken words, enhances memory and recall of language.

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How It All Began…

Ken Frawley graduated from California State University at Fullerton and was on his way to become elementary school teacher. Instead of the classroom, he began performing children's and family music and storytelling programs at libraries, schools, preschools and community events throughout Southern California. In the past 14 years he has performed over one thousand shows to over half a million children and other family members.
 
   Ken became involved in the playful use of sign language through his wife Georgia who had learned sign language when she worked at a school for the deaf. She taught Ken and their children to use sign not only as part of daily communication but also as a fun part of singing songs, reading books and play-time activities.
 
   In the early 1990's a sign language interpreter friend who said she wished there were more activities for hearing and deaf children to do together (most deaf children she said were in hearing households). At this point Ken decided to add signing songs to his shows. Children and families seemed to enjoy the challenge of learning something new, something that was not just movement but were words in a real language.
 
   After a year, he began to return to events he had performed at the year before and was amazed to find that children were showing him how to sing and sign songs he had taught them the year before. Wow! The power of music and movement was what immediately occurred to him. We have all learned movement songs, like The Itsy Bitsy Spider and I'm a Little Tea Pot, which we still remember as adults. But the question for him was there any research on the subject.
 
   He quickly found lots of studies and books. Some of the concepts he found supporting music and movement dated back thousands of years in human history. Plato believed that music was one of the four main pillars of learning. There are theories today, supporting Plato, saying that music learning is fundamental to the biological nature of humanity. Movement and its benefits to learning is also an old concept. Even Confucius, over 2000 years ago recognized this when he said: “If you tell me I will forget. If you show me I may remember but if you involve me I will understand.”
 
Mankind had known for centuries the power of music and active involvement in learning and today; the learning styles developed by Harold Gardner continue to support this. Gardner believes that there are a variety of different ways that each of us learns. We learn through physical learning (using our bodies, moving), visual learning (by looking at and watching), oral learning (speaking and listening), musical learning (learning supported by the rhythms and melodies of music and songs), mathematical learning (learning by using numbers and math), interpersonal learning (interacting with others), and interpersonal learning (by ones self) and environmental learning (from the environment in which we live). He has written that, though we favor a learning style, the more learning styles you combine in a learning rich environment will leads to greater learning comprehension, memory and mastery of things we are learning.
 
But, for Ken, a learning rich environment for children also required at least two additional components. First, there needed to be parental involvement and family involvement in the activity. Having parents playfully involved with their children's lives, singing songs, reading books and talking on a daily basis was a fundamental belief of Ken's. And secondly, the activities had to be playful, fun and interesting enough to hold a child's continued attention – music offered this.
 
Then he discovered more specific research on sign language and learning Acarello and Godwin had been studying the increased language and learning that took place when signing (not specifically ASL but made up signs). Later more research by Joseph Garcia had similar results. Finally Marilyn Daniels, in her book Dancing With Words, brought it all together. She not only documents her research but pulls together research dating back into the 1970 that show signing to enhance early communication, increase vocabulary increase, and for older children improved test scores. She also documented the same things Ken had seen, that hearing children develop a real enthusiasm for learning and using sign language.
 
At the same time Ken and Georgia were developing the concept for a video series using new and traditional songs combined with the visual and movement oriented nature of signing, they met Mike Cash. Mike had been in the video production business for a number of years previously. Mike, Ken and Georgia came together to begin to produce the Say, Sing and Sign video series. This series would ultimately become the multiple award winning and $1,000,000.00 selling We Sign video series. Today, the We Sign products are now the number 1 interactive video series for children and are available across the United States.
 
The We Sign series is the most encompassing movement and music, signing and singing, product available. We Sign begins with Babies and Toddlers - teaching parents how to use sign to encourage early communication and enhance language growth for babies and toddlers; continues with early signing fun with We Sign Fun Time and Play Time - designed for toddlers and young children to sing, play, move and learn; the series then expands in the We Sign basics collection of ABC's, Numbers, Colors, Animals, Rhymes, Classroom Favorites and More Animals - supporting the learning of these basic educational concepts for preschoolers and early elementary school children; finally rounds out with the We Sign specialty collection of American Patriotic Songs, Santa's Favorite Christmas Songs and Christmas Carols and Hymns.

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Sign Language For “ALL” Children

Real Benefits for Real People

There has been a growing national trend, brought on by local, state and national requirements on preschools to provide much more instruction and give these children a real foundation of knowledge prior to entering kindergarten. Children today are required to know and have basic understanding of alphabetical letters and their sounds, of numbers, of colors and of things they find all around them in the world. Preschool children are being pushed into having much larger vocabularies and informational knowledge then at anytime in our countries history.
 
   Parents are feeling this pressure and are beginning, at a very young age, to begin to provide for their children learning opportunities and programs that are geared making them smarter and better prepared for school. We do these things as responsible parents, in an effort go give our children the beset opportunity possible for their future. We do these things because we love our children.
 
   Today parents are bombarded with lots of products all of which are designed to support and enhance the learning process in young children. If children do this, they will be smarter, if they listen to this type of music, they will be smarter, if they play these games they will be smarter. But what really works?
 
   We are told over and over that “studies show” this and “studies show” that. So many things will work. Yet I, as a father of 4 and a grandfather of 3 and a professional who has worked with hundreds of thousands of kids really question some of the claims. Somehow, rat studies and college student studies about listening to classical music making children smarter don't ring well with me. Now playing an instrument helping children be smarter rings true. Some how games that require too much work and not enough fun don't ring well with me but activities that children want to do over and over make sense to me. I know that since the inception of We Sign and all our products, I am also part of a company making the claims about “smarter children” and helping to “better prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.” So why is signing right and listening to classical music or watching colorful images on the TV … not right?
 
   This brings me to the point where human history, thousands of years of cultural development, has demonstrated to us what scientists have put into recent theories. It's really very simple; we have always known that young children learn best when they are learning through active, playful involvement. They learn best when interacting with parents, older children and teachers. This timeless knowledge today is wrapped around theories about movement and learning, about play and learning and about providing activities that involve the use of Multiple – Intelligences (physical learning, visual learning, verbal learning, mathematical learning, musical learning, and interpersonal learning).
 
   What helps children to learn and remember? What provides children with information, vocabulary and skills they will need upon entering school? The answer is found in fun, playful, interactive activities that involve the use of Multiple Intelligences to provide children with educational and entertaining programming. I'm not sure I really trust other get smart claims.
 
   This brings me to We Sign, a product and concept that I helped to develop over the past 14 years, and our claims that signing as part of daily communication and play time activities will make children smarter and better prepare children for school.
 
   It is my hope that parents, teachers or anyone who loves and works with children would look to the information that is available about products and their claims and evaluate them, analyze them and decide on their value. It is also my hope that you would take the time to look into the use of Sign Language, music, movement and play as a valuable way for children to learn.
 
   We Sign is a program that uses our ageless knowledge about involving children in learning and combines that knowledge with the use of American Sign Language. Children as young as 10 months, have the physical and mental ability to sign words and to communicate. Repeated research has shown that children who use sign as part of their daily activities will have up to twice the usable vocabulary (signed and spoken words) than their counter parts. The larger the vocabulary, the better the reading readiness and reading skills are the key to all future education. Signing has been proven to allow children the ability to learn and use much more vocabulary.
 
   It has been said that throughout human history we could teach almost anything with song. By combining the visual and movement nature of sign with the playful nature of song, We Sign provides an activity that helps memory retention, expands vocabulary, and actively involves children, parents, teachers and other caregivers. This activity can be actively participated in while watching TV or without the TV as children and others can sing and sign almost anywhere.
 
   I have always felt that one of the best places to find out about the benefits for signing with children is a book by Marilyn Daniels called Dancing With Words. She outlines her research as well as others and has complied a resource for parents and teachers to read, learn and make up their minds about the claims that We Sign and other signing products for hearing children make. You will find that children who sign have been shown statistically to have larger vocabularies, enhanced language skills, score better on IQ tests and have greater memory and retention skills. She demonstrates how various researchers have found that signing with children is fun, playful, improves self-esteem and helps to develop a real enthusiasm for learning.
 
   We Sign and its products work to help children to develop larger vocabularies and to learn and remember basic educational concepts (ABC's, numbers, colors, animals, rhymes and more) because we encourage active participation. Singing and signing requires movement and uses almost all of the Multiple-Intelligences at the same time. Our songs can become part of every child's play time with the knowledge that this fun playful activity is also providing them with information they will need to know upon entering kindergarten today.
 
   If you look up the research or if you read Dancing with words, you will see the value in signing with all children. You will see this as an activity that involves them in the learning process, helps them to remember information and provides them with hours of interactive, educational fun.

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Television: Asset or Liability for Children?

The parental dilemma of choosing good programming

As a parent I was not very pleased with TV for my children. PBS offers a wide variety of great programming as do some of the cable stations however parents today are faced with more and more programming on prime time that is not age appropriate for young children. In response many have moved to videos and DVD's to provide the quality programming they seek for their children. But there are other issues about the use of TV that go beyond just the content.
 
   Today TV is being blamed for the many children in America that are over weight. It is being blamed for children having short attention spans. On and on the claims go to berate TV and its value for children. Some of the accusations I think are unfair. TV, after all, is part of the life of nearly all children in the country on a daily and even hourly basis. TV can be and is a valuable tool that parents can use.
 
   Parents are always looking for “good programming”, which is programming that their children will enjoy and from which their children will receive some benefits. Parents are bombarded with advertising about how wonderful all these products are. From the mass marketing of Disney and Barney to a wide variety of other video products that all have claims that they are “educational” and watching the video will “make your child smarter.” What's true? Where do I find the best entertainment with educational content for my child?
 
   I asked myself these same questions when my children were younger. There are products that claim, “Children will become geniuses” by watching objects or by passively listening to music. Passive TV, mesmerizing TV… I'm not sure I believe that it will help make anyone smarter. If parents want to use products that keep their children's attention and in essence, baby-sit them for a while, allowing them time to accomplish other tasks… I really don't have a problem with this. It makes the TV an electronic mobile to entertain and mesmerize their child. It gives them time away from their child. However, I'm not sure that visual/audio products with limited studies on rats and college students are the answer.
 
   I believe that involvement is an important part to learning. A hands-on, movement oriented and multi-sensory approach gets my attention. If you tell me I will forget. If you show me I might remember but if you involve me I will learn what Confucius taught over 2000 years ago and I think holds true today. I also believe that TV can be used as a much more interactive and involving medium that turns viewers into doers.
 
   We Sign offers a different approach to TV use for children. We don't seek to have children become smarter and learn more just through passive viewing. We sign offers programs for children, parents, teachers and caregivers that encourages active participation, active learning, active involvement, active use of Multiple Intelligences. We encourage parents to use the videos as active educational entertainment that not only can allow parents to attend to other tasks, but also provides everyone with a participatory activity that can be performed with or without a TV. That's right, what other videos tell parents to shut off the TV and participate in the songs they have learned.

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