When it comes to baby sign language things have changed a lot since I first started Baby Hands over 5 years ago.
In the early days virtually nobody in Australia had heard of baby sign language and most parents assumed it was something for Deaf babies and not something they needed to bother with. (more…)
This weekend we will be at the second event for The Baby Show which launched last year in Sydney.
It was a really good show in Sydney and we expect this event in Melbourne to be just as good with wide range of attractions and speakers.
I will be speaking on Friday 5th March at 3.30pm and again on Saturday 6th March at 2.40pm, about Baby Sign Language and Auslan, visit here for full details.
We also have free tickets worth $20 for all our blog readers. Just click here to download your ticket and print out a copy to bring along with you on the day.
We are at stand 161, just inside the door on the left near the baby feed and change area so I hope to see you there.
If you are not in Melbourne but live up in North Queensland Emma our Cairns baby sign teacher will be at the North Queensland Baby & Childrens Expo this weekend as well.
If you live in Cairns, or just happen to be visiting this weekend, then you might like to attend the North Queensland Baby & Childrens Expo at the Cairns Convention Centre.
Our Cairns Baby Sign Teacher Emma will be there this weekend, the 6th – 7th of March so pop along and take the time to say hello and ask Emma any questions you may have about baby sign.
We also have discount voucher to save $5 of the admission of 2 adults and up to 3 children which you can get by clicking here and downloading.
The exhibition runs from 9am to 4pm both days with a host of activities for the kids as well as some useful talks and information for the parents. For a full list of the weekends activities visit here:
We will also be exhibiting at the Baby Show in Melbourne at the same weekend from the 5th – 7th of March so if you are Victoria I hope to see you there 
As I posted yesterday we got a short notice call about a story that The Morning Show wanted to do about Baby Hands and Baby Sign Language which we shot in the studio in Sydney this morning.
For those of you that missed it you can watch it below here, I’d recommend pressing play and letting it buffer for a few seconds (this will also allow you to skip over the ad at the beginning).
Thanks very much to Katica and baby Marley for coming in with me. They have been attending classes with Catherine, our in Inner West teacher. Marley did really well under the bright lights and pulled out quite an impressive array of signs. If you watch closely you will even see that when he is first asked to sign “cat” he signs “where” as he is looking for the cat.
If you would like to attend a class on Baby Sign then please contact one of our teachers.
If you can organise a group of 5 or more then, as the organiser, you will get the class for free.
Happy Signing
Jackie
We just got confirmation that the story The Morning Show on Channel 7 wanted to do on us has been brought forward and will be going to air live tomorrow.
This was supposed to be getting recorded tomorrow morning but now we’re going live instead so hope you can tune in
* The Morning Show
* Channel 7
* Friday 5th Feb
* 11:05am Sydney time
Hopefully I wont look to nervous, I still find it a bit scary going on TV, especially live.
See you tomorrow….
Jackie
While baby sign language is a fun and useful tool just to help bridge the communication gap with your child it can also have very real advantages when used with children who may be at risk from some sort of developmental delay such as premature babies.
While many premature babies grow develop extremely well as they grow they are in a category that can be considered higher for having speech delays.
Premature babies are generally assessed developmentally against an adjusted age for important milestones but when compared to other babies by their chronological age, they may be slightly disadvantaged with their speech improvement.
The main question this really raises though is “When should I start signing with my baby?”
Now usually you should start to sign with your baby once they can hold a rattle or other toy and they start to have some movement and dexterity with their hands, which is around 5 – 6 months.
In a premature baby this may be 7 – 9 months depending on how early your child was born.
The interesting thing is that the reason to generally wait to start signing to your baby only when they can begin to sign back is because most parents need to see results or they will not continue with baby sign. The fact is your baby is taking in everything and even though they may not be physically capable of signing their ability to understand signs develops much earlier.
It’s the same with talking. Even though babies cannot talk for around the first 18 months of their life most parents will happily chat away to their baby, this is how they learn and baby sign is no different.
So if your baby is premature you may want to begin your signing a little bit earlier to allow them to start absorbing the signs.
Remember to be patient and always say the spoken word with the sign and in context, follow our signing steps to success for more information.
While baby sign has been shown in many studies to have benefits including accelerated speech and advanced IQ levels this cannot be expected of every child. If your baby is premature then baby sign may be just the thing for you to help them catch up with their chronological age group and provide a great foundation for early learning.
From myself and all the teachers here at Australian Baby Hands, we’d like to wish you a safe and happy holiday season!
It’s been a wonderful year for me personally to look back on, with a definite highlight being getting married to my partner Gary back in March.
I hope that you get to take some time to reflect back on your year and look at all the good things that have happened.
I know that many of you will have become parents for the first time and also many of you will become parents for the first time in 2010 which is very exciting.
I look forward to hearing more of your baby signing stories next year and hope that you and your family’s have a safe and happy festive season.
Happy Signing and best wishes
Jackie
Just a very quick post to let you know that you only have a few days before our Christmas special offer finishes.
If you enter “christmas09” into the discount coupon section of the shopping cart then you will receive 10% off your order of any Australian Baby Hands product.
(see here for instructions if you have any trouble)
This includes our great big cuddly Sammy the Signing Bear who we have just got back in stock just in time for Christmas.
He makes a great present for your little one and will provide lots of fun on Christmas day as they unwrap their new toy and then you can make Sammy magically come to life by placing your hands into the special sleeves of his jumper.
Hurry up and get your orders in quickly as we only have a few days left to be able to get your order out in the post to try and ensure that you receive it in time for Christmas.
Happy Signing
Jackie
As a parent of a pre-verbal baby, how do you connect with your little one? You and your baby can make special, real connections by consistently using your own unique ways of communicating which will affirm the love you have for your baby.
With less than a week to go, it will soon be December and the count down to your baby’s first/second/third… Christmas is fast approaching.
I love sharing the joy of Christmas with others. I’m always one of the first to put up my Christmas tree each year and I start the Christmas carols from early December to help get us in the Christmas mood.
So for this reason, I thought I would share my love of Christmas with you all through our NEW Christmas themed baby sign language class. This one off class where you combine the FUN of Christmas and the benefits of play with baby sign language is available from all our teachers now.
In or new Baby Hands Christmas class you will:
Also, with our special offer if you can get 5 or more of your friends together to attend a Baby Hands Christmas class, as the organiser you will get the Christmas class for FREE!
All you have to do is arrange a class with one of our teachers and bring 5 people from your mothers group, playgroup or other friends and you will get the class for free. Talk to one of our teachers to make the arrangements and they can even come to you if it is within a reasonable distance.
If you are a childcare centre, our teachers can come to you and spread the Christmas joy to your staff and children. The class will introduce staff to a range of Christmas carols which they can continue to share with the children in the run up to Christmas as well as lots of FUN Christmas activities.
Classes are booking up fast so contact your nearest teacher today.
Apologies to those who are to far outside the current areas that our teachers are in to travel to a class. We will be starting classes in new areas in other States in the New Year.
If you are interested in becoming a Baby Hands Teacher then please contact us and let us know why you would like to become a Baby Hands Teacher and we will get back to you shortly.
Buy Australian Baby Hands
Baby sign language products incorporating Auslan, Australian Sign Language. Helping to bridge the gap of communication with pre-verbal children.
