WHY SIMPLE SIGNS

We want to share our personal story of why we have created our Baby Signs course, and how we have made it our goal to help bridge the communication gap between you and your child.

When our son was born, we were already planning to teach him sign language. Our son's grandma and grandpa are Deaf, along with other close friends and family members.

At about one and a half years old, we discovered our son was nearly deaf. It was determined that this was not permanent, but that he had fluid in his ears and would need tubes placed. After this surgery, he experienced more health problems and a couple more procedures were required. By age two, he had undergone three operations and was seemingly in good health. However, he was not talking. Over the next two years, our son's health continued to decline. He was not physically glowing or developing at the rate he should. Although he would try to speak to communicate, his speech was incoherent. It was as if all the pieces were there and he had the desire to communicate, but he physically couldn't.

We were lost.

When our son was four years old, he was diagnosed with Celiac disease, the same disease his mother, Jenny, had been navigating for a year prior to his diagnosis. We immediately made the proper adjustments, and everything changed. He began to grow. Almost instantly, he began to speak more confidently, and his speech problems began to disappear. Thankfully, throughout his early years, he had the knowledge of sign language, and we were able to support his verbal communication with basic signs so we could understand what he needed during those tough first four years. We are happy to share that our son is happy, healthy, talkative and thriving today.

When we welcomed our baby girl into the world, we did not hesitate to introduce her to sign language. By five months of age, she was signing for milk- with intention. We started to avoid the hunger meltdowns as she became more confident with her signing. Milk, simple, that was all she needed to effectively tell us she was hungry. Not tired, not a tummy ache, but milk was what she wanted. From there, we added signs, one by one. By her first birthday, she knew eight signs, MILK, MORE, ALL DONE, OUTSIDE, EAT, BOOK, PLEASE, SLEEP and created her first signing sentence, "MORE MILK PLEASE."