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Right, you guys. I have been sitting on this one for a long time. So long, it’s practically welded to my bum. But I can’t ignore it any longer. The best we can hope for is to get through it without too many swears, and minimal loss of life.
What THE HELL is going on with baby sign classes?
No, seriously. I’m not even talking about the fact that any old random person can set themselves up as a ‘baby sign tutor’ and start relieving you of your money in return for waving their hands at your offspring and pretending it means ‘mamma’, when it actually means ‘toast’, ‘testicles’ or ‘what a wonderful and massive con this is’.
Those are their own special kind of nonsense. Forget them. Don’t give them your time, money or eyeballs. Move on.
Genuine baby sign classes, with knowledgeable tutors, whether based in BSL (which would always be my personal preference for ‘general’ signing classes, as it lays foundations to learn a whole new language) or Makaton (which is very useful as a non-verbal communication tool for learners with additional needs) – these are brilliant. My issue is not with the existence of these.
Well, only a little bit.
My outrage, which has built slowly over the last four years into just rage, is this – where are the classes for the deaf kids? Not just as babies, but for the whole of their young lives?
When a hearing family want their hearing baby to learn some sign language so that they can communicate earlier than their tiny speechless mouths would allow, it is seen as adorable. Forward-thinking. Progressive. Trendy, even. It is A Good And Proactive Thing Done By Good And Proactive Parents.
Great. Gold stars all round. No, really. Signing at an early age is proven to help development of all kinds of awesome and useful things like language, understanding, motor skills and relationships.
But why is this positive promotion of sign language reserved for the hearing? Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t the origin of sign language based in it being a visual form of communication for those who can’t hear spoken words? Namely, deaf people? And doesn’t this include deaf kids?
Because there is an awful, stark contrast to this adorable, hearing-babies-doing-signing and it is this; there is still no very little widespread support for d/Deaf children and young people to learn sign language. And yet the benefits to them are so much greater!
I’m not saying there’s zero support. But it’s few and far between, and very, very hard to find – especially if you are a hearing parent of a deaf child, negotiating this brave new world.
Whereas a generic baby sign class can be found in every town.
There’s probably even one on Mars, they’re so prolific at the moment.
And, yes, you could totally take a deaf child along. But then what? When they outgrow the baby signs, what options are there? You better get pretty good at Googling, and travelling, and fighting for opportunities…
From the other side of things, as a Deaf parent of a hearing child, I struggle to find any groups that my son can attend to help him with his signing. I don’t mean Deaf social clubs (which are also closing so fast that if you blink you miss them). I
mean places with structure and fun – places like baby sign, but for those who will be using the skills for the rest of their lives, not just until they can talk. Those who are often under pressure not to sign anyway, because it’s so often (wrongly) seen as lesser.
If signing as a baby is so socially acceptable and great, then why are we still campaigning to get BSL recognised at a level that means it could be a learned language option in school? As the quote goes, “Not everybody will go to France, but anybody can become deaf.”
It feels like the boom in baby signing popularity, which felt so hopeful at the start, is in danger of backfiring on us. It feels like it’s only acceptable while it benefits hearing people, while babies can’t speak. It feels like something to be dropped, once the better option of talking comes along.
And it isn’t. It’s so much more. It’s a lifeline, and it benefits everybody. So, why are we treating it like light entertainment? This is not soft play. It’s not tumble tots.
Emily Howlett is a regular writer for this site. She is a profoundly Deaf actress, writer and teacher. Emily is co-director of PAD Productions and makes an awful lot of tea. And mess. She now has not one, but four grey eyebrow hairs. C’est la vie. She tweets as @ehowlett
Suesan
May 15, 2017
I am hard of hearing ( my speach is good) my aunt is profoundly deaf ( her speach is not understandable to those outside the family ) and I was brought up signing, when my son was born I automatically signed to him, he didn’t start speeking so we had his hearing checked again, it’s fine, so we get sent to a speach therapist who after watching me comunicate with him using sign while in the waiting room told me, ” stop signing to him, it’s easier than learning how to speek so of cause he isn’t bothering he is lazy” this may sound harsh but it worked, unfortunatly it has meant that sign is a second language to him rather than a bilingual but based on this why is it seen as proactive for hearing children to be taught sign befor they can speek and why are hearing children of deaf parents called lazy for learning to speek to their parents befor the rest of the world. But more than anything, why is it so hard and why does it cost so much to learn BSL if your deaf or from a family with deaf members, the sign I use is still terrible for the rest of you, it’s the one made up by my aunt and mum before she went to a school for the deaf and while as they grew the BSL became incorporated it still contains a lot of incorrect and confusing signs for other people, and even at best when iv been taught by some poor patient soul the correct sign I then spend a year using both as I correct the original with the BSL, had we had the opertunity we would have all jumped at the chance of learning BSL correctly early on. Now as my hearing deteriorates I become more and more isolated I can read lips and do a version of BSL but neither is good enough for me to have proper conversations. BSL is taught in a few primary schools they rave about it as a wonderful thing and it would be except it a word a week concept it they tried teaching French or Spanish like that there would be out rage not praise for forward thinking .
simonetrini30
May 15, 2017
Hi Dear, that thinking is used down in T&T as well. However, research has shown that as long as they are exposed to both languages simultaneously, the SL will actually help him with grasping the speech.
Your signs should not be seen as ‘terrible’ though, it’s your family’s sign code and may be understood by more ppl than you think. Here in T& T we have 5 ‘formal’ sign codes – ASL, SEE, TTSL, BSL and Home Signs, and there are variations to each and combinations in the mix based on Geography, age and exposure to formal education.
I would like to celebrate your family’s bilingualism. I am happy that you all are introducing everyone to sign. That is something we are still fighting to achieve down here.
Jodene Antoniou
May 20, 2017
Totally agree with this post. As hearing parents of a partially deaf child, we learned BSL level one and have tried to teach out son as we go along but it’s hard. I don’t understand how there can be NO clubs for learning BSL for children especially when it’s such an important skill and there seem to be so many clubs for everything else!
If BSL tutors or teachers of the deaf got together to provide kids clubs for different areas, it could make such a difference to children with hearing loss that are struggling to communicate, our son included.