ANyone tried Baby sign? Where is the nearest class?

[ClareC]

My friend successfully used this with her two boys and highly recommends it. I bought a book and it all makes perfect sense but I havent seen it advertised in the area. Are there any classes? Has anyone tried this?

Book recomends starting at 6mths although says you can start earlier - you just wont get a response until at least 6 months. I have some time yet.... baby not yet born!!

[roxyk77]

i have been taking my daughter since she was 9 months which in my view is probably the best age to start, not sure how much she would have got out of it before then. sing and sign have lots of classes locally and are pretty good

[Mellors]

www.singandsign.com

Classes in ED on most days of the week. Both my children have loved it, but I agree there is not much point starting it till they are 9 months or so.

[njc97]

Our son started sing and sign at about 6 months. He loves the classes even if he has yet to start signing himself.

[fuzzyboots]

Hi all,

Trish here from Sing and Sign (again!). Thanks for your kind comments :) We DO take babies of about 6 months, especially if parents are back at work by the time their baby's/babies are 8/9 months. In an ideal world, we'd suggest that 8/9 months is the absolute best age to come to our classes, but life isn't always that convenient timing wise! Babies are much more sociable and less "mummy-focused" at this age and so get much more out of the class experience. You can, however, start signing at home with your baby as soon as you wish. Babies go through a real language/communication development explosion between 9 - 12 months, which is presumably why they seem to particularly enjoy our classes/signing with their grownups from this age onwards.

We're running a free taster session at Goose Green THIS FRIDAY (6th Nov) at 10.30 a.m. - so if anyone would like to come along to find out more about us/drill us with questions, please contact me direct and if we've still got places, I'll gladly book you in. Our next term starts mid Jan 2010 (yikes!) so if your baby will be 6 months plus then, please do get in touch.

We run classes Mon, Weds, Fri and Sat at Goose Green in the mornings, and also at Soup Dragon on Thursday mornings (and elsewhere, but these are the most local classes for ED families). If you can't make it this Friday, keep your eyes skinned with Bumps and Babes at St Faiths on Fridays - we've been known to turn up there, courtesy of the lovely Alice Yeates.

I started signing with my daughter when she was nine and a half months and she was signing back a week before she was one. With my son, I signed with him from the day he was born and the little DEAR didn't sign back at all until he was 14 months old and really only got going when he was 18 months at which point he decided speech might be fun too! Every child is different. I HAVE seen (very, very occasionally) babies signing at 6/7 months, but that is exceptional, imho. For the majority of babies it is somewhere "around" a year - between 10 and 15 months, when the penny drops. But my goodness, once the penny does drop, the signs usually come thick and fast!

If anyone's got any questions/queries, please don't be shy. Ask away :) :) :)

All the best,

Trish

[Fuschia]

The signing classes are fun too, with toys/props and instruments... definitely "good value" as you get a music class with signs too!

[ClareC]

Thanks everyone, I think I will definitely be giving this a go! Baby due in January so will come along June!!! Seems ages away!!

[fairylamb]

Still spaces available for the Saturday morning Stage 1 class in ED which started this week. I think stage 1 is up to 12 months (not sure)? Anyway please come or the class will close (and I'll have to go to Blackheath for a Saturday morning stage 1 class).