Imagine communicating with your baby before he or she can even speak. Baby sign language reduces frustration, accelerates verbal development and strengthens cognitive skills. It also enhances child-parent bonding through time spent teaching signs to your baby.

Research shows that pre-verbal infants can communicate through the use of sign language long before they can verbalize their needs. For example, an NIH funded study compared two groups of 11 month old babies. One group was taught baby sign language. The second group was given verbal training. Overall it proved to be the signing babies who were more advanced talkers. A follow up when the babies were 2 years old found that the signers continued to be more verbal. The signing children tested approximately 3 months ahead of the non-signers at 2 years old.*

The authors of the NIH study, followed up with the children at 8 years old. Surprisingly, there was still a difference. Signers showed IQ’s 12 points higher than the non-signers, even though they had long since stopped signing. This put the signers in the top-25% of eight year olds, compared to the non-signers who were close to average.**

My Smart Hands is an international, award winning, 100% ASL program designed to teach sign language to pre-verbal infants and young children. My Smart Hands not only recognizes the value of giving children the gift of self-expression, they also know that baby signing is FUN!

The My Smart Hands program is designed to engage both the minds and the giggles of their students.

My Smart Hands is now available in Savannah! My Smart Hands offers 4 to 8 week classes as well as weekend workshops. The cost ranges from $75 to $130 and includes all handbooks and materials. Evening classes are available and dates, times and locations are determined by consultation with, and consideration for the needs of students.

Want to join My Smart Hands? See the Savannah My Smart Hands website  by clicking here for detailed information on the courses themselves, to contact My Smart Hands with any questions or to sign up. So go ahead, take a peek! Sign up for a few giggles for you and your little one. My Smart Hands can’t wait to meet you!

Please “like” My Smart Hands in Savannah on Facebook by clicking here to stay connected.

My Smart Hands, www.mysmarthandswithsundi.com, On Facebook here, My Smart Hands is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser

* Susan W. Goodwyn, Linda P. Acredolo and Catherine A. Brown. Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early Language Development, Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24, 81-103 (2000).

** Linda P. Acredolo, and Susan W. Goodwyn, The Longterm Impact of Symbolic Gesturing During Infancy on IQ at Age 8, International Conference on Infant Studies (July 18, 2000: Brighton, UK)

The holidays mean all too often parents of young children fall for marketing ploys and spend entirely too much on gifts that end up sitting in the corner unused. When it comes to buying gifts for the 6 and younger set, there are ways that you can shop for quality, fun items and increase the chance that your child will enjoy their toys.

Savannah-area speech-language pathologist Kim Rowe, MA, CCC-SLP offers a holiday gift guide for parents of young children on her website Little Stories , which offers information and support to families interested in early speech and language development and play.

For my regular Accent column in Savannah Morning News, I asked Kim for some advice for parents like me who tend to bungle holiday toy shopping. Here’s a link to the column “Holiday Shopping 101: How to avoid toy-buying mistakes.”

But not all of her information was able to be included in the column. So here is a link to the full Q&A here.

You’re invited to a talk by Savannah-area speech-language pathologist Kim Rowe, MA, CCC-SLP  on Creating a Language Rich Environment at 10:30 AM Friday at The Sandbox Children’s Museum on Hilton Head Is.

The talk is part of the museum’s Parents 411 series. The talk is free with admission to the museum.

Kim is the creative force behind a Web site called Little Stories , which offers information and support to families interested in early speech and language development. Little Stories has something for everyone, whether your child is having difficulty learning language or is learning language easily.

Little Stories will be posting new information weekly, so be sure to subscribe to the blog or like Little Stories on Facebook here to get updates. You can follow Little Stories via Twitter @lilSTORIESblog

The Sandbox Children’s Museum is at 18A Pope Ave., Hilton Head Island, SC 29928 (843) 842-7645, www.thesandbox.org/

In anticipation of the Seventh Annual Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society Buddy Walk & Family Festival in Forsyth Park on Oct. 6, we asked local parents of children with Down syndrome what the general public needs to know about the condition.

You can read many of their responses in my Savannah Morning News column by clicking here. Unfortunately, not all the helpful responses made it into the article. So below are some additional responses from two strong Savannah advocates for children with Down syndrome.

Pediatrician Ben Spitalnick of Pediatric Associates of Savannah

Dr. Ben Spitalnick of Pediatric Associates of Savannah is the pediatrician for many local children with Down syndrome. Dr. Ben is also a Board Member of the Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society. He shared the following tips for what everyone should know about children with Down syndrome:

1) Virtually all of a child’s medical complications from Down syndrome can be handled by the medical community right here in Savannah

2) Children with Down syndrome do better when included in mainstream situations such as classrooms, not when isolated with only special needs children

3) Most children with Down syndrome have talents and skills people don’t expect, so consider the term “differently-abled” (I like diff-abled) instead of “disabled”.

4) Down syndrome can occur in any family, regardless of health and age of the parent. There are more children with Down syndrome born to younger parents than older parents.

5) Virtually all of the care your baby will need the first year, is routine newborn baby care. Concentrate on being a parent and family with a new baby, not on the features of Down syndrome.

Candy Bogardus, President of Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society

Candy Bogardus has three children with her husband, John, including their daughter, Lainey, 7, who has Down syndrome. Candy shared the following tips for what everyone should know about children with Down syndrome:

1. Embrace the adventure that comes with having a child with Down syndrome. There is never a dull moment, and they will always teach you something!!

2. Early Intervention is key. Lainey was in Speech Therapy through Babies Can’t Wait at 8 weeks of age. Those early visits made a phenomenal difference in her oral motor development.

3. Enjoy each and every milestone to the fullest–no matter when they reach it!! Don’t rush it!

4. Remember that ALL children have special needs!!

5. The parents of children with Down syndrome don’t place limits on them so why should anyone else! The sky’s the limit! Just let them be like everybody else and they will surprise you!!

6. Inclusion in all aspects of school, community, and life is very important. They will make a difference in every life they touch!

7. Even though you feel like all you do is go to therapy, the short term and long term benefits are well worth it!

8. Never be afraid to ask questions! Join a family support group- it’s a great way for you to learn from other parents and for your child to learn from other children!

9. Every child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God for His purpose!! God does not make mistakes!

2012 Buddy Walk
Saturday, October 6, 2012, in Forsyth Park
www.ldssga.org
Savannah’s Paula Deen will be the Grand Marshal leading walk participants in the 1-mile fundraising event. The Buddy Walk Program welcomes participants of all ages and abilities. Bring your carriage, strollers, wheelchairs, little red wagons and pets.
Contact: 912-728-8505 (John or Candy Bogardus)
Register online here or the day of the walk.
Registration on Buddy Walk day begins at 8:30 AM
Opening Ceremonies begin at 10 AM
Walk begins at 10:30 AM
Free Family Festival in Forsyth Park from 11 AM - 2 PM

Baby Sign & Read Classes for parents with children from the ages of 0-3 yrs old are now being offered in Savannah by Giving in Love, Inc.

Sign & Read classes focus on parent-child interactions, communication, and reading. Parents learn how they can nurture their child’s language, cognitive and social-emotional development through three key areas of communication: talking, reading and signing.

There are 8 classes in the first session. Class options are 10:00am or 10:45am on Thursdays beginning September 6 at the West Broad Street YMCA located at 1110 May Street, Savannah, GA 31415 or 11:00am on Fridays starting September 7, 2012 at Bouncing Angels, 2123 E. Victory Dr., Savannah, GA 31404.

Registration ends on August 31, 2012. For more information, please call (912) 388-1658 or visit www.givinginlove.org  ”Like” Giving in Love on Facebook here.

Giving in Love, Inc is a non-profit & a SouthernMamas.com advertiser.

Bilingual Speech Therapy & Language Center has only two student openings in the beginner afterschool Spanish class group for children!

Receive a 20% discount on the first two months of registration for children ages 5-12. Classes are 4:30-5:15 PM Fridays. Registration fee can be paid on the Bilingual Speech Therapy & Language Center webpage here.

To register, call 912.335.8486. For more info, click here.

For speech therapy sessions, Bilingual Speech Therapy & Language Center accepts Tricare Prime, Tricare Standard, Medicaid & Amerigroup Patients.

Bilingual Speech Therapy & Language Center, 9100 White Bluff Road Suite 201, Savannah, 31406. On Facebook here. 912.335.8486, www.bilingualspeechtherapy.net/ Bilingual Speech Therapy & Language Center is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser.