Hi. Does anybody have a child that uses sign language? i have been thinking about having my son learn sign language but i dont know where, will the school district provide a class for sign language? If anybody has a child that has learned sign language let me know how it has helped or hasnt. I am very curious. thank you kathy..

Does your son receive speech therapy? My son's speech therapist works with me and him with sign language. He gets speech while in school and also outside of school. Might be a good place to start. Hope this helped. Good Luck!

[This message has been edited by eweejoe (edited 04-07-2001).]

hi,
my son uses signs he just used signs but
since he's started talking he doesn't use them as much, we had to take him to a rather boring meeting this week, he was o.k for a while then came over to me and said and signed "HOME"!!!. i read somewhere that the pathways in the brian that we use for language are the same as the one we use for signing so if your child isn't verbal one way to keep these pathways open is for them to use signs, i don't know if its true, so
nobody flame me please!! jo.

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Bates Tech Collage in Tacoma has a Para-Ed class in Sign Language. You might want to take the class to become fluent if your not. The way they learn sign best is the same way anyone learns language. Mostly by hearing it (in this case seeing it) on a daily basis. If you sign every time you talk, your child will learn much quicker. Think about how you would teach any child to speak.."Say dog", "this is a dog", "Can you say dog?" and just sign the sentances imphasizing on the "dog" and he will learn. I signed for Josh, but Mikey is the one that learned it well. Josh is very verbal and really never cared to learn or apply it. Was funny to see because I signed so often that Mikey would answer me in sign. As a language teacher (ESL) I teach sign to my kids (students) as a visual to help remember a work or sentance. (I'm not fluent though and need to take that course) I have the number somewhere if ya need it Kathy.
Sandy

Hi sandy thank you for the information, How much would it cost? Would insurance cover it through my son? Do you think the school district would teach me and my son? Sorry about all of the questions, i am just curious. Where in washington do you live? i live in silverdale. Its would be nice to know someone around here who is going through or already went through the same thing. Thanks again kathy

Your insurance wouldn't cover it but it is tax deductable. Call Bates for the price. I believe the coarse it $95. It is a 'by mail' coarse so you get to do it at home. You can aslo just get the ABC (A Basic Coarse) in Sign Language book from the Library. That is how I learned. I bought the student book and the coarse. I'm about 2 hours away from ya or I would run it up to ya! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif I'll look for the number. If I find it, I will e-mail it to you. BTW, Well be headed out this week... so If I don't get to ya tomorrow, ya might have to wait till after Easter!
Sandy