In this first class, I will introduce simple, American Sign language signs. I begin with simple, daily, routine signs to complement the words and activities that a little one is being exposed to frequently in their early lives. The key words and signs covered will be: milk, cookie, eat, diaper, all done (finished) and more. I will also cover numbers 1-10 and colours and incorporate those signs into song.

In this video I will introduce feelings in ASL. It is very important that a child express their emotions. It is just as important for the parents to understand how their child feels, in order to help meet their little guy's needs and wants. In this class, I will cover feelings such as: happy, sad, hungry, thirsty, excited and sleepy. I will also complement with a picture book displaying the different feelings. I will emphasize the importance of facial gestures to complement hand gestures, in order to convey the message. Studies show that children who are signed and read to, have a higher interest in books and are able to participate more in the activity. Parents will learn how to promote routines prior to the child starting daycare or preschool. As well as reinforcing for the child who is already attending a program. By pointing to the wrist where a watch is worn, the parent can refer to time.

In this unit I will introduce the signs for common foods. Signs for foods can be incorporated at meal time, reading time as well as shopping time. Food signs covered will be: milk, egg, cheese, banana, apple and pasta. I will also introduce the sign for thank you. One important sign I will also encourage is good job. We want to give little ones positive reinforcement to encourage certain behaviours.

Parents will learn to make meal time a fun activity by incorporating signs and singing about and labelling items for the child thru play. Parents will also learn to help expand the child's food vocabulary as the child's food repertoire grows. When a parent is out grocery shopping with the child. They can point to different food items and say and sign them. They can also expand vocabulary by signing and saying colours in addition to the items.

In this lesson. I will cover the alphabet because in order to form a sign, we have to form a shape first. Sometimes we use letters to form a sign. Sometimes we also use numbers. The alphabet is important because it is a foundation, the basics. Signs shown using the following first letter of the words: a for apple, b for ball, c for cat, e for elephant, p for purple, r for roll and d for dog. Note of interest, when we learn animal signs, we pair the name of the animal, the sign for the animal as well as the sound the animal makes. I will also review colours and numbers 1-10 in a song about bubbles. Kids love bubbles, does not matter if it is an infant or a 7 year old. So let's definitely sign and sing about them! Parents will learn the alphabet and can sign the first initial of the child's name to their heart and say the child's name. 

In this lesson we will learn the signs for different family members. We will learn to sign mother, father, grand-mother, grand-father and brother and sister. Note, in ASL, everything from the nose down is feminine and from the nose up, it is masculine. Reason being is that men wear caps and that is the same sign for boy. Interesting to note is that some signs have more than one meaning. It depends the context it is being used in.