Teaching Baby to Sign

As if being born with Down syndrome and the complications that go along with that wasn’t enough, adding the diagnosis of autism added another interesting piece of what makes up my boy, Chad, who I fondly refer to as Potts.

I remember 18 years ago this past February when Chad was born and the doctor came into the delivery room to tell me he had Down syndrome as if it were yesterday. I don’t remember any sadness about it, but I do remember telling myself that whatever our lives would be like, we’d have a sense of ‘normal’ even though it would not be the typical ‘normal’ most families enjoy. The fact that he is my only child has shielded me from experiencing what it must be like to raise a child without special needs. In my mind, I think ‘normal’ families just don’t know what they are missing!

I was fortunate to be able to work with therapists that work in children’s rehab when Chad was in kindergarten. After observing other small children coming in for speech, occupational and physical therapy, I saw the importance of taking a more personal role in my son’s development outside of what he was receiving at the school. We had a waiting list for children who were diagnosed with autism and wanted to receive sensory integration therapy.

One of the occupational therapists had a wonderful reputation in the area and her personal waiting list was nearing a year.  

Chad had some signs of autism at that time demonstrated by the spinning of pot lids, glow sticks and his love for the sit and spin. I was able to have him assessed by this very popular occupational therapist, but she found no evidence of autism. It was when my son was a teenager that a doctor made the diagnosis for us.

Chad has very low muscle tone and that made ‘brushing’ impossible to help with his sensory needs. In fact, he was discharged from all disciplines for lack of progress. The one thing he hung onto was his ability to communicate using sign language. His skill to communicate so well was probably one of the reasons his autism diagnosis went unnoticed for as long as it did. And this is where our story really begins.

When Chad was a few months old, I started going to a support group for parents who had their own babies with Down syndrome. The one thing I remember hearing was having a child with special needs would bring out the ‘warrior’ in me. And that it certainly did.

Chad’s first special ed teacher suggested we use sign language for his communication needs. I am a single parent who works full time because it is our only means of support. My time is spread between working full time and managing both medical and educational needs at school.

When was I going to have time to attend a sign language class? I learned that most personal care attendants and paraprofessionals at school had little sign or none at all. My son continued to build his language and I was running out of people that could communicate on his level. I brought in a professional advocate from PACER and a parent advocate to help me battle the school so that they would teach him sign language and provide a format for teaching me as well.

At the end of the year, we were all exhausted and I had an ulcer. But we won! By the time my son finished fourth grade and was ready to leave that school, he had 400 signs. One of his classmates also had autism. By default, that little guy learned to communicate by signing as well.

Every IEP written stressed meeting his communication needs via signing. I learned that using pictures is not a language and if he could use his hands to sign, he should be able to learn the language of sign to express his needs and wants.

In the second grade, my son’s male paraprofessional was arrested for molesting children at a daycare. The fact that our children grow up to be vulnerable adults only fuels my passion to make sure my son can communicate.

Last June I published a book to help parents learn and teach sign language while reading stories to their babies/toddlers. It is the start of a series that will help parents control their child’s communication needs beginning with early childhood by teaching ASL and keeping everyone involved with their child. The book promotes literacy for our children and introduces sign language without watching videos on TV. I am proud to announce the book is a 2010 Mom’s Choice Awards® winner for Education Products category. Check us out at www.TalkingWithBaby.com.