source: http://www.writersweekly.com/letters_to_the_editor/003833_01102007.html

January 10, 2007

Letters To The Editor For January 10th

I wanted to thank you for running my article, How Society Supports Low-Paying Writing Jobs. Of course, I knew that's what you were going to do, but I didn't know how much traffic and attention it would bring me! In the last week, I had received several thousand hits on my site that came from WritersWeekly!

I also had a number of questions from other writers and aspiring writers.

Amusingly, I had a number of people ask to reprint my article for free. And it's an article that discusses the issues surrounding low-paying writing jobs!!! What ripe irony!!!!

Sincerely,
Katharine S. Leppert
http://www.katharineswan.com

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Hi Angela!

Loved reading that your baby is signing. How did you learn? Is there a book that you'd recommend?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Gretchen

Hi Gretchen,

We're learning along with him. Pick up the American Sign Language Dictionary at your local bookstore.

Also, the site below is a huge help as it shows videos of people signing each word (so you don't have to try to figure out what they're doing by a photo in a book): http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm

Also see:
http://signingbaby.com/main/

If you type "baby sign language" into youtube.com, you can see other people's babies signing.

Mason is only 6 1/2 months old has signed Ma Ma, Da Da, Poo Poo, Dog, and Hi. Some people don't believe babies really sign, that they're just imitating adults. But, Mason definitely understands what he's doing and signs at appropriate times. For example, he was sitting in front of the TV signing Poo Poo over and over again. I thought it was cute...until I smelled that he really meant what he was saying! It wasn't a fluke because he only poops about once every three days so it was no coincidence that he started signing the word while he was filling his britches.

He says Ma Ma while he signs it. He understands a number of other signs that he's not yet capable of doing. Each person in our family has created their own sign for their own name, too. It is wonderful to be able to communicate with a six-month-old baby, albeit only five words so far. He will soon be able to tell us, by signing, what's wrong instead of crying. People who promote baby sign language claim it virtually eliminates the terrible two's because the baby can sign his/her needs instead of needing to cry when he/she needs something. We'll definitely let you know about that, though Mason's two's won't be here for another 18 months.

The experts say most babies don't start signing until they're eight or nine months old. We've been signing to Mason since birth, which is probably why he's doing it earlier than most. If you do start signing with your baby, remember that, with other forms of learning for children, repetition is the key. It's really no different from teaching your baby to talk. You say (sign) the same word over and over again and pretty soon they say (sign) it, too.

Hugs,
Angela

 

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