This is my daughter Fireese and she just turned one and I want to show you some of the signs that she knows. Where's "daddy"?
- DADA!
- Dada! How about "mama"? Where's "mommy?"
- MAMA!
- Mommy... Excellent. What's the sign for "eat"?
- EAT!
- Eat... How about "more"?
- MORE!
- More... How about "finished"?
- Finished, good! And Fireese what’s this? 'O' is for Cheerios, we do 'O' for Cheerios. Good! And what’s this? Stars, these are stars. Good girl. And Fireese, what’s this? What's that? Apple, good girl! Apple. And oh, how about this? What's this? Cheese, good! We do this for cheese. Good! How about "milk"? What’s the sign for "milk"? Milk, good! And how about "kiwi"? That's right, we fingerspell kiwi, K-I-W-I, and she's not really fingerspelling, but she's trying. What's kiwi?
Water! Water, she just asked for water. That's right, water, here. And...
- Water!
- Water, good. What’s the sign for "kiwi"? Kiwi! See how she's trying to fingerspell it. Good!
- Water!
- You want more water? And... Fireese what’s the sign for "book"? Book, that's right. And... How about "hat"?
- HAT!
- Hat, that’s right. How about "light"?
- Light!
- Good girl! And what’s the sign for "cracker"? Cracker, good! And how about "bath"? Bath, that's right, that's the sign for "bath". What about "baby"?
- Baby!
- Baby, good girl! And how about "ball"?
- BALL!
- Ball! Yes. How about "sleep"? Sleep, that's right, that's the sign for "sleep". And... How about "phone"? Do you know sign for "phone"? Phone, good girl.
Those are just the few of the signs that she knows. And she's very verbal, as you can hear some of the words as she signed them. She knows over 20 words and 30 signs, so she has a vocabulary of over 50 words.
Some people are worried that if you sign with them that it will hinder their vocabulary, that's not true, but as your can see, it doesn't. Whenever I sign to her, I'm constantly talking to her, so there is no reason why it would hinder her vocabulary. And as you can see with her signing and talking, signing really does work.
