Hi all! Because I know that Linda Acredolo has something to say on this issue, I asked her if she wished to respond. Please if you wish to dialogue with Linda write directly to her as she is not on this list-serve.<br>Roberta Golinkoff<br>
<br><br>Linda Acredolo writes:<br><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I would be delighted to
communicate with anyone interested in the research foundation upon which the “signing
with babies” movement is based. The main study, funded by NIH, was
published in the peer-reviewed <i>Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</i> (2000, 24,
81-103) and provides a solid basis for our conclusion that signing facilitates
language development. (A detailed critique of the Johnston & Bloom paper
is available upon request from <a href="mailto:lpacredolo@ucdavis.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">lpacredolo@ucdavis.edu</span></a>.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> More generally, here are the
factors we believe account for the facilitative effect: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The experience of signing teaches babies useful lessons about how
language works--lessons that speed up the process of learning to talk once
words are finally available. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">By
enabling a baby to practice learning and using symbols to label objects,
express needs, and describe feelings, and also by helping babies
differentiate concepts, signing creates the mental framework which makes
it easy to incorporate words as soon as a baby’s articulatory
abilities enable him/her to do so. </span></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="2" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The natural reaction by a parent to their baby’s use of a sign
is to “bathe” the child with words, and, as we all know, the
more words a child hears, the faster he or she will learn to talk. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">For example, when a baby signs “BIRD”
while strolling through the park, parents automatically respond with
something like, “Oh, you see the bird! Yes, that’s a bird—and
there are some more birds over there. Oh, look, the birds flew away. Bye
bye birdies!”. This exposure to words is exactly what children need
to learn how to say the words themselves. What’s more, the sign has
enabled the baby to <i>choose the topic</i>, making it very likely that
the baby will pay attention to the words the parent says. Support for this
belief comes from Mike Tomasello’s work with word learning which
showed that babies learn language more rapidly if parents follow a baby’s
lead. Using signs results in children hearing lots of words and sentences
directly relevant to the<i> topic they have chosen</i>. </span></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="3" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Just as babies learn to crawl before they can walk, signing gives
them a developmentally appropriate way to communicate before they can
talk. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Once children learn to
crawl, the excitement they feel at being able to get around on their own
provides motivation to get around even better—and that alternative
is walking. Similarly, once children experience the joy of communicating
with signs, they are extremely motivated to find even better ways to do so—and
that alternative is through words. </span></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="4" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Signing increases interest in books, and books expose children to
new vocabulary. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Because signs
enable a baby to take an active role in book-reading at earlier ages (by labeling
pictures with signs), babies who sign tend to really enjoy book-reading,
thereby engaging them in a very helpful, language-rich activity. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li></ol>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Linda Acredolo, Ph.D. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Professor Emeritus</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">University of California,
Davis, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 4:09 PM, Peter Gordon <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pgordon@tc.columbia.edu">pgordon@tc.columbia.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">It seems that there is a separate issue about whether young infants can<br>
learn to communicate with a simplified sign system (which seems to be the<br>
case) and whether that helps (or hinders) normal language learning (which<br>
seems to be more controversial). Probably shouldn't throw out the baby<br>
signs with the bathwater, just because it doesn't help with regular language<br>
if some parents find it useful for understanding an infants needs.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Peter Gordon<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
On 3/7/10 4:01 PM, "<a href="mailto:reilly1@mail.sdsu.edu">reilly1@mail.sdsu.edu</a>" <<a href="mailto:reilly1@mail.sdsu.edu">reilly1@mail.sdsu.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> Hi Laura,<br>
> Karen Emmorey has done work on gesture in ASL if you are interested.<br>
> Cheers<br>
> Judy<br>
<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D.<br>H. Rodney Sharp Professor<br>School of Education and Departments of Psychology and Linguistics and Cognitive Science<br>
University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716<br>Office: 302-831-1634; Fax: 302-831-4110<br>Web page: <a href="http://udel.edu/~roberta/">http://udel.edu/~roberta/</a><br>Author of "A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence" (Oxford)<br>
<a href="http://www.mandateforplayfullearning.com/">http://www.mandateforplayfullearning.com/</a><br>Please check out our doctoral program at <a href="http://www.udel.edu/education/graduate/index.html">http://www.udel.edu/education/graduate/index.html</a><br>
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