Signing with your Autistic Child
Sign language is most often thought of in the context of the deaf community. But, as our website demonstrates, signing with children has numerous benefits for parent and child. Data also shows that sign language is often beneficial for children with special needs which effect their speech and/or social development, such as autism, apraxia or downs syndrome.
Sign Language and Special Needs
If you sign with your baby, it will have great academic benefits, especially for children with special needs. Some children have an impairment that affects their ability to make auditory and visual connections. Sign language helps trigger that area of the brain linked to language and speech development, thus helping to expand the child’s vocabulary and enhancing speech development.
When a child’s speech development is enhanced, so are his social and emotional skills. Children with special needs can be very frustrated when communication becomes difficult. This frustration may manifest itself in the form of depression or tantrums and aggression. Sign language can help remove communication barriers and eliminate much of the frustration associated with the same. By expanding his vocabulary, and eliminating communication barriers, the child will have greater self esteem and more independence and behave in a more socially accepted manner.
Sign Language and Autism
Autism is a developmental disability that often involves an impairment and delay in social and language skills and behavior. It is a spectrum disorder, meaning that all cases are different and they vary in severity. Some young people will be able to speak, while some will have no speech at all. Less severe diagnoses include Pervasive Development Disorder or Asperger’s Syndrome. These children typically talk normally, but have many of the social problems associated with autism.
The use of sign language with autistic children has been growing consistently since the 1970’s. The primary purpose ofsigning with children with autism, or similar disorders, is to give them an alternative means of communication. Numerous studies have demonstrated that autistic children can be taught signing as a means of communication. Furthermore, through the use of sign language, a segment of otherwise mute children acquire speech. Thus, sign language can also be used to augment communication with the ultimate goal of developing speech.
There are many benefits to teaching sign language to otherwise mute and special needs children. Even if she only acquires a few basic signs, this gives the child a way of expressing her needs in an understanding and socially acceptable manner. And by learning a standard language, the child is made to take account and interact with others. All of the studies show that social awareness increases and tantrums decrease following sign language acquisition. Moreover, by acquiring a language as soon as possible, the child may acquire cognitive skills that provide a basis for continued learning and lessen the overall impact of her development disability. Visit our website for more information about sign language and children with special needs
Filed under Kids and Teens | Comment (0)Common Baby Names and their Meanings
Baby names and their meanings are so broadly varied, you may get a lot of meanings for a particular name. Here, we take a look at a small amount of the most common names out there, and a little of the choices for what they in fact mean! Take, for example, the person’s name Ashley. Ashley is a name suitable for both
baby girls names and boy names, and it can signify a few diverse things. Not simply does it mean lives in the ash tree grove, it is too derived from a name that means ash wood.
It might as well come from St. Michael, who was the patron saint of military. Some parents have named their new born baby Michael following the name of Michelangelo, who was not merely a guardian angel, but was also a well-known artist. This name means charming. Rebecca is an alternative of Rebekah, a well-liked name from the Bible selected for baby girls.
The name Caleb has an exciting sense behind it. Caleb is taken from Hebrew, and bring out from the name Ka - meaning like - and Lev, meaning “heart”. Thus, Caleb means “like the heart”. However, the Hebrew spelling of the name is extremely close to the similar word for “dog”. In Biblical expressions, Caleb was one of the twelve military sent by Moses to walk around the Promised Land.
Some kid names and their meanings turn out to be yet extra complex when their derivatives are used. For example, the name Ethan is known from the Hebrew to mean strong .A well-known possessor of the name was Ethan Allen, a warrior in the War of freedom, and a name made even most accepted by a recognizable chain of high-end furniture stores. However, as a Celtic name it would be recognized as Eghan, meaning ardent. Though baby names and meanings vary a bit with each derivation, note how the fundamental meaning remains same. Someone who is ardent could well be the small fighter and of course, ardent can also signify strong.
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