Dear Preschool Program Director:
In
January 2004, the New York Times printed an article describing
amazing findings from a longitudinal study (beginning eight years ago) of
the use of American Sign Language with hearing babies and toddlers. We now
know that children can use sign language to express themselves more than a
full year before they are able to speak. By the age of 10 months, most
babies are able to master a few signs, followed by many others up to the
age of 2 years when speech naturally takes over. You can imagine the
frustrations that are eliminated by this incredible phenomenon. In
addition, we now know that the advantages of using sign language early in
life dramatically affect later academic performance and IQ scores, signing
children averaging 12 points higher than their non-signing peers.
Our
program is based on this research and provides a complete discussion of
the benefits of using sign language with infants and toddlers. We show
video tapes of signing babies and provide instruction for the finger
spelling alphabet and over 80 American Sign Language baby signs. In
addition, we hand out lists with descriptions of sign books, videos and
other materials appropriate for teachers and parents to use with their
babies. We even include an order form from Harris Communications so they
may be easily obtained. The cost of the workshop is $25 per person or $40
per family. Additionally, Play and Sign sessions, involving parents and
their youngsters, are available. A series of 5 of these sessions costs
$75. The fees are paid by the parents and a portion of the payments goes
to your program for the use of your facility.
Our two
instructors are professional sign language interpreters with excellent
credentials. We would like to offer our exciting workshops to the teachers
and parents of your program. We hope that you will join us to become a
part of this remarkable movement which is taking place across the United
States, Canada and Europe. Kindly call to discuss the details.
Sincerely
yours,
Lynn
Lamont, MA
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