Category Archives: Health

The other day I was asked if I would please post some information on my blog regarding children and learning sign language.   I read the article (below) and knew it was something I’d love to promote.  See, I have a niece who is almost 3.   She speaks a little now, but in the last year she wasn’t very verbal.  Smart as a whip, that kid…but not talking a whole lot.  My sister taught her sign language and I’ll tell you, I’m amazed!   Since then, I’ve seen children in the grocery store and restaurants signing.  Little kids!  Like toddlers.   It’s stunning to see this beautiful form of communication.   Yesterday my son came home from cross country practice and said his teachers baby was there and was signing.  And because of my niece, my son knew the sign the baby was giving…”I’m hungry”.

I think the whole concept is amazing and thought I’d pass the article on to you.  There are links at the bottom in the author information should you wish to pursue the information.   Read for yourself!….

Parents Can Give Their Children a Competitive Edge through Early Exposure to Sign Language

One of the keys to surviving in a tilted economic system in which opportunities to achieve a decent standard of living will be limited is versatility – and the ability to communicate articulately in a variety of ways with the widest possible audience. This includes bilingual ability as well as the ability to communicate in non-verbal ways for the benefit of the disabled – primarily the deaf.

At the same time, a growing shortage of qualified interpreters fluent in American Sign Language has led to more career opportunities – and if current trends continue, it’s likely that skilled ASL interpreters will have little problem securing lucrative employment in a society where such a commodity is destined to be in short supply.

Signing Before They Can Speak

A great deal of research has clearly demonstrated that the early years – ages 2 to five – are the best time to educate children in different modes of communication and language. This goes beyond the spoken word (though it is an optimal time for children to learn a second language); many young children have an aptitude for signing as well.

This is not as odd as you may think. As you know, many indigenous peoples around the world, including American Indian nations, have used sign language for centuries to facilitate communication with other tribes with whom they do not share a language. Some paleontologists and anthropologists theorize that Neanderthals – who apparently lacked the vocal mechanism to produce many spoken words – depended a great deal upon hand gestures to communicate.

In fact, recent research suggests that sign language is innate. An article published in the Boulder Daily Camera in 2003 presented strong evidence that babies as young as six months old communicate with their hands:

“…by 6 to 7 months, babies can remember a sign. At eight months, children can begin to imitate gestures and sign single words. By 24 months, children can sign compound words and full sentences. They say sign language reduces frustration in young children by giving them a means to express themselves before they know how to talk.” (Glarion, 2003)

The author also cites study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development demonstrating that young children who are taught sign language at an early age actually develop better verbal skills as they get older. The ability to sign has also helped parents in communicating with autistic children; one parent reports that “using sign language allowed her to communicate with her [autistic] son and minimized his frustration…[he now] has an advanced vocabulary and excels in math, spelling and music” (Glarion, 2003).

The Best Time To Start

Not only does early childhood education in signing give pre-verbal youngsters a way to communicate, it can also strengthen the parent-child bond – in addition to giving children a solid foundation for learning a skill that will serve them well in the future. The evidence suggests that the best time to start learning ASL is before a child can even walk – and the implications for facilitating the parent-child relationship are amazing.

Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Zionsville educational child care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of Indiana educational child care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.

Okay, so we did a family colon cleanse for the first time last week.  How’s that for a fun family event?  I know, it sounds shitty…ba-dum-dum…but actually it was great!   I have read a lot about eating healthy and decided that we all needed to clean ourselves out.  Did you know that you can have fecal matter stuck in your intestines for like years?  Ewe.

I wanted to do it naturally – by eating  healthy – not by taking some potion.  So I made lists and shopped and prepared everyone in advance that yes…I was completely serious.   Actually everyone pretty much followed the rules (except I did catch Shane cheating a couple times.   i.e. the dwindling bag of hidden Kit Kats to pass out on Halloween….the response of ‘The label says NO TRANS FATS’ when I asked him why he was eating a bowl of ice-cream)

I have to tell you I felt 100% better after just 5 days not eating red meat, trans fats, prepackaged foods and stuff that contained things I couldn’t pronounce.   And did you know that if you just season the hell out of ground turkey…you can substitute it for ground beef in many recipes?  We did it for lasagna and tacos.  And actually we’ll probably continue to make these dishes with turkey.   It’s amazing how much less FAT is in ground turkey.  OMG.

Every day we had a fruit bar.   I made angel food cake which had none of the aforementioned unpronounceable items or trans fats…loaded with fruit and a dollop of whipped cream for a treat.  Or a truck load in Shane’s case. (pic to the left – first one in line)

The hardest part was not having a package of cookies to nibble from on the counter.  But I put a big note on the cupboards that reminded everyone “Make healthy choices! : No trans fats!” – Eat Fruit!  Eat nuts!”  And there was no whining believe it or not…let’s just say…everything worked itself out just right.

If your curious on tips for cleanin out your own poop shute…I posted ideas on my Wellness Blog!