A TALENTED toddler has wowed her mum and others by learning to communicate through British Sign Language by the age of just 27 months.
Sadie Phillips from Lickey End can already use 215 signs and recognises many more.
Sadie started signing when she was just four-and-a-half months and she has spent some of her lockdown time learning the signs to ‘I Can Sing a Rainbow’.
Here’s my little TinyTalker signing 👐 “I can sing a rainbow” 🌈 (not bad for 26months) ☺️She’s been learning BSL signs since she was 4.5months and as she’s got older her finger patterns and hand shapes have improved, and her signs have become more recognisable.💜 As your baby gets older their fine and gross motor skills will develop and you’ll find their hand control and coordination will get better.💜 Their signs will change and become more recognisable.💜 Signing helps you and your baby communicate, so as long as you understand them, that’s all that matters. 💜 Baby signing is fantastic and learning BSL signs mean they can build on this foundation and pave the way for future learning.(We use BSL signs and colours do vary a lot across different regions)‼️Please switch the volume off if you don’t want to hear her Daddies dulcet tones!!! 😂‼️(We either get a signed version or a sung version from Sadie, we’ve been unable to capture a combined version….the joys of having a toddler…they never do what you want!!🤣 they play by their own rules!)
Posted by TinyTalk Bromsgrove and Redditch on Sunday, 10 May 2020
Mum Sarah, who has been running TinyTalk baby signing classes in Bromsgrove and Redditch since October last year, began teaching her daughter.
TinyTalk is based on the British Sign Language (BSL) format used by 125,000 deaf adults and around 20,000 children in the UK.
Sarah, who was a frontline police officer for 13-and-a-half years before going on maternity leave, is now hoping to encourage other families to teach their children BSL.
Sarah found BSL very useful in the police when she encountered deaf or hard of hearing people she encountered.
She said: “Sign language is an important skill for everyone to learn as it breaks down barriers.
“My daughter can hear but I wanted to teach her a life skill.
“Sadie now has a good base now with her 215 signs and can go on and learn more if she wants to in the future.”
Many parents find baby signing useful to eradicate some of the frustrations of their child’s early years such as expressing feelings and asking for things.
Sarah has taken her Tinytalk signing sessions online since the lockdown began and will go back to teaching them in person when it is safe to do so.
The weekly e-classes are fully interactive and have weekly themes suitable for babies from birth to the age of two.
TinyTalk Bromsgrove and Redditch Baby Signing weekly one-hour sessions are held on Mondays at 10.45am and Fridays at 11am. Classes are streamed Live via ‘Facebook Live’ and are £5.50 per session on PAYG basis or £5 per session (if booked as a block of six classes).
Visit facebook.com/TinyTalkBromsgroveAndRedditch/ or www.tinytalk.co.uk/sarahph or email her at [email protected] for more information.
