Resource: Sign Language

Click on this picture to see the story of the Grinch!

I fell in love with American Sign Language many years ago. I cannot dance well with my feet, but I can make my hands dance with sign. It is a wonderful, expressive language. Watch this clip with your children and help them to read the signs. Ask your children to describe how each character in the story feels. This young girl is a genius at expressing emotions through signs.

I recommend you go to the site that posted this clip.

ASLnook is designed by this young girl's parents and has a wealth of resources to connect the spoken word to the signed word. 

When I taught kindergarten and first grade, I used sign language to help children to develop language skills. I even did some research that indicated sign language helped my students to learn to read. Exploring another language helps children to develop their first language.

As you explore sign language with your children help them to understand that children that are different from them are not defective. God did not create this child and then say "Oops, I forgot to give her hearing!" God creates His children just the way they are. 

And He loves them just the way they are - no more, no less.

Exposure to different languages not only enhances your child's intelligence, but it enhances the skill of empathy. Through this process, differences can become something interesting with the potential for learning and friendship instead of the threat of fear.