BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG
Staff Writer
Jack Glynn, 20 months, of Colts Neck, learns to use sign language to communicate things that he doesn’t know how to say yet. HOLMDEL — Most parents think their babies are geniuses, but imagine if a 7-month-old could communicate that it had an earache, or was hungry.
As farfetched at that sounds, babies as young as 5 months old can do it. They can be taught to use sign language to communicate before they can talk.
It’s all part of a program called Signing Smart, which was started by two doctors nearly seven years ago. The program teaches different strategies and techniques to help parents and caregivers teach babies to use sign language to express their needs and desires. The program is for hearing children.
Colts Neck resident Lisa Petillo-Belli took an interest in the program and decided to start a business using the Signing Smart strategies.
She calls her business Little Jammin Hands, and works with parents and their babies to get the little ones to use sign language. She also gives lectures to parent groups on teaching the beginning methods of the Signing Smart program.
On Thursday Petillo-Belli will host a two-hour workshop at the Holmdel Community Church, 40 West Main St.
Petillo-Belli said that babies as young as 6 or 7 months have enough gross motor control to produce signs, but the fine motor skills for speaking do not develop until around the age of 2. She said that by teaching babies to sign, they are able to communicate what they want, eliminating crying and frustration.
She said that the babies learn two different kinds of signs: useful signs, such as hurt, pain or bed; and motivating signs, such as fan, light, keys or airplane. Once the baby learns the sign for hurt, they can do the sign over whatever part of their body is hurting them, she said. This way parents know if the baby has teething pain or an earache, or if something else is hurting them, she said.
All the signs used are from American sign language. Each sign can be modified according to what the baby can do, she said. It’s just like when a child learns to talk and only a parent can understand what they are saying, she said.
She said that all little kids do some sign language, such as waving or blowing a kiss, but this program takes it a step further.
She said that teaching babies to sign helps with “bonding and creating intimacy with them.”
It can also help speed up the speaking process, because it helps little ones learn how to communicate earlier, she said. Many children who are learning to speak mix words with signs in order to communicate a complete sentence, she said. The program is also beneficial, she said, in that it creates self-esteem and helps children become more outgoing.
She said that the National Institute of Health conducted a study in which they found that children that used sign language as babies had higher IQ’s than those that did not sign. She said they studied 100 8-year-old children — 50 which signed as babies and 50 that didn’t — and that the signing babies displayed a 12-point IQ advantage.
The lecture on Thursday will be for adults only, and will focus on teaching parents and caregivers which signs to start with, how to use the signs, when to add signs, how to recognize when the baby uses signs and how to incorporate the signs into story time, Petillo-Belli said.
She also said the workshop will focus on making signs a part of the daily routine, which is significant in making the program a success.
The workshop begins at 6:30 p.m. and the registration fee is $30 per person. For more information on Signing Smart or to register for the workshop call (908) 489-0363 or visit www.crazejam.com.