I have kind of a random question. How do you add "Baby Sign Language" to your resume? I have a Skills section, which includes Languages, but I'm not sure how to add in BSL. Right now, I have "Native English speaker with elementary proficiency in Spanish". How should I word it so I can also add Baby Sign Language?? Thanks.
Isn't "baby" sign language the same as American sign language? ASL is considered an actual language so you can say that your native language is English and you know a bit of Spanish and ASL.
ReplyDeleteI do baby sign language, I would just say 'have a good knowledge of Baby Sign Language under Skills or Languages etc
ReplyDeletewhy don't you just type it on the resume?
ReplyDeleteSkills:
Baby Sign Language
i'm not quite understanding the issue
Or maybe you could say. Infant Communication Therapist
hey that would make you sound expensive
MissMannah, Baby sign language is NOT the same as ASL. ASL is ASL and baby sign is a much simpler system of hand gestures without much underlying grammatical structure or syntax (and I'm not sure it's been formally codified, either--some signs might vary with users, regions, etc.). For this nanny to say she knows ASL when she only knows baby sign language is dishonest and deceptive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Logical Skeptic.. knowing baby signs is not ASL. I know a great deal of both ASL and baby signs and there are many differences between the two. Baby signs are based on ASL but often changed to be more English-like. I would put it under skills as well. Unless you took a formal class on it, then you could put it under education or training.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies, I didn't know. To be honest, I don't really get the whole "baby signs" fad. When I was teaching daycare and I wanted to teach a sign or two to my class, I would always look it up on the ASL website to make sure it was the real thing. I also have a friend who works as a deaf interpreter who has taught me a few signs over the years.
ReplyDeleteI think baby signs are great and I wish more parents and educators would use them. It is a great way for children to be able to communicate before they can verbally and despite what some people believe, it does not stunt the child from learning how to speak. I think it's great that you tried to teach your class a few signs, MissMannah.
ReplyDeleteCan you provide me with links with research that shows teaching sign won't delay development?
ReplyDeleteI was trying to explain this to my a friend of mind but she wasn't going for it.
You could just say something like:
ReplyDelete"Strong command of the English language, as well as a strong knowledge of Baby Sign Language and elementary proficiency in Spanish."
or
"Native English speaker with a strong knowledge of Baby Sign Language and elementary proficiency in Spanish."
...Or something like that. On my own resume, I tend to list the things that I am most proficient in first and then work my way down to the things that I just would like to mention. If you are stronger in Baby Sign Language, put that first, then the Spanish. If it's the other way around, change the wording to reflect that.
Susannah- I did a research paper on it last year and I'm not sure if I can dig up any of my research but I'll try! In the meantime you can YouTube a poster named "smarthandsca." she has lots of great videos of her children who she taught sign to since birth and i believe she has videos explaining fhd benefits of baby sign. At least i know she used to. I know that's more anecdotal and not research based so I will try and find something more concrete :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Strawberry!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of bullet points in resumes, particularly in skills sections. I would make each language a separate bullet point, for English and Spanish noting if your skills are written and/or verbal. I think communication is incredibly important to most parents, so is something worth highlighting on your resume. Alternatively, you could do something like "Languages: English (Native Speaker), Spanish (Elementary Proficiency), Baby Sign Language (I'm a boss)."
ReplyDeleteAs PP suggested, if you learned from a class, you should definitely note that as well.
Actually, there are MANY forms of baby sign language, but the best one ACTUALLY IS ASL. The program is called baby signing time. Google it. =) None of the signs are made up! =)
ReplyDeletewhere the hell did people get the idea that baby sign would stunt development? the same book where yelling is the new spanking? or we all get a trophy?
ReplyDeleteit is so early and i have already met my daily dumb idea criteria.
signing doesn't stunt speech. for the Einsteins out there (who actually did talk till he was 9 because he felt he had nothing good to say) you are able to speack when you teach the sign. First you hold up your hands to make the sign. Put it in front of babies face and speak the meaning of the sign and make them freakin repeat it.
For the love of all that is good on this Earth we are all doomed if people keep thinking with their rear ends.
***didn't talk***
ReplyDeleteand just for the record I'm not yelling at anyone on this discussion. im ranting like a lunatic because that i think just made me lose my mind slightly.
no one said they agrees that sign stunts speech. I was just ranting
Baby sign is pretty useless, in my opnion (and full disclosure, I have a degree in linguistics and worked for Robin Lakoff, who agrees with me on this). Either teach the kid actual ASL, which has practical applications, or just talk as you normally would. The idea that baby sign stunts normal language growth is plausible but not true (children who rely on sign may be reluctant to give it up in favor of speech if it's effective), but the notion that it reduces tantrums is also nonsense, because guess what, folks: preverbal children are going to get frustrated no matter what. BECAUSE THEY'RE TODDLERS. Any parent/caregiver who's even halfway paying attention is going to know when their charge is hungry/wet/tired/sick/whatever; they don't need kid gesturing at them to figure it out. That's not what's causing the tantrum. Being a small person in a big world is what's causing the tantrum. Also, all the anecdata about "my child started signing at 7 months and now he's taking the SAT at 3" (hyperbole, but you know what I mean) probably has it backward. Your kid is *innately* highly verbal; that's why he took to signing so well and THAT's why he talks so much now, not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteReally, this whole brouhaha about "teaching" and "helping" children to talk is such a waste of everyone's energy. JUST TALK TO THEM. Read to them. Have conversations around them. Go ahead and use "baby talk" (linguists call it "motherese") when it feels natural,and don't worry about it because that doesn't stunt their development either. Children are as hard-wired for language as they are for walking and running. They don't need to be "taught". They need to be given opportunities to absorb and practice. A pediatrician will tell you if you need to worry; otherwise, just let it happen.
PS if you really do want to use sign (and there's no evidence that it *hurts* kids, after all), read this article for how NOT to do it:
http://www.babble.com/toddler/toddler-development/baby-sign-language-speech-development/index.aspx#fbConnectSection
also too people back in the day rarely spoke to their kids and somehow they figured out how to speak. I agree do ASL at least give the kid a chance and it actually being beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI think baby sign is BS...sorry
My mom has a degree in special education and has been studying asl for 30 years (actually has a minor in it) she teaches adult school and a baby talk class (yes I was her test dummy and yes I know it and am an assistant teacher in her class) asl is the real baby sign language you just use simple signs like food and more and ball and we teach them all the animals so who ever said that its much simpler then asl is wrong and I suggest you take one of our classes. I am a nanny who advertises asl as baby sign language i dont have a formal resume I just have a list of what qualifications and experience I have and being an assistant baby sign language teacher falls into my experience catagory
ReplyDeleteMy baby sign I do is based on South African Sign language (I'm in SA) - some of the sign are simplified to make it easier for a baby to do and most are the real sign. Yes, it does help them communicate. Instead of crying and yelling my babies can sign sore or hungry or tired or thirsty etc so yes, it does help to reduce frustration. I love that young child can easily communicate to me what they specifically want rather than having me try and guess from their cry. It's also an additional language, and by using their words and signs they're using different parts of their brains which is great for development. Don't assume that if a person uses baby signs that they do't talk or read or communicate with their child. My daughters favourite activity with her daddy at the moment is reading and using her signs to 'read' along with her daddy.
ReplyDeleteMy only issue, Sarah, is that if a small child is "crying and yelling", there is a limited range of soluble problems: hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain/discomfort. Anything else (existential crisis, illness, hating the non-negotiable car seat etc.) you can't fix. So why not just offer remedies for these 4 issues (food, drink, diaper check, clothing/car seat check, hot/cold check, soothing to sleep), instead of trying to make the kid tell you? Especially if they're really melting down, they may not be able to pull themselves together enough to sign anything. Hell, sometimes *I* can't stop crying long enough to tell anyone what's wrong!
ReplyDeleteIMO, the whole point of being a caregiver is that you can figure out and troubleshoot these things yourself, since you're the adult and you can make reasonable guesses within a limited range of possibilities. I'm not saying that you shouldn't use sign language if it works and it's fun for the kid (although as before, I think it ought to be *actual* sign language, not modified baby sign), but it's not necessary or obligatory, and if it's not fun or interesting and it doesn't work, then you ought to dispense with it without guilt.
Thanks for the advice everyone =]
ReplyDeleteMy MB wants me to start teaching her kids sign language and I happen to know it, and I thought, why not add it to my resume! I know more than a handful of words. I just didn't want to falsely advertise that I know American Sign Language when I don't. I know the alphabet and a bunch of words you would use to start teaching babies/young children. I don't know anything about sentence structure/grammar/etc.
Mandy, you're actually proving my earlier point that baby sign is not a formal, codified, universal system. Your mother uses *actual ASL* and calls it "baby sign". That's great, although I'm not sure why she wouldn't call it just ASL. Other programs, however, do NOT use ASL as baby sign: either they modify ASL signs to make them easier for small children to use, or they use a completely different system of signs. Finally, ASL grammar is totally different from English because it's a different language; it's not just speaking English with your hands. Most people who use baby sign teach individual words and maybe a few combinations, such as "more [x]" or "no [y]". They aren't fluent in ASL and its grammar so they can't pass it on to their charges. THAT'S why I said that baby sign is not ASL. ASL is ASL and baby sign is either a modified, simplified ASL or a different creature entirely.
ReplyDeleteSarah, nowhere in my posts have I assumed that people who use baby sign or ASL don't talk or read to their kids. It's great that your child picked it up so quickly and uses it well and has fun with it. Not every child gets it, and it's certainly not a requirement for making your child proficient. It's impossible to tell if it really helps or if the children who use it well are naturally highly verbal, and would have started talking earlier and better anyway. And if it becomes a source of frustration or anxiety for either the child or the parent/caregiver, it can and should be dropped without a lot of guilt.
what age do these babies begin to use sign? Like 7 months?
ReplyDeleteYou can start teaching babies to sign as early as 4 months. Some babies will pick it up sooner, some won't.
ReplyDelete