Sign To Speak - How to Use Sign Language with Your Baby

On-Demand Class · Supporting development

Sign to Speak - The Communication Bridge, teaches you 24 ASL signs to use with your baby before they can talk back. Give your baby a voice in your home before they have one! You'll lesson communication frustration and build their vocabulary!

Class Description

Communication is key in any relationship but none more than the parent/child and caregiver/child connection. So, when is the best time to start fostering this? As early as possible! In this course you'll learn 24 ASL signs to use in your everyday conversations with your baby over the first year of their life and beyond. This three week course is guided by three categories: Week 1 - ASL Signs for Basic Needs Week 2 - ASL Signs for Health, Hygiene and Safety Week 3 - ASL Signs for Wants, Needs and Opinions Each daily lesson is 5 minutes or less fitting easily into your busy life. I walk you through WHY I chose that sign, WHEN to use it, HOW to produce the sign and WHAT the long term learning outcomes are for you baby! Parents complete the course knowing they have created a true communication bridge for their kids: sign to speech/sign to fluent speech! “I highly recommend this course because it provides a valuable tool for bridging the communication gap with your child from a very early age. I began incorporating ASL into our daily routine when my son was 4 months old. I enjoyed building up my vocabulary (and habit) over 21 days. The course videos were very simple and easy to complete consistently. I am confident that spending just a few intentional minutes per day to learn this skill will be one of my best investments as a parent.” - Danielle M "My favorite thing about this ASL course was the short, easy to follow videos. It takes very little time for very big impact." Julia C.

Class Materials

Digital and downloadable resources available with each lesson.

Sessions Overview

  1. Introduction: Welcome to The Introduction! This will be the longest video of the course where I: Bust some ASL myths Talk about WHY what you’re doing matters WHEN to use the signs HOW to follow the system And then we’ll get started!
  2. Lesson 1 - MILK: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 1 - MILK Due to the number of times you say 'milk" (and sign MILK) you'll feel like a Sign to Speak rockstar, super rocking a class while also keeping your new baby safe, fed, loved, well rested!
  3. Lesson 2 - SLEEP: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 2 - SLEEP From birth, your child eats a lot and sleeps a lot. Did you know when your baby sleeps their brain and body grow? Sleep is very important. So let’s talk to them about it.
  4. Lesson 3 - DIAPER: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 3 - DIAPER You'll be changing diapers for potentially two years. So learning how to talk about it, Learning how to tell your child “I'm about to change your diaper” or “Oh, your diaper is dirty you need a clean diaper”, is important.
  5. Lesson 4 - PLAY: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 4 - PLAY Playing is a basic need for your child. That's how they learn. That's how they understand their environment. They touch it, they feel it, they smell it.
  6. Lesson 5 - MOM AND DAD: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 5 MOM/DAD You are a basic need! You created them and you help them survive those first really challenging three months and now you are helping them grow to learn new skills. You are their first teacher. You'll be surprised how many times a day you actually say, mom and…
  7. Lesson 6 - EAT: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 6 - EAT One of the most basic needs of all! Those kids eat and they just keep growing and they just keep eating. So talking to them about it from the very beginning of their life is key.
  8. Lesson 7 - HAPPY SAD: Group 1 - Basic Needs, Lesson 7- HAPPY/SAD Learning to label our emotions is the foundation for emotional awareness, regulation and growing into our EQ!
  9. Bonus - GET DRESSED: Group 1 - Basic Needs Bonus! - GET DRESSED In those first few months, I'm not sure how many outfits they go through in a day! As they grow they're on the changing table a lot more. They sometimes have an opinion about that. A lot of kids don't love the getting dressed process.
  10. Lesson 8 - CLEAN and DIRTY: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 8- CLEAN/DIRTY Group 2 is all about health, hygiene, and safety. As much as we talk about basic needs all day long with our kids, as they grow and evolve into slightly bigger human beings, we do a lot more talking about health, hygiene, and safety.
  11. Lesson 9 - BATH: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 9 - BATH Some kids love bathtime and some don't. Being able to talk to them about it before it happens is forecasting for them and it's going to help ease that transition. Remember our goal is to reduce communication frustration and, by extension, tantrums.
  12. Lesson 10 - OUCH AND HURT: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 10 - OUCH/HURT Talking to your children about when they are upset or hurt is the foundation for empathizing and adds to your strong parent/child bond.
  13. Lesson 11 - CAR: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 11 - CAR Your kids spend a good deal of time in a car. And honestly, some love the car and some don't so -again, as we head into this developmental space where your child starts to show you their preferences, we want to get ahead of that by talking about i…
  14. Lesson 12 - SIT: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 12 -SIT You recall I said that this second group of signs really directly applies to the body control of a six-month-old or older. Once you reach that point, you're going to ask them to sit a lot. You want to keep them safe and you need them to be sitting…
  15. Lesson 13 - SAFE: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 13 - SAFE Your kids will inevitably question you why it is that you're asking them to do something. Why do they need to take a bath? Why do they need to sit? Why do they do their vegetables? And my answer always is, "It's my job to keep you safe and health…
  16. Lesson 14 - WAIT: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Lesson 14 - WAIT From the minute your baby was born the've done a ton of waiting. Learning to wait is the foundation for self-control, patience and delayed gratification. Isn't it amazing that they can learn that skill now!
  17. Group 2 Bonus - HELP: Group 2 - Health, Hygiene, & Safety Bonus! - HELP This sign is the perfect bridge (pun intended) between our ‘health, hygiene, and safety’ category and where we're headed with ‘needs, wants, and desires.
  18. Lesson 15 - MORE: Group 3 -Needs, Wants & Desires - Lesson 15 - MORE This group of signs is all about empowering your child to have a voice in some type of negotiation where they think they want something but don't necessarily need it.
  19. Lesson 16 - ALL DONE: Group 3 -Needs, Wants & Desires - Lesson 16 - ALL DONE Transitions, when approached with intention and healthy support, can be so successful. MORE and ALL DONE are signs we use to teach transition making thinking.
  20. Lesson 17 - WHICH ONE: Group 3 -Needs, Wants & Desires - Lesson 17 - WHICH ONE This one is one of my absolute favorites. Because as we progress through this course, you've heard me talk about the psychology of positive communication leading to early choice making.
  21. Lesson 18 - READY: Group 3 -Needs, Wants & Desires - Lesson 18 - READY And I've talked to you a lot about Healthy Transitions, supporting your kids to know what's coming next, and that you're going to support them getting there. Being ready is a big part of that.
  22. Lesson 19 - WHERE: Group 3 -Needs, Wants & Desires - Lesson 19 - WHERE Your baby knows exactly where things are. This is the power of the receptive language development that I talked to you about. Don't count them out. Just because they're little and they can't talk to you yet.
  23. Lesson 20 - PLEASE AND THANK YOU: Group 3 -Needs, Wants & Desires - Lesson 20 - PLEASE / THANK YOU Today we are starting the process of talking about manners, something we all want our kids to have and naturally exhibit with others, but also with us.
  24. Lesson 21 - YES AND NO: I saved this pair for last on purpose. We hear a lot of ‘No!’ around small children. Sometimes they come out of our mouths. Sometimes they come out of their mouth or their body language or they're screaming and they're crying. We need to model yes and no!
  25. Group 3 Bonus - I LOVE YOU: CONGRATULATIONS on completing this course! Please email me at cara@core4parenting.com to submit the feeback form questions. I love hearing how to make this course even more impactful Stay mindful - Keep Signing!

Your Instructor

Cara Tyrrell

Cara Tyrrell has a Bachelor degrees in ASL and Linguistics as well as a Masters degree in Education. In her preschool and kindergarten classrooms she identified a pattern of underdeveloped skill sets in her students leading to a professional pivot. This led Cara to found Core4 Parenting, an parenting education hub offering digital and in-person developmental courses that empower parents and caregivers to maximize the foundational brain development between birth and 5 years old. Using scientifically backed systems and strategies, Core4’s courses educate parents to foster the development of social/emotional, cognitive, physical and interpersonal skills by designing an exceptional home environment for their infants and toddlers. Cara is passionate about raising whole children by improving the quality of early childhood education by providing high quality instruction for parents and caregivers.

Degrees and Certifications

University of Rochester Rochester, NY. Bachelors Double Major: American Sign Language / Linguistics Boston University Boston, MA. Masters Degree in Education Hampshire Educational Collaborative Greenfield, MA. Reading Recovery Teaching Certification

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