About Me
As a Certified Baby Signing Time Instructor, I am passionate about bringing a fun and educational parent-baby signing class to the west side of Portland. I am also a licensed special education teacher in the State of Oregon and have worked with young children for over 20 years. After the birth of my daughter, I began using Baby Signing Time to help increase her sign language skills and we both fell in love with the program. At 18 months, she said about 25 words but communicated with a sign vocabulary of over 100. She loved learning and using signs and was able to express so much more about what she was thinking at a young age. Many people know that signing with babies can lead to them using simple signs such as "milk", "more" or "all done" long before they can orally form those words. But for me, when I consider what signing with my child has meant, I think about one night when she saw a full harvest moon. Excitedly she pointed to it to show her grandpa. "Moo" she said clearly meaning "moon". Then with a little laugh, she signed "cookie monster moon cookie!" As wonderful as it had been to see her sharing her excitement about the moon with us, it was even more amazing to know in so much more detail what she was thinking about. Several weeks earlier she had seen Cookie Monster from Sesame Street singing a song about how delicious it would be if the moon was a giant cookie. I would never have thought about that song in the moment if it hadn't been for her ability to communicate more by signing. Because she was able to share her thoughts in so much more detail, we all had a great time talking about silly Cookie Monster and the moon.
I hope that Baby Express classes will inspire families to use signs and lead to children being able to better express themselves to the people they love. Every child is different and will sign or speak at their own developmental pace. Regardless of how much sign language a baby is able to learn and use, I believe that baby signing classes can foster communication and be a fun, bonding experience for everyone.
---Veronica
I hope that Baby Express classes will inspire families to use signs and lead to children being able to better express themselves to the people they love. Every child is different and will sign or speak at their own developmental pace. Regardless of how much sign language a baby is able to learn and use, I believe that baby signing classes can foster communication and be a fun, bonding experience for everyone.
---Veronica
Baby Express brings a Certified Baby Signing Time instructor to the Beaverton, Hillsboro and SW Portland areas of Oregon. Signing Time is an award-winning DVD series and television program produced by Two Little Hands Productions. Created by Rachel Coleman after discovering that her daughter Leah was profoundly deaf, Signing Time was originally conceived to introduce hearing children to sign language in the hopes that neighborhood children would be able to communicate with Leah. Today, the Signing Time Program is widely used in over 20 countries by educators, pediatricians, homeschoolers, speech therapists, public schools, daycare centers, libraries and families. Signing Time and Baby Signing Time make American Sign Language (ASL) fun and easy for children of all ages and abilities.
"My hope is that everyone will know a little sign, just as many people know a little Spanish - so when your child sees my child at the park, there would be no awkwardness, no communication barrier, just three signs.. Hi... friend...play... that is all it would take to change her world."
--Rachel Coleman
--Rachel Coleman
