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| Monica Beyer signs the word ‘drink’ with her daughter, Lauren, 2. Ms. Beyer started using sign language with her second son and has Web sites that provide information and products related to baby signing. It’s used as a way to communicate with young children who cannot talk yet. JESSICA STEWART/St. Joseph News-Press |
2/25/2005 - St. Joseph News-Press
Mom starts Web sites to help parents 'talk' to tots
Monica Beyer’s 2-year-old daughter raises her hand to her forehead and taps her thumb to her temple.
“That’s right, Daddy’s home, isn’t he?” Ms. Beyer asks her.
Although her daughter, Lauren, can’t talk yet, Ms. Beyer has been able to communicate with her since she was 6 months old through sign language.
“With signing, you have the benefit of knowing what a 7-month-old is thinking about and wants,” Ms. Beyer said. “It helps erase a lot of frustration on both sides.”
Ms. Beyer began using sign language with her children about five years ago. Her second child, Corbin, was about 11 months old. Ms. Beyer had seen a program on television that talked about sign language for babies and she became interested. After ordering a book, she began using a few simple signs with Corbin. She would sign “eat” when she fed him or “more” when he wanted more food.
Her husband was a bit skeptical about his ability to sign back.
“This was back in 2000 and no one had heard of it, so he didn’t think it would work,” Ms. Beyer said. “But when he signed ‘milk’ to him, he was amazed.”
At the time, there wasn’t a lot of information about baby sign language and since she worked full time as a Web designer at Missouri Western State College, Ms. Beyer decided to start an information Web site for other parents who signed with their children.
In 2003, Ms. Beyer had her third child, Lauren, and decided to stay home with her children.
“It was about the same time that companies began approaching me about selling their products,” she said.
So, Ms. Beyer started www.signingbabyshop.com, which sells videos, DVDs and flashcards about baby sign language.
She still runs www.signingbaby.com, an informational Web site which receives between 5,000 and 6,000 hits a day.
“It’s getting more and more popular,” Ms. Beyer said. “In the movie ‘Meet the Fockers,’ there’s a little boy that signs and (actress) Debra Messing has been signing with her baby and talks about it on talk shows.”
Signing allows children to communicate with their parents before their vocal capabilities are fully formed, Ms. Beyer said.
Signing does not impact speech development, but actually could help it along, she said.
“They mimic spoken word acquisition,” she said. “When they first learn a sign, it might not look exactly right, kind of like when they say ‘ba’ for ‘ball.’ But, when Corbin began speaking, he’d just blurt out entire sentences because he already know what everything was.”
For more information, visit www.signingbabyshop.com or www.signingbaby.com, or call 901-0445.
