One of the things I'm really interested in is language development and acquisition.
I found two very basic films about it that you can watch here and here. I'm currently very fascinated with how children are being taught sign language, and I found a short video about that as well.
I'm curious about whether any of you have tried teaching your children ASL? Did they seem less frustrated and less likely to spend a lot of time crying or having tantrums after you taught them how to communicate?
I tried that approach with my own child, and she picked up quite a bit. The thing is, gestures just don't come naturally to her (so in her case she actually prefers to talk or write). Before she could speak or write down things, the best intervention I ever found was art. The first time she painted a representational figure (which was of a woman that looked remarkably like the goddess figures popular in early human civilizations) I cried my eyes out because we'd finally found a way to "talk".
I know that most children are way more comfortable with gesturing before talking or drawing though, so I wonder how this panned out in your households?
Do you know what your first word or words were?
In family lore, my first utterance was, "No, Bob that's my cookie!"
I was always wordy. I have also continued to have strong feelings about cookies. heh
Patty
(I'm pretty sure my language started out more basic than that. I think that my parents just didn't pay attention until that particular incident.)
