Newspaper Page Text
PAGE12A
Sign language can help infants communicate before they can talk
By Cheryl Powell (KRT)
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Looking for a sign about
what your fussing, whining
baby really wants?
A growing number of
parents are turning to sign
language to help little ones
communicate their wants
and needs before they’re
able to talk.
There are books, commu¬
nity courses and even refer¬
ences to infant sign language
in popular motion pictures.
(Remember the signing,
foul-mouthed baby in the
movie “Meet the Fockers?”)
The ultimate goal of
using baby sign language is
increasing bonding and
reducing frustration among
infants and toddlers, said
Linda Acredolo, co-author
of the book “Baby Signs”
and professor emeritus of
psychology at the University
of California-Davis.
“It’s no different from
how we feel when we’re in
France and we don’t speak
French,” she said. “It’s the
same feeling of being cut off
and helpless to get your
messages across. And it’s a
shame if parents don’t have
this bridge.
Children who know the
signs for some basic words
— things such as “milk,”
“more” and “eat” — often
fuss less because they’re less
frustrated, said Pam Lile, an
American Sign Language
interpreter and educator who
teaches courses on signing
to babies for Summa Health
System in Akron, Ohio.
It just alleviates a lot of
tantrums,” Lile said.
On a recent Saturday
morning at Summa’s outpa¬
tient facility on the Akron
City Hospital campus, about
a dozen babies sat on blan
kets while their attentive
parents sang songs and prac¬
ticed the hand motions for
some basic words in
American Sign Language.
What looked like child’s
play — things such as
Activists promote preserve
for in the wild
By Julie Stoiber (KRT)
Knight Ridder Newspapers
PHILADELPHIA — Watching elephants in
the wild is an experience so powerful that wildlife
author Douglas H. Chadwick describes it as “a
whole different level of being alive.”
It’s art experience most of us won’t have,
though, since elephants’ natural habitats are far
away, in Africa and Asia.
And so we visit zoos, many of which are
rethinking exactly how the world’s largest land
mammals should be shown. Last month, for
example, the Philadelphia Zoo announced that it
did not have the money to build a new savanna for
Petal, Dulary, Bette and Kallie, but said it hoped
someday to replace the quarter-acre elephant
exhibit and 1,800-square-foot bam.
“I understand how everyone wants to have ele¬
phants, but if they understood how it really is for
the elephants, they’d want them someplace bet¬
ter,” said Joyce Poole, a noted author and
researcher who has worked in Kenya for decades.
“In the sort of captivity we’re subjecting them to,
they don’t have the space to really be elephants.”
Poole and others are promoting a different
idea: Build vast preserves in warm areas of the
United States where elephants could breed and
form herds, and show the public their awe-inspir
ing range of behaviors — from imitating truck
and animal sounds to gently waking their babies
by touching them with their hind feet.
“Elephants are brilliant,” said Chadwick, a
Montana resident and author of “The Fate of the
Elephant. “Roaming and exploring and being in a
big social group is what they do.”
One zoo is looking at land for such a com
pound, said Les Schobert, a 29-year veteran of the
zoo industry who now “consults with anybody
who wants to improve life for elephants.” He
declined to identify the zoo, since its plans are not
public.
“Elephants are in this country and they’re
going to be in this country, and if we can develop
a self-sustaining population, we should,” Schobert
said.
Kathleen F. Wagner, senior vice president for
conservation and education at the Philadelphia
Zoo, acknowledges that “the idea certainly is
interesting, but I think we’d miss a whole lot of
people. Most of the urban population centers
wouldn’t be reached by these reserves.
Video links allowing zoo-goers to watch free
living elephants could not substitute for the real
thing. “There’s absolutely nothing like seeing an
elephant,” Wagner said.
Without animals that visitors can see, hear,
smell — and, in some cases, touch — zoos can¬
not achieve their mission of promoting conserva¬
tion, Wagner said.
o This fiscal year, the zoo will contribute more
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Thursday, November 24,2005
*
M '
’’ v „'
V" I
rr v : ! t s k v- o 1 \ ■
,
f*., ■Mil * .r .
:■ ,-ai * ' 1- -.v
,
>'
* / ‘f
f?4 ^
§ r?
■
g.
Photos/Phil Masturzo, Akron Beacon Journal
Above, instructor Pam Lile teaches her class the sign for "more" during her "Time to
Sign" class for parents and babies to learn sign language at Suma Health System's
Akron City Hospital in Akron, Ohio. Right, Jaime Dillmore, top, signs the "Itsy Bitsy
Spider" song to her 6-month-old daughter Hannah during the "Time to Sign" class for
parents and babies.
singing “Itsy Busy Spider”
~ actually helped teach the
youngsters to pay attention
t0 their caregivers and mimic
their actions, Lile said,
Those skills are critical
for babies to start using sign
language.
“Getting them clapping
Wlth y° u 1S a wonderful
beginning,” she told the par¬
ents.
Some of the parents said
they’re seeing positive
results.
Jennifer Sweeney
enrolled in Lile’s “Time to
Sign” class to help commu¬
nicate with her 10-month-old
twins, Alexis and Isabella.
As a behavioral consult¬
ant who works with children
Wlth developmental disor-
I
I
I ■>i
1
I
1 f .
■
■A
1
■
*• -
Photo/Akira Suwa/Philadelphia Inquirer
Confining elephants in zoos is ‘unfortu
nate,’ says a World Wildlife Fund official,
But ‘if the message is getting across that
this specios is .n danger ... it can have a
positive impact.’
than $250,000 to projects and organizations
focused on saving animals in their natural habi
tats, Wagner said, and it also will free employees
for field work,
“Zoos are doing positive work for wild crea
tures,” said Matthew Lewis of the World Wildlife
Fund. “It is unfortunate they can’t always provide
ideal environments, but if the message is getting
across that this species is in danger, that this isn’t
just a display of an interesting creature, it can
have a positive impact.”
Conservation is no small matter: Both African
and Asian elephants are endangered. They are
huge eaters, consuming hundreds of pounds of
vegetation and up to 50 gallons of water a day, yet
their habitats are shrinking. Because of their size,
they have few if any natural predators. But run-ins
with humans — poachers cutting off tusks with
chain saws, aggrieved farmers poisoning them —
threaten their survival,
“They are coming into more and more conflict
with people,” said Poole, the writer and
researcher, in an interview from her office in
Norway. “In Africa, they’ll get into a maize field,
and they can polish it off in a night.”
Fewer than 60,000 Asian elephants and
600,000 African elephants are estimated to live in
the wild.
ders, Sweeney said, she
knows firsthand the impor
tance of early communica
tion skills.
Instead of crying when
they want milk, her two girls
now crawl up to her and
make the sign for milk — a
fist that’s being squeezed as
if milking a cow’s udder.
“If they can communicate
their needs to me, that
helps,” she said. “It definite
ly gets us to get their bottle
a lot quicker. • *
Sign language isn’t a
requirement for communica¬
tion development.
But it can help bridge the
gap between when children
start understanding language
at about 8 or 9 months and
when they’re able to begin
speaking, usually between
12 to 15 months of age, said
Dr. Nevada Reed, a pediatric
neurologist at Akron
Children’s Hospital,
In fact, babies naturally
start using their own ges
tures to get their points
across to caregivers, she
said.
“From the time they’re
born, they’re communicating
with their behaviors, with
their facial expressions and
their cries,” she said. “Many
children, by around 9
months to age one, are start¬
ing to use some gestures on
their own. ■ i
As long as caregivers use
the spoken words that go
along with the signs, the use
of sign language won’t stall
n% Pmm f® SAW
Extreme Energy Saving Tips
Heating, Lighting and Appliances
Heating:
* A setting of 68 degrees Fahrenheit is recom¬
mended for heating (each degree above this
setting will add an additional 5% to the heating
portion of your bill).
* Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month
or as needed.
Lighting: ■ I
• Replace incandescent bulbs with compact
flourescent bulbs. On average, they use 66% less
energy, according to the EEI. \
» Keep bulbs clean. Dust can cut light output by as !
much as 25%, according to NEADA. i< j L
. A
■
Cooking:
• When preheating oven, don’t let it sit empty for
longer than necessary, and don’t open the door
to check on food. Every time you do that, you
lose 25% of the heat.
• Use a microwave oven instead of a regulear oven.
You’ll bum about 40% less energy.
Washing machine, dryer
• Wash and dry full loads, and don’t over-dry clothes.
• Keep the dryer’s lint filter clean.
• Wash in cold water unless dealing with very dirty loads.
Dishwasher
• Wash only full loads. It costs exactly the same to wash one dish as a whole load.
• If your dishwasher has an air-dry feature, use it.
Refrigerator
• Check refrigerator temperatures by putting one thermometer in a glass of water in the center of
the fridge and another between packages in the freezer. You're losing money if temperatures
are lower than 37-40 degrees for the main compartment and 0-5 degrees in'the freezer.
• Cover and wrap food. Uncovered food and liquids release moisture and drive up electricity costs.
• If you have a second fridge that’s not being used, uplug it. It can cost about $80 a year to keep
it plugged in.
SAWNEE* j: CONTACT US TODAY:
Energy Services Department
^g) An Electric Membership Corporation (770) 887-2363 ext. 7544
"We're Mm Than Electricity, Hfete Service." for more info about energy savings.
■■-jA
;■
i. gl B
-X;
... .
verbal language develop¬
ment, Reed said.
“It certainly helps the
children to get what they
want and what they need
and to reduce frustration in
not being able to communi¬
cate their desires,” she
said.
“I don’t think there are
significant drawbacks with
using gestures or signing.
There’s no evidence to sug¬
gest it replaces language, as
long as it’s being used with
language. * -
Some proponents of cer-
tain baby sign language pro¬
grams recommend care¬
givers use standardized
motions or signs adopted
from American Sign
Language.
But Reed said the types
of signs used aren’t impor¬
tant, as long as the same
motions or gestures are used
consistently among all the
child’s caregivers.
“It’s OK if it’s not for¬
malized as long as it’s a
common meaning to the
child and the caregivers,”
she said.