Sign language helps babies communicate A Houston woman is
teaching other parents how their babies can express themselves
through baby sign language. Instructor Mimi Vance at the
Motherhood Center wrote a series of children's books called
"Words by the Handful." Each one illustrates five different
words using American sign language. "If you can just start with
a handful and a handful will actually take you a long way for
signing with children," said Vance. Vance, a mother of two and
life-long language specialist, is self taught, and now teaches
other moms to learn what their babies are trying to say. Some
mothers found sign language helped reinforce their child's
language development. "If he was murmuring cookie, we didn't
know what he was saying. But if he did the sign at the same
time, we could give him a cookie," said mother Cari Arnold.
Mother Kristi Schipper's children grew up signing. She believes
signing can alleviate those dreaded temper tantrums. "You could
just see him getting so mad and just giving