Sign Language DVDs Open Up a Whole New World for Deaf Children and Expand Learning for All

Good Night Moon, Corduroy, Five Little Monkeys – these are favorite stories we know by heart and our children probably do too.

A new series of videos with American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation bring these stories to deaf kids who might otherwise never get to know them and also helps expand learning for hearing kids by exposing them to a new language.

Missy Keast and her husband Dave Victorson are bringing the wonders of children’s books to an expanded audience through Scholastic video.

Through their company Signs for Intelligence, they have interpreted 9 stories into video with ASL accompaniment with plans for many more. ASL is the fourth most commonly used language in the United States.

They use the illustrations from the books, with permission – Good Night Moon, Corduroy, Five Little Monkeys and more – and then sign the stories along with the reading and beautiful music. The videos are available through www.newkideo.com  as well as their site  ASL Inside.

Keast, who is deaf, has loved telling stories her whole life and wanted to bring children’s favorites to video because she said many times hearing parents don’t interpret stories for their deaf kids.  This can cause deaf children to fall behind in learning language skills when they don’t have full access to books.

She also points out the impact having an ASL interpreter makes in the video because not only do you get the signing but also the facial expressions, which are so important to the story-telling, and the syntax of ASL, which is different than English.

The videos help improve fine motor skills by learning the signs, can help increase vocabulary by reinforcing words with signs and some believe learning a second language early can increase a child’s IQ.

The videos Keast and Victorson have made so far are focused on children ages 3 to 8 years old. Keast points out the videos are not the typical “baby sign” of basic signs for communicating with the very young. They use ASL signs that make sense for the story.

Her example: A simple sign for “walking” is two hands taking “steps” in the air. When you are talking about a cow walking, you need to use the sign for a four-legged animal walking which involved using 4 fingers to mimic walking. These stories use the correct signs in context instead of using a series of basic signs.

Victorson, who is hearing, does note that the videos are a great way to expand on the basic signing you may have started with your hearing child when they were an infant because they already know some basics of ASL. It could be a first step into truly learning ASL as a second language.

Keast recommends expanding on the baby sign language by bringing in additional signs to help form sentences with your young child. So, instead of simply signing “milk,” she suggests signing “want” and “milk” and then encourage your child to respond with “yes” so it’s a dialog.

Beyond the Scholastic videos, Signs for Intelligence also offers a 7-hour DVD called Your Pregnancy: What to Expect for expectant mothers which includes thorough information for every aspect of being pregnant and having a baby.  They also offer basic signing language DVDs for young children, as well as finger spelling DVDs for ASL students.  In total they have 24 products they currently offer.

Keast has plans for as many as 50 children’s stories and continues to research the most popular stories to interpret for their next set of videos, so stay tuned! Please read more about Missy and Dave on their website - their personal stories are amazing!