Sing and Sign for Young Children: Supporting Language and Attachment with Sign, Songs and Play

Anne Meeker Watson, Ph.D., MT-BC
anne@ singplaylove.com

LEARNER OUTCOMES OF THIS PRESENTATION:

1. Define joint attention and its importance for early language.
   The shared focus of two individuals on an object. One individual alerts another to an object by means of eye-gazing, pointing, or other verbal or non-verbal indications.

   Important for the development of:

   • Language comprehension
   • Oral language production
   • Word learning
   • Meeting child’s needs

2. Explain the difference between ASL signs, invented signs and sign approximations.

   • American Sign Language (ASL): “A complete, complex language that employs signs made by moving the hands combined with facial expressions and postures of the body” (NIDCD)
   • Invented signs: Gesture a young child creates and consistently uses to communicate
   • Sign approximations: Child’s best try at imitating a signed word that is modeled for them

3. List the three steps children master to sign to communicate.

   1. Understanding
   2. Expression

4. Describe the benefits of singing AND signing for child development.

   1. Supports emotional regulation
   2. Enhances receptive and oral language
      • Add key signs for routines and transitions
      • Add signs for preferred interests of children
   3. Strengthens attachment between child and caring adult
      • Add a few signs as you read your favorite books and signs
   4. Reinforces imitation skills
      • Sign feeling words to reinforce emotional literacy
   5. Integrates listening, motor skills, language, problem solving, spatial-temporal experience, and literacy
   6. Enriches vocabulary
      • Joyfully connect through sign, song, books, and play!
   7. Supports participation for all children: non-verbal, deaf or HH, dual language learners
   8. Give children a variety of tools to retell and recall stories.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• Free song. “Hickory Dickory Dock.” Anne M. Watson. www.singplaylove.tools/squeak
• Free song. “Frog in the Meadow.” Anne M. Watson. https://youtu.be/-zE0vZO2Sb0
• Free self-calming toolkit. www.singplaylove.com
• ASL video dictionary. Signing Savvy. https://www.signingsavvy.com/
• Video. “The Baby Brain” (2020) Patricia K. Kuhl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErPPXfsY6a8&t=426s
• Video. “The Cell Phone Experiment: Consequences of Distracted Parenting.” (2019) Michelle Kelly and Anne Watson. https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/339213901

BOOKS

• Baby Sing & Sign by Anne Meeker Miller (2007)
• Toddler Sing & Sign by Anne Meeker Miller (2007)
• Mealtime and Bedtime Sing & Sign by Anne Meeker Miller (2008)
• Sing and Sign for Young Children: A Guide for Early Childhood Professionals by Anne Meeker Watson
• SING.PLAY.LOVE. Educator & Family Kits.

CITATIONS

• Lucca, K., & Wilbourn, M. P. (2019). The what and the how: Information-seeking pointing gestures facilitate learning labels and functions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 178, 417–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.08.003
• The Man Who Took His Life as a Dance. (2013, April 12). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/arts/dance/bill-t-jones-and-oliver-sacks-connect-at-live-arts.html#:~:text=Much%20more%20of%20the%20brain

*BOLDED SONG TITLES available in SING.PLAY.LOVE. picture book format.