# 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](http://www.singplaylove.tools/squeak)  
- Free song. “Frog in the Meadow.” Anne M. Watson. [https://youtu.be/-zE0vZO2Sb0](https://youtu.be/-zE0vZO2Sb0)  
- Free self-calming toolkit. [www.singplaylove.com](http://www.singplaylove.com)  
- ASL video dictionary. Signing Savvy. [https://www.signingsavvy.com/](https://www.signingsavvy.com/)  
- Video. “The Baby Brain” (2020) Patricia K. Kuhl. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErPPXfsY6a8&t=426s](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](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](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](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)

| SONGS                     | CORRELATED PICTURE BOOKS                       | SING.PLAY.LOVE.                       |
|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| Hickory Dickory Dock     | Hickory Dickory Dock(Baker)                   | www.singplaylove.tools/squeak        |
| Mommy Go‘Round the Sun   | Sunrise,Moonrise(Thompson)                    | SING&SIGN book                        |
| Frog in the Meadow       | Jump,Frog,Jump!(Kalan)                        | www.youtube.com/singplaylove          |
| John the Rabbit          | John the Rabbit(Watson) One Brown Bunny(Bauer) | “I Love Learning” Educator Kit/Single Book Kit |
| Saturday Morning         | First 100 Words(Priddy Books)                 | SING&SIGN book                        |
| I Take the Music with Me | I Take the Music with Me(Watson) We All Sing with the Same Voice(Miller and Greene) | SING&SIGN book/Early Learning Educator Kit/Single Book Kit |

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