Teaching sign language to babies or to very young children who have
difficulty producing intelligible speech (hearing-impaired children of
course, young children with Down Syndrome, children with cerebral palsy that
affects the mouth/tongue more than the hands, etc.) is a wonderful new tool
that has been developed over the last 15 years.  There is a great book out
about this:

Baby Signs : How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk
by Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn

My son Peter didn't start learning sign language til he was 3 years of age,
because in 1988 it was brand new.  Now they start with newborns who have
Down syndrome, signing everything that is spoken.  It has been quite a
revelation to realize just how much more these children understand and can
express than anyone suspected.  All children have the ability to form
thoughts and desire to communicate before their vocal apparatus is capable
of producing clear speech.  Children can learn literally hundreds of signs
before they can speak.

This is one of the reasons toddlerhood can be so frustrating for children
who don't have any clear way to communicate.  Imagine yourself dropped into
a community where you can't speak the language at all.  You are still having
ideas, needs, wants, but no one understands what you say, and you can't
speak their language at first.

Long before Peter could clearly speak (not til he was 6 or 7 years) he could
sign many things fluently -- his first words were "more" and "cookies".
Can't say he ever was taught or learned "please" and "thank you" in sign.

The Ezzos have taken a perfectly good notion and warped it.

Kathy Dettwyler

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