By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Introducing American Sign Language (ASL) to young children not only provides them with a way to communicate, it can reduce frustration and tantrums in toddlers by allowing them to express their needs before they can talk.
With that in mind, the San Bernardino County Library is offering Stories and Signs, a special storytime accompanied by simple sign language for children from age zero to 5 at both the Crestline and Lake Arrowhead branches.
Miss Marle and Dameon with the craft he created at the library.
In the library’s description of the program, they say that “signs can be used by toddlers who aren’t speaking yet and by older preschoolers practicing fine motor skills and vocabulary building.”
On Thursday, March 12, Marle Perez was waiting for the children to arrive for the 4 p.m. program. The previous week – the first in the program – she had had eight children attend.
This second week brought 4-year-old Dameon back with his brother, Dimitri, 1-1/2, and their parents.
Before reading the book I Don’t Care to the young boys, Miss Marle reviewed some of the first week’s signs with Dameon: father, mother, brother, friend. As she signed them to Dameon, he copied her.
As Miss Marle read the book, she stopped periodically to show Dameon a new sign: shoes, sad, mad, happy, big, small, slow, fast. She had learned ASL while a student at Rim of the World High School; at that time, ASL was one of the languages offered.
Dameon followed along closely, copying the signs Miss Marle showed him. He even spontaneously signed a couple of the words when asked to do so.
The program also includes a craft. This week, Miss Marle had Dameon cut out vegetable shapes, glue them onto a paper and draw faces on them.
At the conclusion of the program, both Dameon and his father signed “thank you” to Miss Marle.
The program will continue at the Lake Arrowhead branch, located in Blue Jay, through April 11; it ends at the Crestline branch on April 12 where it takes place on Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m.
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