VISIT Mommy Bites Blog via the link below to read Lora’s most recent entry.
I hope readers in the NYC area will join me on March 6th for a free ASL Story Time celebrating the release of my new book Sign Language ABCs. For details, visit our events page: http://www.mybabyfingers.com/events. There will be books for sale and some fun give-aways.
In addition to my own sign language books, (http://www.mybabyfingers.com/books) I’ll have some great material written by colleagues of mine.
One will be a picture book series for toddlers/preschoolers called Story Time with Signs & Rhymes by Dawn Babb Prochovnic. These books tell adorable stories through colorful illustrations and catchy rhymes, introducing new vocabulary words and signs. I had the pleasure of working with Dawn as ASL content consultant for her second series. Learn more about Dawn and her books at http://www.smalltalklearning.com/.
The other is The Day I Saw a Dragonfly by Heather Fitzpatrick. This storybook is written from a child’s perspective, and helps kids of all ages talk about the death of a loved one – human or pet! The mom in the story tells her daughters that a Dragonfly is a special bug with four wings because it carries an angel down from heaven on its back. Heather was motivated to write this book after her father, an aspiring author himself, had passed away. She was moved by her children’s empathy for her and created this sweet story.
I love reading, and have always read to my children incorporating sign language. It was so much fun to see them in toddlerhood taking books off the shelves and “reading out loud” by signing what they saw in the pictures. There is research that demonstrates the benefits of sign language in reading skill development for school age children. Dancing with Words: Singing for Hearing Children’s Literacy by Marilyn Daniels is a wonderful resource for parents and professionals.
If you’re in the area, bring your child to our story time and book signing. If not, check out all the books I mentioned – you’ll be happy to have one or more of them in your collection of books!
As a music therapist, I’ve seen the incredible benefits that music can have on quality of life, pain management, emotional self-expression, and so much more. (Read my blog entry from December 16th. More info, take a look at musictherapy.org).
As a parent, I’ve seen music play a positive role in – among other things – focus to task, self-confidence, and family bonding.
My husband studied music from the time he was four years old. He had consistent, classical training through the age of 18, and continued his music more informally after that time. He went on the road with his band for a while in the middle of a law career – music just had that pull. I have been singing my whole life, but have had inconsistent musical training. I studied to become a music therapist in college and found the formal music training at times difficult, but the prospects of becoming a music therapist worth the work.
Our kids both started formal music training in 3rd grade after exposure to all sorts of music at home before that time. One plays drums/percussion (including marimba now!), and one plays guitar – classical and folk/rock. They don’t love taking music theory, but they get so much out of performing in an ensemble and taking lessons.
There are so many quotes about the wonders of music…. ”music speaks louder than words,” “where words fail, music begins,” “music makes the world go ’round,” “music is what feelings sound like,” “music’s the medicine of the mind.”
Children who are consistently exposed to music at an early age often have a stronger command of language, excellent spatial reasoning skills, school readiness, and are more apt to express themselves due to the outlet music provides.
Looking for music classes for your baby or lessons for your older child? Looking for music therapy for a loved one? http://www.mybabyfingers.com/classes-and-offerings