Certified Baby Signs Provider

The Baby Signs® Program

Saint Andrew’s Children’s Center is proud of its status as a certified Baby Signs® Program Center.  Carolyn Jones, Director and Lila Nawabi, Program Coordinator, were certified as Baby Signs® Program trainers by top researcher and Baby Signs co-founder, Linda Acredolo.  All center teaching and non-teaching staff were subsequently trained in the program.  Check the center calendar for upcoming Baby Signs Program trainings and events.


Why does Saint Andrew’s use the Baby Signs
® Program?

It’s really quite simple, we know it works! 

At one time, our caregivers were experiencing an increased number of tantrums and incidents of biting in our toddler program.  Staff believed that the frustration (and aggression) experienced by the toddlers could be reduced if the toddlers had a way to communicate their wants and needs.  Staff heard about the Baby Signs® Program and felt it might just be the answer.  It was!

We looked into the Baby Signs® Program and read the research that documents just how powerful this program is.  We discovered that teaching baby signs improved cognitive and emotional development.  We found that, far from slowing down speech, baby sign language actually increases the rate of verbal development and at the same time increases the parent/child bond.

We also read the original research these conclusions came from.  The National Institutes of Health funded a study that compared two groups of 11 month old babies. One group was taught baby sign language the other group was given verbal training.   The interesting finding was that at 11 months of age, the signing group was found to be more advanced at talking than the group given verbal training.

The lead continued at 2 years and even at three years of age – the signers were still ahead.   When the children were 8 years old the difference continued!  Signers showed IQ’s 12 points higher than the non-signers, even though they had long since stopped signing. This put the signers in the top-25% of eight year old, compared to the non-signers who were close to average.