The Pros and Cons of Signing

As some of you know, I taught Brandon some sign. It all started when he was in early intervention and they taught him his colors. He took to it right away. I thought it would be great for him since signing is visual and what he has trouble with is verbal. I ask the school would they be teaching him more and they said NO. What. Why would you even start if your not going to follow thru. So I took it on myself. Of course Jim was not for it. To this day he has no clue what we are saying. Yeah, denial is just a river that RUNS THRU MY HOUSE. OK. I started with books. Then I found a set of DVDs called "Signing Time". Very cool and highly recommended. It's set to music and is for young children or children with issues. Between the two (DVD and books) we have a small vocabulary. I really feel they should use it more at school, but I'm OK with it just at home. I tend to use it more than he does. I guess that would be my first con. He does use it when he thinks I'm not paying attention or if he really wants to get his point across. Like tonight, he was signing over and over that he was full. I, on the other side was signing "more". That could be a "pro". It does give him another avanue to commicate. You can also have arguments without anyone knowing what you are saying. This is very helpful in church. Another con would be that even books that are supposed to be using the same American Sign Language don't always agree on what sign is what. Another problem is that Brandon has figured out that if he closes his eyes, he won't see what I sign. I do, in the end recommend it to any family having communication issues. I find that when explaining something to Brandon, specially when he has done something wrong, he understand much more when I sign and say, then when I only say it.