Special Family Network

For those who love a special needs child.

Baby Sign Language

I am a firm believer in the use of baby sign language. My older child is language delayed, so we started teaching him sign language in order to reduce some of the frustrations that both of us were feeling due to his lack of communication skills (pointing and screaming just wasn’t working for us). We plan to teach our younger son, who has Down Syndrome, sign language sometime in the next few months. We used the My Baby Can Talk DVDs and Baby Einstein to learn the basics and used the signs around our son. It only took a few weeks for us to see results.

Below is a good video of a baby using sign language. A baby will not do the signs perfect (When our son says “Thank You” it looks like “Eat” but we know what he is saying) but this will give you an idea as to what to expect.

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One Mom On Raising Her Deaf Child

In this video, one mom candidly shares what it is like to raise a deaf child.

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Hearing Impaired Articles

Hearing Impaired

There is no way of knowing exactly how many children have hearing loss, but it is thought to be in the range of 1 to 3 percent of the population. On top of that, up to 15 percent of children may be experiencing temporary hearing loss due to illness, injury, etc…

The United States requires hearing screenings for all newborns, and those that fail must have a repeat screening to see if they actually have any hearing loss. Children who pass the newborn hearing screen should have hearing screenings throughout childhood to make sure that a problem has not occurred since infancy.

Articles  Please click on the link to read the full article.
Learn more about the Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin, who has hearing loss.

Read about a special group who uses sign language to worship.


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