12th
Tips for deaf infant prereading skills development
1) Pick a book that has easy to see, single image each page.
2) Let your baby look at pictures before saying anything. It may take awhile before your baby will be ready to watch you signing.
3) Keep the image close to your face, allow the baby look at the picture then when s/he looks at you, s/he is ready.
4) Repeat same signs few times and stop when the baby looks away. That way s/he will learn it is the end of conversation when one is not looking.
5) Let baby touch your hand when signing, even on the image if there is texture to feel.
6) It is perfectly fine to fingerspell a or few short words. Even at this age, child develops acute receptive skills for reading fingerspelling important for English vocabulary development.
It is the beginning of child’s literacy and language development!
Author note: Please respectfully cite my work.
