Wiggling

For me this is a difficult step. There are so many great resources available that it is hard to choose just a few. However, as I was becoming overwhelmed with the information while "webbing," I decided to focus on two or three websites on which I could focus my inquiry. Many of the websites I encountered are maintained by parents. They have wonderful resources, suggestions, information and support for those that want to sign with babies. But in order to have a successful inquiry project there is no way I can keep track of and use everything available. Plus I wanted to make sure I was using information from credible sources.


I have chosen three websites to use as my main sources of information. I will probably use information from other sites and books as well, but these will form the foundation of my project. To determine what sources were authoritative I reviewed 17 websites that dealt with baby sign language, multilingualism, language acquisition and linguistics. Since I am questioning the benefits and teaching methods of baby signing I eliminated those that addressed languages and bilingualism but not signing. I then made notes of the names and signing programs that were frequently referenced in several websites. I did some brief research on the key people to determine the extent and credibility of their work. Through this process I narrowed my main references to Sign2Me, Signing Time and Baby Signs. These are all web sources but the founders also have books that I will be skimming this next week.


Sign2Me is a company that uses the Sign with your Baby program developed by Joseph Garcia. Garcia was referenced in several books and websites as one of the founding fathers behind the baby signing movement. He observed that children with deaf parents were communicating through signs much earlier than their peers raised by hearing parents. He conducted research on using sign language with hearing children and has written books and signing program for parents. You can read an overview of his work HERE.


SigningTime is a program developed by Rachel Coleman, the mother of a deaf child. When her daughter was found to be deaf at age 1, Coleman began to learn ASL and has created the Signing Time video series to help parents of deaf and hearing children learn sign language. She uses songs, animations and real children to quickly engage you in the learning process. I have used the Baby Signing Time videos with my daughter and they have made a significant difference in my ability to teach her signs, and she is very receptive to the videos. The Signing Time program is internationally recognized and includes DVDs, books, CDs and flash cards.


BabySigns was founded by Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn. These women observed that children will often create signs to communicate their needs. The Baby Signs programs is bases on "a natural baby sign language that allows babies and their parents to use simple signs to communicate." It does not use ASL as the other two programs. Personally, I am an advocate of ASL sign language because I feel that you should establish a base of signs that could be built upon if the child decides to continuing signing as an adult. The validity of some of the research done by Acredolo and Goodwyn has been questioned. However, I am including Baby Signs as part of my project because they are highly recognized in the field of baby signing and do offer some excellent resources and information.

Callison (2006) writes that according to Carol Kuhlthau's theory "Information gains meaning when it becomes evidence." I feel that each of these programs have establish history, research and national/international recognition to be used as authoritative information resources. My local library has material from each of these programs which will allow me to review hard copies of the information as well. Callision discusses information literacy in reference to a person. However, I think that the concept can also be transferred to organizations.  These three companies seems to be  information literate, they "...know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them" (Callison, 2006). I  hope that I can become more information literate by using this inquiry to expand my knowledge, information usage skills and teaching abilities.