Jenn Randall

Hi!  My name is Jenn Randall, I’m a homeschooling mother of 5 beautiful children, (three of which are adults now) and all of whom I taught to sign since infancy, and I am very proud, long-term member of the Signing Time Community!

I first began teaching American Sign Language vocabulary to my children before I discovered that Signing Time existed, but what a difference it made when I added it to our lives!  I truly believe that a deeper connection was made for my young girls when they saw other children signing on the videos and they retained the signs much longer!!  

When it comes to teaching sign language to babies, I’m often asked:

1. “When do you start teaching your children to sign?”
2. “How long does it take them to learn it?”
3. “Is it hard to teach babies to sign?”

To these questions I answer:

1. I start teaching them as soon as they’re born, just like I start talking to them as soon as they’re born.   
2. Every baby is different, of course, but my personal experience was that my all of my children were signing back to me between 5 – 11 months.  Girls tend to develop expressive language skills a little earlier, so closer to the 5-8 month mark, and my son started at 11 months.  They were all reading at one year of age, and had hundreds of words / concepts they could recognize, & articulate.  What a thrill it is to be able to communicate with your children at that age! 
3. It is not hard to teach a baby to sign AT ALL!  You do NOT need any prior knowledge of Sign Language to start!   It really is very easy.  I always say, if you can play “Peek-A-Boo” with your baby, you can teach him/her to sign.  All you need are the vocabulary words and the consistency and the little ones, who are hard-wired to be language geniuses at that age, will soak it all in with glee!

In my classes, I can show you the basic American Sign Language vocabulary, and as long as you bring the consistency, you will watch your child absorb the signs for a time, (maybe even for a little while, depending on your child’s age and abilities) and then have a periodic “language explosion” and show you just how much your little one was paying attention all along!  🙂

I provide tools to help you track your little one’s progress and a fun way to exgage with your baby that won’t feel like you’re “drilling” him/her.  In fact, your little one will be so excited to connect with you on this level, and it will boost both of your confidence levels in your ability to communicate with each other.

I can’t think of a more joyous, useful and practical gift to give your baby: the ability to share his/her wants and needs, and know that he/she is understood… and you will have the amazing joy of knowing what’s going on inside that fantastic little rapidly developing brain!