Mother’s Campaign To Talk With Son Helps Put ‘Signing Time’ On PBS TV

Del.icio.us

Jason Elento enjoys a ‘Signing Time’ lesson on television
while his brother Matt holds onto the family cat.
According to his mom, Jason was disappointed when the
show was over — but then made the sign for “more.”
Photo from Linda Elento.

An Oahu mother who has advocated for sign-language classes for her son, has found a measure of success on the state and national level:

1) The Public Broadcasting System has launched a series of weekly programs on Signing Time! here in Hawaii.

2) The state House passed a resolution this session encouraging the state Department of Education to reach young children at home through signing instruction.

“For my child, who has Down syndrome, he’s had a hard time speaking and being understood,” explained Linda Ilento. “The DOE favors the verbal method, but until he learns to talk, what do you do in the meantime?”

Working with Jason (who is now 4 years old) on sign language for three years has produced “amazing” results, said the Kaneohe mom, who is not fluent at this point herself. “But now I know he’s learning and communicating.”

The TV program airs on the local PBS channel at 10:30 a.m. each Saturday for 13 weeks. The first episode was June 3.

For benefits to the Signing Time method, she recommends looking at signingtime.com

HOT DEAL: See Le Reve at Wynn Las Vegas!