Early childhood signing has many potential benefits - communicative, social-emotional, cognitive, linguistic, kinesthetic and visual-spatial.
Through a combination of instruction, song and play, Simply Signing infants and toddlers learn essential baby-themed ASL signs (e.g., "eat," "milk," "more"). Older students learn age-appropriate vocabulary, as well as basic ASL grammar.
ASL offers consistency, while so-called "home signs" (a.k.a., simple gestures) do not. A baby using an ASL sign is as easily understood by a newcomer (e.g., new childcare worker, teacher or classmate) as by her own parent.
ASL signs are easy and fun to learn, often due to their iconicity. Babies and parents have an easy time acquiring new signs, as they frequently look like what they are meant to represent (e.g., finger and thumb next to the mouth in the shape of a bird's beak as ASL sign for "bird").
ASL is a gift from the Deaf community and must be used cautiously and conscientiously. While the SWYBTM program teaches ASL vocabulary, it does not teach grammar, idioms and other equally valuable components of this natural language. However, it does provide hearing children and adults with a wonderful springboard for future learning.