Laura's Son, Hartford, Signing at 12 Months

Check out this amazing video of Hartford, just 12 months old, signing with his mom, the founder of My Smart Hands, Laura Berg! :)

Benefits of Baby Sign Even After They Are Babies!

Did you know that hearing children who use sign language tend to have larger vocabularies, higher IQ scores, and learn to read sooner? Check out this video of My Smart Hands founder, Laura Berg's, daughter Fireese reading when she was 2.5 years old!

My Smart Hands - Fall Schedule

Imagine communicating with your child before he or she can even speak!

At My Smart Hands - Phoenix, we offer classes and workshops that will give you the skills and knowledge you need to communicate with your preverbal, hearing baby. If you are looking for baby and toddler sign language classes, My Smart Hands - Phoenix is here to meet your needs! Come learn how signs taken from American Sign Language (ASL) can help you engage your child in two-way communication.

Research shows that preverbal infants and toddlers can communicate through the use of sign language long before they can verbalize their needs using speech.

Teaching sign language to your baby or toddler:

-Reduces Frustration

-Accelerates Verbal Development

-Strengthens Cognitive Skills

We offer classes for children birth to age 5, but a recommended starting age is around 6 months. This is more for our benefit as parents than the children, as children typically can make their first sign around 8-10 months, with some signing sooner and some signing later.

The parent or caregiver participates in class with the child. Siblings can register at no extra charge, as well as one additional caregiver (mom, dad, grandparent, etc).

My Smart Hands Phoenix - Class Schedule

Saturdays, Sep 11 through Oct 2 @ 10:00am

Location

Conservatory of Dance
13637 N. Tatum Blvd, Ste 8
Phoenix, AZ 85032
www.cofdance.com

Mondays, Sep 13 through Oct 11 @ 7:00pm

Location

Nurturing Hearts Birth Services
1220 N Spencer, Ste 200
Mesa, AZ 85203
www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com

Cost

$85 for 4 week session, including full-color manual and CD.

Register Now At www.MySmartHands-Phoenix.com

Miley Cyrus "Party in the USA" in ASL!

For you sign language and Miley Cyrus fans (I know you're out there!), check out this cool video of a college student signing "Party in the USA". It has subtitles for the English and ASL being used. SUPER fun video!

Spring 2010 Registration Now Open

Due to thinking I was going to have to find a new location, it took me a little longer to open up Spring 2010 registration than I had anticipated. But fortunately, the Art of Dance studio in Scottsdale was able to offer me another time slot to hold classes!

My Smart Hands - Level 1 Classes will begin on Saturday, April 24th, at the Art of Dance studio in Scottsdale. Click HERE for more details!

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Remember to join our Meetup.com Group to join us for free playdates!

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ATTN WORKING MOMS! Check back for information on my new Lunch & Learn sessions!

These classes will be great if weekends are family time but you still want to learn to sign with your child. The registration fee will include 2 lunch sessions, a Level 1 class manual, and 2 hours of instruction (1 hour at each lunch session). You will learn all of the basics of my Level 1 class at a more rapid pace. And you can take home what you learned to teach your child!

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I will be joining the world of Facebook soon! As soon as I have my page up, please become a FAN!

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Have a wonderful day!

New Baby and New Meetup Group Events

Wow! I can't believe it's almost half-way through March already!! Where has the time gone?

New Baby
Our family welcomed our 5th child on February 17th! He is our first BOY, and we named him AJ. He weighed 9lbs 1 oz, and measured 21 inches. He's just a little over 3 weeks now, and he's already changed so much. His big sisters adore him, and we're all adjusting to life with a new baby again.

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My Smart Hands - Winter Recap

My Smart Hands - Phoenix finished our first Level 1 class at the end of January, and I'm SO proud of the families that attended! It was so much fun getting to know the parents, grandparents and kiddos! And I know that using sign with their children is going to be extremely beneficial and fun!

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Meetup.com Group Events

The My Smart Hands - Phoenix Meetup.com group is now scheduling events, and I'd love to have you join us!!

Sing, Sign, and Play
Monday, March 15th @ 3pm
Location: My House (please join our Meetup.com group here to RSVP and receive the address)

Park Playdate at Desert Horizon Park
Saturday, March 20th @ 9am
Location: Desert Horizon Park - 16002 N 56th St (56th & Paradise Ln)

Hope everyone is having a great 2010! Look forward to seeing you at a playdate or a class soon!

Sign of the Week - HORSE!!

Wow! I apologize for getting so far behind on my Sign of the Week posts. I've been feverishly getting ready for baby #5 to arrive, and as of tonight, we still haven't gone to the hospital! I can't believe it! I thought for sure we'd have our little bundle of joy home by now. :) BUT...he or she will come when it's time I suppose.

Anywho...on to the sign of the week! I'm going to finish up the Animal Theme with Horse! Horses are another animal that most kids seem to love for some reason, even though most of us don't grow up around horses.

Hope everyone is having a great week! I'll be starting up my Level 1 and Level 2 classes in April, so watch for more info on that!