My Personal Research Journey

My chosen topic for my research simulation during this course is Sign Language: Learning As
An Infant: Is It Effective Throughout Childhood? I originally chose to research whether sign
language would be effective throughout adulthood, but it would take at least twenty years to
complete! That's a long time! I chose to research a shorter period of time. I chose this topic
because I would like to further educate myself and develop the skills to educate the parents of
the infants and toddlers enrolled in my facility.  I also have a personal interest in this topic because I have an 18 month old son that communicates with me at home using sign language and he also communicates verbally.

I found this example image of a toddler signing "more" from the internet.  Will she remember this sign throughout childhood or do we have to continue to teach her as she grows older?  At what age do we as educators or parents stop teaching sign language for it to continue to be effective?

 The subtopic that I will focus on throughout my simulation is ways that sign language fosters social/emotional development in infants and toddlers.  Professionally, I feel that this is an important subtopic to ensure that all of my infants and toddlers are developing appropriately in the social/emotional category, resulting in a less stressful environment and reducing frustration in our infant/toddler program.  


I would appreciate any insights or advice that any of my colleagues would like to share regarding this topic.  Thank you Kimberley Martin for offering your resources early on in this course.  I am very excited about completing this research and applying it to my professional development,as well as educating myself as a parent with the development of my own toddler!