TinyTalk Horsham and surrounding villages

learning a new skill together.

One thing that Dexter taught me is that not all babies sign straight away, perseverance and consistency are key. He understood so many of the signs but didn’t do his first sign until he was nearly 15 months old. Then they all came at once! His favourite was ‘more’ and he used this for everything whether it was more food, more goes on the slide, more peekaboo or watching more videos of himself!

When he started going to the childminder, I shared some of the signs that he used most often. After a few weeks I received a message from his childminder saying, “We are so impressed with his signing – it’s really sweet and clear and he’s not shy to communicate which is lovely.” I love the fact that baby signing gave him a ‘voice’ and a way of communicating when I wasn’t there to advocate for him.

I am convinced that signing helped Dexter’s speech. From around the age of 19 months he started saying individual words. Before long he was putting two words together and there was no stopping him. He was gaining new words daily. To this day, his language skills are fantastic.

After our signing success with Dexter, I knew I wanted to sign with Milo as well. We had done some essential signs with Milo from when he was tiny and went to our first class when he was 6 months old. He loves the songs (often dancing along) and is picking up so many signs to help him communicate his needs and interests. He loves signing ‘where’ and turns it into a game. He’ll drop something onto the floor and then sign ‘where’, expecting me to pick it up and hand it back again. He finds this hilarious and promptly drops the object again.

Before becoming a mum, I was a primary school teacher. I went back to teaching part time after Dexter was born but I knew the hours and workload would make it impossible to continue after Milo came along. The opportunity to become a TinyTalk teacher arose. I loved the idea that I could have a job that worked around family life, that I could still experience the joy of teaching and go on a signing journey with lots of new families.

TinyTalk Baby Signing classes are suitable from newborn to 2 years. Classes are split in two. In the first 30 minutes you can expect to learn signs linked to a weekly theme. We sing nursery rhymes and incorporate some of the key signs within these as well as doing a sensory activity. The second half is social time: a chance for babies to play and for the adults to have a cuppa, a biscuit and a chat.

I look forward to welcoming you to a class soon.