Signing helps children break the sound barrier!

Reporter: Catherine Smyth
Date online: 07 January 2010

INNOVATIVE baby signing classes are helping children buck an alarming national trend that revealed nearly one in six youngsters have difficulty learning to talk. 

A recent online survey by YouGov quizzed 1,015 parents found that four percent of children had not said their first word by the age of three and the problem was more prevalent in boys. 

But in Lancashire profoundly deaf entrepreneur Julie Ryder has developed TalkFirst a proven step-by-step approach to baby signing using a colourful Jester character Dexter and the results literally speak for themselves. 

Take talkative two-year-old Alex Wilson, who attended the signing classes in Rawtenstall from five months old, was saying Mummy two months later. 

His mother Margo, a singing teacher from Helmshore, said: “At seven months he was signing for milk and he was talking very early. When it came to his two year check I was asked to write down the words he knew, they asked if he knew 15 words or more and I had written down 200! He knew all the words we used at baby signing classes. 

“He could sign for the toilet and so was potty trained at 18 months and dry overnight at 22 months. Baby signing classes were a big bonus for us and I would recommend them to anyone. The classes are very enjoyable, Alex loves his music CDs, and his little Dexter toy and his speech has developed much more quickly than other children his age.” 

Margo, 45, said Alex was also able to use the signs to communicate with a friend’s child who has down’s syndrome. 

Julie said: “Since TalkFirst was launched in February 2006 we have had thousands of children and childcare professionals who have benefited from our unique training programme. It reduces frustration, brings on speech, encourages bonding and improves the quality of communication between parent and child because the child hears the word and also learns the sign and identifies it with the object. 

“It is not just verbal, but also visual with the child linking words to objects. All children want to communicate, baby signing provides the invaluable link to help children and their parents understand each other.” 

Mother-of-two Julie, 39, started to lose her hearing at 21 and when she was in her late 20s she was profoundly deaf. A cochlear implant in 2002 changed her life and led to her setting up a deaf and disability awareness service HearFirst she then developed the niche franchise baby signing business TalkFirst. 

A team has just spent two days working with children from reception to year six at a primary school in Manchester where vocabulary problems had been identified. 

Regular baby signing classes are held around the North West from Bury and Wigan through to Pendle and the Ribble Valley, but Julie is planning to expand the network by attracting new franchisees. 

“We have just had a former Barclays Bank worker take redundancy and use that income to invest in buying a franchise from TalkFirst because it was more flexible and allowed her to get the work/life balance right,” said Julie.
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An open day for potential franchisees will be held at Ashday Lea, Rawtenstall, on 30 January from 10.30am to 2pm. To book a place call 01706 872816, email info@talkfirst.net or visit www.talkfirst.net

Managing director Julie Ryder has two children Alfie, 11, and Annie, nine. She runs her business HearFirst and TalkFirst with her husband Matt, 39, from their home in Bacup. 

Her business has been acknowledged in several competitions and was Regional Winner Sound Barrier Star Awards 2009, Regional Winner Barclays Trading Places Awards 2008 and Runner up Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year 2007.

CONTACTS: For more information call Julie Ryder on 01706 872816