@boombox-sys replied to your post “If you were to have five children, what would their names be?”
hng oistl
I love the fact that every so often I have to remind people of the fact that I have a daughter named “Bridget”
@boombox-sys replied to your post “If you were to have five children, what would their names be?”
hng oistl
I love the fact that every so often I have to remind people of the fact that I have a daughter named “Bridget”
Quick fun fact I learned in ASL class:
Babies can begin signing as early as a few months old. You don’t have to wait until they’re 9-12 months to start communicating verbally; the parts of the brain that process and use language develop before a baby is able to speak intelligibly with their mouth. Teaching your kid sign language early means that they can communicate effectively months ahead of schedule, when compared to peers that only speak a spoken language.
Additional fun fact: this jumpstart in language is thought to be a possible way to avoid the “Terrible Twos”; that phase of a toddler’s life is thought to be largely due to a toddler being unable to effectively communicate their needs. If a two year old has already been speaking for a year and a half, they’re far more able to communicate to you what’s wrong. Heck, they might also start reading earlier; languages with a fingerspelling component, like ASL, mean that any speaker needs to be able to spell unfamiliar words and ask about them. This can jumpstart a toddler’s ability to recognize letters as components of a word, and teach them to spell, read, and eventually write these letters to communicate.
Which, of course, lends absolutely zero credence to the theory that ASL will inherently stunt someone’s spoken language skills. If anything, sign language fluency makes acquiring any language, spoken or not, easier rather than harder.
So I have heard this a few times, but you know where I heard it first? From people who had just had kids and researched it and decided to try it.
It worked. It worked great. Their kids could communicate preferences much earlier than they would have been able to talk, and the communications meant that they could solve problems that non-signing parents would never have been able to even detect, they could teach the kids about agency, and so on. They could distinguish "don't like this food" from "don't want more food right now". They could distinguish "tired" from "diaper full" quicker and with less unpleasantness.
No evidence of any downsides. Definitely a cool idea.
speaking as an under-the-line crew member affected by this, it’s great to publicize and speak out. send messages of solidarity. threaten to cancel your subscriptions.
but also know that this will lead to significant working-class strain in major cities, namely new york, los angeles, atlanta, chicago, and albuquerque. it’s unavoidable, and it’s imperfect — the people fucked over the most will be the most financially vulnerable, such as PAs, other assists and day-rate workers.
if you live in one of the cities mentioned, this is a great time to get familiar with, and volunteer for, your local mutual aid organizations. you can also reach out to your local teamsters or IATSE chapter — these two have a reciprocal mutual aid pact, and can likely funnel you to relevant resources. monetary assistance is great, but if you can’t donate food banks or even picketing supports will need hands and time as well.
stay safe, stay well, and hold the line!!