Testimonials

Baby & Me Class:

"I really wanted my daughter to be able to communicate with me using sign language as I saw the success my sister had signing with her son. I read that it helped with children’s fine motor skills and language development and thought it would be a benefit to her. I had some signing books but wasn’t sure if I was using the signs correctly so I decided to take a Little Signing Stars class.

My daughter Scarlett was 5 month old when we started the class. She was pretty young at the time but this gave us an activity to do together and provided her with a lot of stimulation watching Serena and the other parents signing actions to the songs. We had a lot of fun learning and singing. 

Scarlett started signing at about 8 months old. Her first sign was 'water', then later came 'milk' and 'more'. When she was between 11 -15 months she could sign - brush teeth, cup, orange, hat, shoes, thank you, duck/bird, cat, dog, and monkey.

I have also been teaching her Spanish and reading Spanish books while signing. She confirmed to me the other day that she understands what I am saying, I asked her to get the book titled - “donde esta la oveja verde?” and she went to her book shelf and pulled out the correct book and brought it to me. She also signs 'shoes' when I say “zapatos”.

It’s all very exciting not only to watch her grow and develop, but watching and listening to her communicate with two different languages and knowing she can comprehend three. I can’t wait to hear her first Spanish word and see her next sign.

Serena, makes learning sign really fun and is very encouraging and gives a lot of personal support. I would strongly encourage parents to sign with their kids, its fun and rewarding for both the kids and parents.  I highly recommend her classes."

-Erin & Scarlett

 

"Serena is a great sign teacher who loves her job.  We started when Max was about 7 months and he did his first sign shortly after his first birthday. I counted the other day and he now has over 50 signs.

It was a great help to us when Max was learning to talk.  He could sign a lot more than he could say, so he could tell us what he wanted.

One day he was pointing at a man wearing a hat while signing ‘hat’. I thought that was so neat!! Without sign, I wouldn't have known that my 1 year old was noticing hats!

Now that he is older, it helps when I can’t understand what he is saying. For example, I thought he was saying teeth over and over so I said can you sign it? He then signed ”cheese’. Aha! He wants cheese.

Our latest thing is signing “I love you” to each other through his daycare window. He tries his best to get his fingers in the right position. Melts my heart!

I know it concerns some parents that it may delay their speech. I can tell you that for Max it was not the case. In fact, I know 3 couples who were encouraged by their child’s doctor to do baby sign because the kids were speech delayed and frustrated at not being able to communicate."

-Crystal & Jeff Kobe

 

"We started using Baby Sign Language with Zoey when she was almost 14 months. It’s been a great tool for her because she’s able to tell us what she wants when we don’t understand her verbal communication

Doing sign language with Zoey has been such an amazing experience for everyone in our family. We did have friends and family members who were skeptics in the beginning as they felt that we would limit her ability to communicate verbally with us; but once they have seen her signing in action they are amazed at how we have reduced the frustration for Zoey (and for all of us).

The first time she signed 'milk' and we responded by giving her the bottle and her face lit up! She had the biggest smile and we knew we were on the right track. The only thing we would have done differently, was to start at an earlier age allowing for the full benefit of the classes!"

-Tracey & Gord Laluk

 

 Baby & Me Online Class:

"When we first started tuning into the online classes last spring, I was initially a bit reluctant because we were trying not to do screen time until age 2. I was really missing being able to take her out to library programs and baby music classes, so thought I would give it a try. After the first few times we tuned in with Serena, I could see that my daughter was excited for the classes and soon started picking up on the signs too! We still look forward to these classes every week and I’m so glad to have an 'in-home' option for a fun and educational way to break up the day.”

Sara Thomas - McCready

 

Professional Development:

"We hired Serena to come teach our staff baby sign in order to be more inclusive. She tailored the workshops to our specific needs and even went so far as to look up songs for us, since we are a French centre and couldn’t use the songs, she usually teaches.

She was very patient, friendly, and supportive. We went through some of the benefits of signing, practised many different signs and learned a great deal.

If you are looking to expand your communication repertoire, become more inclusive and encourage language development, I highly recommend her!"

Jamye Lovering

Assistant Director

Le Coin Magique Inc.