Nicole Harris has been an Independent Certified Instructor for the Baby Signs® Program since 2006. She began signing with her daughter, Rachel, after attending a Baby Signs® Parent Workshop in the Richmond area. As a former 1st grade teacher and Reading Specialist, she was thrilled to see the early literacy and language benefits that sign language can bring to babies. Her daughter quickly picked up signs and began using spoken words at an early age. After seeing the tremendous benefits that the Baby Signs® Program provided her family, as well as learning about the extensive research from the trusted founders, she was excited to begin teaching other parents and babies about the Baby Signs® Program.
Nicole Harris Nicole@BabySignsRichmond.com 804-539-9542
Offering Sign, Say and Play™ Classes, Parent Workshops and Early Childhood Educator Training in the Greater Richmond area.
Heather Heckel became an Independent Certified Instructor for the Baby Signs® Program in 2009 after experiencing the benefits of signing with her daughter. She started signing when her daughter was 4 months old, and her daughter started signing back at 8 months old. Attending the Sign, Say, and Play® class got her daughter signing even more, and by 15 months she had an extremely large signed and spoken vocabulary. As her daughter began talking more and more, she realized another benefit of signing. When her daughter’s speech wasn’t clear, she could ask her to sign the word for clarification. As a result, she had very little trouble understanding what her daughter was talking about, and her daughter very rarely got frustrated by not being able to communicate. Knowing how much signing helped her daughter, and seeing how much signing has continued to benefit her even as a preschooler, Heather was very excited to share the Baby Signs® Program with other families. She has a BA in Russian from American University and an MA in Sociology from George Mason University.
Heather Heckel hheckel@att.net 804-239-9327
Baby Signs® Parent's Yahoo Group This group is designed as a place where parents who are using the Baby Signs® Program can get help and support both from Certified Baby Signs® Instructors and other parents!
Baby Signs® Frequently Asked Questions Answers from the official Baby Signs® Website
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CBS News Video Here's a recent CBS News Video story on baby signing and it features the twins who signed their way to stardom in the movie Meet the Fockers.
Hand signals help babies on their way to speaking This is a great article from the Exeter News-Letter that gives some background about the Baby Signs® Program and shares some stories about babies who have been in the program.
ABC News Story This story appeared on Good Morning America
Getting Smart from the Start MSN Video CBS Nightly News Segment
Baby Signs: Improving Communication From an article in the Daily Democrat.
