Learning American Sign Language can have many benefits. Besides being able to communicate more effectively with your deaf friends, once learned, you may decide to become a teacher for the deaf or interpret for those who cannot hear. The earlier you start to learn ASL the greater the chance of mastery. Exposure at an early age is also extremely beneficial, but not critical. However, the earlier you are exposed to this wonderful language, the greater your chances of obtaining your goal of working with those who rely on sign language to enhance their ability to communicate.

For children, acquisition of a language comes more naturally than it does for those who are older. Children are not reluctant to learn new languages, or take risks. However, as an adult, we tend to take longer to learn a language, or anything for that matter.

Today, schools are offering ASL as one of their curriculum offerings for world languages. However, it tends to be offered only at the high school level. Children need to be exposed to at an early age, such as elementary school. Can you imagine the aptitude a child would develop if he or she were exposed to American Sign Language in the early grades? What would it be like for children across the country to know a second language like ASL?

Children as young as one year of age should start to learn how to sign. Babies do not have the ability to vocalize their needs because of the lack of development in their vocal cords. However, children can develop some sign language skills to communicate their desires, such as hungry, sleepy, or cold/hot. Not only are you satisfying the needs of your baby, but also the infant is less frustrated. Imagine what it would feel like to a baby who is trying to express his or her needs by sign language, and in turn, have his or her mother understand? What would that be like? How happy would you have made that infant? Now, let's fast forward 60 years. You are an elderly adult that lost the ability to talk. You remembered some signs from your younger years. And, someone walks in that knows how to sign well. You start signing with this person, carrying on a conversation. How do you feel now? Can you imagine all the thoughts and wishes that patient could easily express to the nurses and visitors?

Research has shown that children who learn signing at an early age develop better synapses in the brain, and as a result, they develop a richer vocabulary knowledge. Some children are not successful learning a spoken language, but achieve while learning sign language. Children have various skills and talents. Some children pick up any language with ease, while others struggle. Shouldn't we give children choices about what they want to learn?

Now, some people may not know where to find a sign language class for children, or for yourself. There are several sign language programs online. However, you have to pick the right one for you and your child. You want to choose a sign language program that has themed lessons, an individualized progress chart, large vocabulary all in video format, fingerspelling, and it should have a multiple meaning word section. There are programs online that would not meet your needs.

Find an ASL program online and have fun learning with your son or daughter. The greatest gift we have is that of knowledge, and the greatest gift we have to share with others is the ability to communicate with them.