setting limits…child wants to use foreign language constantly

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  • May 31, 2015 at 8:24 pm
    caedmyn
    Participant

    I could use some suggestions on what limits to set for the times when 9 YO DD can use her foreign languuage (sign language). She wants to sign all.day.long and with three smaller children who need intensive management plus issues with sensory overload due to health problems, I do not have the spare brainpower most of the time to have to constantly try to translate what she’s trying to say. I would like to limit it to only after 2 of her siblings are in bed, but that only leaves 30-45 mins a day (and I am not interacting with her during a good part of that time). Is that reasonable?

    June 1, 2015 at 7:26 am
    MissusLeata
    Participant

    For sign language, you could have her speak while she signs, then the little ones could be learning it, too, she could practice and you wouldn’t have to translate.

    June 1, 2015 at 9:14 am
    retrofam
    Participant

    I agree with the previous response emphatically!  My dd, almost 16, signs a lot.  She has a gift for sign language and interprets at church. Our family is involved with deaf ministry.  My dd  voices for us at deaf events.  I know of a girl whose parents told her not to  sign at home. It caused a lot of pain and division in the family.  I am not saying you are doing that,  quite the opposite because you are asking for advice:) The extreme just came to mind.

    The only limit we have on signing is that my mom told my middle two not to sign to each other(they were not voicing) because she couldn’t understand them and it was rude. I agree with that. It is like whispering.

    DD 15 will be teaching her brother sign for the next two years for his high school credits.  She plans to teach sign for a career,  as well as the interpreting she already does. So we are biased because sign language has been a great benefit to our family and brought career and ministry opportunities.

    Hopefully your dd can find others to sign with and teach her siblings.

     

    Great question!

    June 1, 2015 at 3:18 pm
    caedmyn
    Participant

    I told her this morning that she needed to speak when she signed so her brothers could learn to sign too…she hasn’t tried to sign since. I think a big part of the attraction was that she could carry on “secret” conversations with me that no one else could understand. We’ll see if she picks it back up again or not. We have friends where the dh is deaf and two of the children too, but we don’t see them more than once a month so she doesn’t get many other chances to practice.

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