Microtone Music Notes

Here's the press release for our new Sign and Sing baby sign language class:

Beginning November 2, 2010,  Microtone Music will offer a new music and sign language program called Sign & Sing. This research-proven program is based on methods shown to speed language development in hearing children, ease frustration, and enhance long-term learning abilities.

Michael Hienzsch, a Kindermusik Educator, and his wife Mary, a trained Waldorf-method teacher, are teaching the program created exclusively for Kindermusik by leading experts in sign language for hearing children: Signing Smart Inc. This new class combines songs and playful interaction to help children learn American Sign Language.

“Instinctively your baby reaches up when she wants to be held, and you instinctively pick her up and dance and sing to soothe her,” says Mr. Hienzsch. “Sign & Sing helps you see these moments happening every day in your life and gives you the language to improve that communication, and strengthen the bond between you and your child.”

The five-session class gives parents the tools to learn more than 50 American Sign Language signs for children ages 6 months to 3 years. Mr. Hienzsch will teach signs such as “help” “change” “bed” “where” and “thank you.”

The class experience also includes a set of clip-on flashcards of American Sign Language that features photos of both a parent and a child making the signs. Also included is a booklet of activities for parents and their children to learn and play with at home, and a DVD glossary that features adults using sign language.

“One of the best ways to draw a child into learning sign language is through what they love: songs and play,” says Carol Penney, Kindermusik’s Manager of Curriculum Development. “Who better to teach that than a Kindermusik Educator?”

For more information, visit Microtone Music at www.microtonemusic.net. Parents may request a free preview class by visiting Microtone Music’s website and clicking “free trial.”

Signing Smart Inc. is a nationally-recognized program for hearing infants and toddlers created by experts in language and child development—Dr. Michelle Anthony and Dr. Reyna Lindert.