Talk with your baby... before your baby learns to talk!
Have you ever wondered what your baby is thinking? Or why your baby is crying? The Baby Signs® Program teaches babies to use simple, easy-to-do gestures for communicating with their parents and caregivers. These gestures or “signs” represent an item or concept, like “cat,” “eat,” or “all gone.”
Using signs gives babies a way to "talk" with their parents, before they can talk. Babies can communicate about the world around them, long before they have mastered their verbal speaking skills!
Babies and toddlers often use signs as a natural part of the communication process. Many babies know how to wave "bye-bye" or use a headshake to mean "no." The Baby Signs® Program can help your baby use lots of other gestures to communicate just as easily as these more common "signs."
My Story
A Passionate Educator
Erin Panelli was the Co-Director for the Baby Signs Institute founded by UC Davis professors, Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn. Erin first started working with babies and sign language in 1990, at UC Davis as a research assistant with Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn on their ground breaking research using Baby Signs. Her background includes a B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling. She has experience in infant and preschool education as well as counseling and social work with developmentally disabled children.
Erin started working for Baby Signs® as an Independent Certified Instructor in 2005 and has expanded her classes to include child development On the Grow™ classes offering classes for children birth to age 5 and trainings and workshops for parents and educators. She has held the role of the Baby Signs® Institute Co-Director, providing curricula development, training and support to over 800 instructors internationally. She thoroughly enjoys her instructor work with local families as well as helping to train and support other Baby Signs® instructors around the world.