"I highly recommend taking baby sign language with Michaela of Lil'Hands. Michaela is truly truly passionate about the benefits of baby sign language and she is also a truly talented teacher. After taking a 4 week signing class with Michaela of Lil'hands, I was confident and motivated to begin sign language with my baby girl of 7 months. The booklet I received and all the practice of basic signs from the class were very easy to incorporate into my daily activities with Nora. Within a month, at 8 months, Nora was signing 2-3 signs (milk, sleepy, dog).
After Nora realized that she could communicate and get what she wanted and needed, than the signs I had been teaching her started to take hold. By the time she was 12 months, Nora had about 15 signs of everyday things and activities, thus communicating with her was a joy. By 13 months, the words started to come that were accompanied by the signs for "extra emphasize."
Now at 21 months, Nora is dropping the signs and instead speaking in full sentences!! I truly contribute her excelled verbal skills to the fact that she had the ability to communicate with me via signs well before the words could actually be pronounced. Ultimately, the true benefit of signing with your baby is that you can communicate with them earlier and so thus minimizing some of the frustration of determining what they want/need. Also, the signs are a bridge to the words and I can see that phenomenon in Nora along with her pride and confidence. Without a doubt, take a class with Michaela. She is fantastic and she is always there to support you and increase your signing knowledge as the baby matures!!!"
-J. Clark
"Michaela Weilert is an outstanding teacher. Her patience, enthusiasm and creativity are truly inspiring She has the ability to capture the children's (and adults!) attention and imagination, and to encourage them to keep trying, and to keep working. Her success with not only my son, but all the children around her (kids learn just by being in play-group with her!) was astounding.
We started signing with Ethan when he was about 6 months old. We had a book and a video, and we were very excited and dedicated to the program. Although we knew that kids don't sign back until 8 or 9 months, we began to get discouraged. Michaela started to work with us, and within a week, Ethan went from signing back two signs to five signs. He had little "signing explosions" where his vocabulary increased so fast, that I had to ask Michaela what he was saying, as his vocabulary surpassed my own. By the time he started talking, he had about 225 signs, and could sign in concepts and sentences.
I was amazed because we had no tantrums at all, and I was watching moms and non-signing kids hit huge frustration as the kids became willful, but had no means of communication. Ethan could tell me he was hungry, thirsty for water or milk, needed a diaper change, that he saw a big truck or a butterfly, and the amazing thing was, he saw things I never noticed before. We were able to hold conversations while driving or walking around, and I could participate in his world.
Michaela started us off on the right foot, helping us to use teaching as playtime, and now Ethan wants to learn constantly. At two years old, he is talking in complete sentences, such as, "Look Mama, Ethan sees a big, yellow dump truck. There it goes!" I attribute this almost entirely to the fact that he signed from an early age, and that because of his outstanding, patient instruction from Michaela, his vocabulary and understanding of how language works came together at warp speed. If you have a chance to take a class from this outstanding teacher, jump at it, you will be so happy to watch your relationship and understanding with your child grow."
-K.Howe
“For the past seven years I have the privilege of seeing Michaela come to our school and teach our students Sign language. The children have been exposed to a new form of communication, which empowers them to communicate their desires before they master a spoken language.
Working as an early childhood educator I understand that using a combination of sign language with spoken language stimulates both sides of the brain, and meets the needs of all different types of learners. Those who are visual, auditory and kinetic learners thrive from her teachings.
Michaela has empowered our students with the ability to express their basic needs with Signs, such as eat, tired, potty and more, that they can utilize to communicate. This experience has provided them with tools that have allowed them to reduce the frustration that comes along with the lack of verbal communication. Week by week she has used creative teaching methods to incorporate into our daily routine and classroom curriculum. Some of which include telling a story, acting out signs, sing-a-long, felt stories, games and activities.
Overall, with her teachings and understanding of child development, she has captured the attention of my students and allowed them to be active learners in their education by involving them in their learning’s. I have witnessed my student’s feel more confident in their ability to express themselves and I would highly recommend her services."
-Gaby Gonzalez-Orozco
