When I first heard about the Baby Signs® Program, I was a struggling mother of three children. My son Carter was almost three years old, and my twin girls, Sydney and Allison, were not quite a year. At the time, I felt as if I was constantly trying to defuse one tantrum after another. I knew many women were in a similar situation as mine, but I was seriously wondering how they managed to keep their sanity!

That is when I saw a segment about the Baby Signs® Program on television. A local ICI had gotten coverage on the Des Moines news station. Unfortunately, Des Moines was still too far for me to go for classes, but I wrote down the Baby Signs® website address and ordered a Parent Kit online.

Thanks to the Baby Signs® Program , I went from glad-to-make-it-through-one-more-day to really enjoying my kids. I looked forward to seeing what they were going to do from day today! The bond between them grew, and they were showing compassion, forgiveness, and empathy for each other and for other people. They were clearly understanding each other using signs, and this really helped cut down on the sibling rivalry. I could go on and on about how wonderful the Baby Signs® Program was for my family. I decided to become an ICI because of these personal experiences.

Later, Sydney, who had been progressing at the same pace as her twin, started having problems at 14 months. To make a very long story short, she stopped doing everything, which was totally unlike her. She even stopped signing except through her "spells" as they were labeled. She was regressing quickly and got to the point when she would only sign/say “help” through her spells.

When our Area Education Agency (AEA) came in and evaluated her, we were told that it was behavioral and that there was nothing physically wrong with her. We even received a psychiatric referral stating that signing was perhaps indicative of a developmental delay. I was dumbfounded! Knowing that our ICI team is made up of educated professionals, I immediately went to the ICI Yahoo group so that I could find help on how to respond to a statement such as this. I received TONS of support from well-wishers who reassured me that signing wasn’t characteristic of a developmental delay and that I should keep pressing on. In a time when I felt like no one was believing me or my child, any support was HUGE! I will forever be grateful for that and will never forget it!

When we finally got Sydney in to see a pediatric neurologist, she was diagnosed with Childhood Epilepsy having Complex Partial Seizures. According to her pediatric neurologist, most doctors don’t see patients this young with Complex Partial Seizures. Usually, they are much older before they are diagnosed and usually have a learning and/or developmental disability associated with some sort of behavioral problem. Fortunately, along with conventional medication and some alternative treatments, her seizures have been controlled, and she has been able to stay on a very low dosage of medication. At her last checkup, we were told that it appears that she is in remission, and if we can go another year seizure free, she can be slowly weaned off of her medication.

During this time, signing gave Carter and Allison a way to “help” their sister in a positive way. When Sydney wasn’t feeling well, they would continue to sign to her and around her. This made them feel like they were “helping.” In turn, I believe that this communication was key in her progression. The communication increased the bond between the siblings, and thus Carter and Allison were really very instrumental in helping Sydney progress.