Amy Missoum's toddler daughter can express herself in three languages, and one of them is silent.
With her mother speaking English and her father, Samy Missoum, 33, speaking French, sign language seems to be helping young Claire Missoum better understand the two other tongues.
It wasn't planned that way, said Amy Missoum, 31, but she is now finding sign language helps "serve as a bridge" for Claire, who is nearly 2.
"We say 'cheese' in two different ways, but the sign is the same way," she said.
Teaching babies and toddlers to sign before they can speak has become popular in many American homes. Parents say their youngsters experience a lot less frustration if they can communicate basic things like "eat," "drink," "more," and "all done."
Libby Quinn knows this well.
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Quinn, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, has been teaching sign language to parents in Tucson for about two years.
"I teach them how to incorporate sign vocabulary into everyday life," she said.
Quinn, 31, is fluent in conversational sign language and vocabulary, although she is not formally certified.
She became committed to learning sign language several years ago after befriending a deaf co-worker in Arlington, Texas. Quinn learned from her friend for 18 months, she said, before moving to Houston, and then to Tucson.
Quinn has worked in volunteer and paid positions with children who are hearing-impaired, including 18 months as an instructional aide at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind.
After her daughter was born, Quinn decided to stay home full time.
"Basically, I started teaching my daughter (sign language) at 4 months," Quinn said.
But doing sign language with her daughter wasn't enough. By the time Nora Sevy was 1 year old, Quinn said, she missed using the language more regularly.
"I started wondering if anyone in the play groups I was in would want to learn," she said.
They did.
Quinn has been teaching ever since. She now offers beginner, intermediate and advanced classes.
Her daughter recently turned 3 and is having conversations in sign with her mother regularly.
"A majority of the people use it until their children start speaking," she said. "There's less frustration, and it builds a better bond."
Vail resident Jen Scopel, 28, welcomed her daughter, Isabella, into the world five months ago.
She knew Quinn through a mom's group and took one of Quinn's classes about a month ago.
"I baby-sat a ton when I was growing up, and I was always amazed at how much babies can and want to communicate with you," she said.
Scopel hopes to take Quinn's intermediate class so she can sign more with Isabella.
"I sign with her every day. I try to do it at bath time, meal time, at diaper changes, these things we do every day," she said.
Marana resident Lisa Gee-Gray has three children who have all been taught some sign language.
She started with basic signs with Anthony, 6, and Jackson, 4. But after the birth of her daughter, 18-month-old Taylor, she took Quinn's class.
"I did some very basic signs with the two boys, such as 'more' and 'eat' and 'please' and 'thank you,' " she said. Taylor is now learning to sign colors, the names of fruits and vegetables and some animals.
"She is starting to talk, so she sometimes does a mixture of both sign and speech," Gee-Gray said.
Missoum said attending the classes was a wonderful experience.
"It's not impossible to do it with a book or the Internet, but it's so much better to learn sign from another person," said Missoum.
She said she started signing with daughter Claire "practically from birth." Her daughter's first sign, "milk," occurred at about 10 months.
A few months later, Missoum took a class from Quinn and learned about 20 new signs each time she went.
"She started picking up the signs as I was giving them, and she picked them up very quickly," Missoum said. "Now anytime I teach her a sign she learns it right away."
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To learn more about Libby Quinn, log on at www.signwith babytucson.com.
