Apes, Learning, and Baby Sign Language
My wife and I just finished watching a very entertaining NOVA episode entitled Ape Genius. The episode highlights the forms of intelligence that apes exhibit and provides a comparison to related human behavior so that we may understand what aspects of human intelligence set us apart from our genetically closest relatives. Why do we have cars, skyscrapers, rockets, and telecommunication while the various families of apes are still in the early stages of developing tools?
The answer put forward by the NOVA program is that humans of all ages want to teach. Memes are passed down from one generation to the next not simply through observation and emulation, but by active instruction.
My wife and I are expecting our first child in late May. My wife has undergraduate and graduate degrees in childhood education, and she’s always loved children. I find screaming or crying children to induce the same reflex as nails dragged across a chalk board. Additionally, my greatest fear as a parent-to-be (aside from the truly tragic) is the feeling of powerlessness when presented with a screaming or crying child when I don’t know why the child is upset or how to make it better. Consequently, I am very eager to learn how to communicate with my child as early as possible so that I can attend to the child’s needs with a minimum of fuss. (Yes, I know that all children scream and cry a lot no matter what. Allow me my three more months of denial.)
All of this has led me to Wikipedia and then Amazon in search of child sign language resources. Sign with Your Baby by Joseph Garcia, which promotes the use of American Sign Language, appears to be the best based on reviews. I’m placing my order now. I guess I’ll provide a review in a year or so to let you know how it goes.
