Early learning

Drawing from signing baby to preschooler (draft)

Art is another aspect of literacy that is what I view. It should be part of the typical "3 Rs": reading, writing, and mathematics.

At around 12-15 months, a little budding artist may take off. As soon as a toddler can hold a chunky crayon comfortably, she/he is ready to scribble and color with it.

When toddler has mastered the pincer grasp, they may scribble large random arcs and straight scratchy lines.

Nurturing art expression (a1m2w1)

Juli produced some marks on a paper from time to time in my studio before she was one year old. As she turned one, she gradually scribbled, mostly random straight lines.

A case study

ASL-speaking bilingal Juli (age 0;9,3) makes marks in drawing with a pastel stick.

Later, Juli (age 1;8,2) began to draw a tadpole-like image.

Juli (age 2;1,2) had her first fingerpainting.

Age 2;1,1: drew dots.

Age 2;2: - Juli drew her first picture: smiley.

Age 2;6: Drawing a cross emerged. And, Juli drew a smiley with hair sticks (similar to sun rays).

At age 2;6, drawing a cross emerged. Juli drew a smiley with hair sticks (similar to sun rays).

Drawing skills at age 5

The bilingual kid "Juli" first made drawing marks when she was baby. She has acquired a drawing skill in a natural way. All I did is nothing but to provide her materials and watch the natural development.

But, one day a thought came to my head, wondering how my bilingual kid might draw a table with a three-dimensional perspective. Out of curiosity, I asked her to draw a table.

Here it is. A round brown table with five legs. Our small dining table is round. Then I asked her if she wanted me to show her how to make a 3-D table. Yes, she nodded. I showed her a rectangular table.

After my demonstration, she did a couple of drawings of a table with more 3-D perspective.

a drawing of chair at age 5

Interesting. After she had learned the art of three-dimensional perspective drawing, I asked her to draw a chair. She indeed applied that knowledge to drawing a chair.

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New to sign language? "Where do I start?" or "How do I start learning sign language?" This ASL Rookie guide lists some selected links to the tutorials for ASL beginners to get started and keep rolling. It may be a useful review for intermediate-level learners and ASL students as well.

Some tutorial pages are a mix of free and premium versions. Access to premium content and links below are available in the PatronPlus subscription. More links/posts will be added from time to time.

Jump-starting

  1. How to fingerspell ABCs
  2. What is and what is not sign language?

Getting started

  1. Benefits of learning sign language
  2. Awareness quiz and Reflections
  3. Basic transcription symbols (glosses)

Language/Culture Fundamentals

  1. What is American Sign Language?
  2. Understanding variations
  3. Introducing audism
  4. Cultural appropriation

Learning first words

  1. Expressing greetings
  2. Introducing oneself and others
  3. Fingerspelling exercise
  4. Expressing goodbyes

ASL Basics

  1. Personal Pronouns
  2. Possessive Pronouns
  3. WH-questions
  4. Yes/no questions
  5. SVO sentence structure
  6. OSV sentence structure
  7. Numbers 1-10+
  8. Basic time: future, present, past

ASL Basics II

  1. Asking what the sign is for a word
  2. Spatial referencing
  3. Verb inflections
  4. Contrastive structure
  5. Listing and Ranking
  6. Classifier basics

Describing shapes

  1. Describing shapes + perspective
  2. Describing shapes + locations
  3. Describing shapes + sizes

Expressing needs and wants

  1. Making commands or requests

Talking about family

  1. Talking about family and pet
  2. Telling age
  3. Telling date

Making basic plans

  1. Review basic tenses
  2. Calendar: DAYS
  3. Calendar: MONTHS
  4. Transportation: basics

Shopping

  1. Telling prices in dollars and cents

Talking about activities

  1. Frequency of time: how often?

Are you able to carry everyday conversations in ASL? Are you a student in the intermediate levels and beyond, who wishes to boost up your signing skills? You've come to the selected tutorial series. (Some premium content are available to PatronPlus membership.)

Language and communication

Sentence types

Non-manual signals

Tenses

Numbers

Classifier classes

Describing

Stories, poems, performance arts, etc. in sign language.

Fables

Fables II

Poem Translations

Stories

Deaf Jokes

Parables

Performance and video arts

Techniques and Devices

This documentation project follows a child's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL, from newborn to age five in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.

Language development

Baby Signing

Toddler Signing

Preschooler and Kinder

From baby to preschooler