Signing Time’s multi-sensory approach encourages learning through three senses — visual, auditory and kinesthetic — and reaches children with diverse learning styles and abilities by encouraging interaction through signing, singing, speaking and dancing.
The series teaches signs for common words, questions, phrases, movements, colors, sports, days of the week, everyday objects, and common activities.[5]
From 2009 to 2012, Signing Time! interstitial music videos aired on the Nick Jr. channel.[6][7] As of October 4, 2010, public television stations were allowed to show the series for the next two years.[8][needs update]
History and conception
In 1996, Rachel Coleman had a child, Liam, who was discovered at 14 months old to have been deaf since birth. Subsequently, they learned sign language, first with Signing Exact English (SEE),[9] then with American Sign Language (ASL), so that they could learn to communicate. Coleman noticed that within six months, Liam's sign language vocabulary surpassed the vocabulary of hearing children their same age.[10]
The Two Little Hands Productions logo
Coleman and her sister Emilie created a visual video for hearing children's learn ASL, and started Two Little Hands Productions, their production company. A foundation, Signing Time Foundation, also exists to teach ASL.[11]
Format
Signing Time!
Coleman hosts the show, with her child Liam and nephew Alex also starring to provide support. In My First Signs, it was not originally planned for her to be in the videos, but she was added to demonstrate the signs because Alex and Liam could not consistently sign clearly enough to teach viewers the signs.[12]
The second season introduced a new format that includes new signs and more original music. Each program addresses a single theme, marked by a theme song, which is introduced verse by verse. In addition, new segments “ABC Time,” “Counting Time,” “Game Time,” “Story Time,” and “Hopping/Moving Time” explore the episode theme or other skills in a playful way.
Signing Time! Sentences is a three episode mini-series released in 2015 and 2016 geared toward older children and teens. In it Alex and Liam, both now in their late teens, return with Rachel to teach viewers the basics of American Sign Language grammar.
Baby Signing Time!
Baby Signing Time! is a sister series to Signing Time! It started in 2005 and is geared towards children aged 2 and younger; it is similar to the early volumes of Signing Time where the signs are introduced one at a time. It is much more musical than regular Signing Time and teaches basic ASL signs for a baby's needs and environment. Coleman hosts this series as well, though it features Alex and Liam as animated babies rather than their live-action counterparts.[13]
Signing Time on public television
The Signing Time Foundation funded the airing of Signing Time on public television stations around the country from 2006 to 2008. Signing Time began airing on public television stations nationwide in 2006 and went from being relatively unknown to having over 80% national cumulative carriage. It was the only show on national television teaching children to sign. Public television does not pay for programming, and in order to keep Signing Time on public television, the Signing Time Foundation was expected to produce and deliver 13 episodes annually, which would have totaled an annual cost of approximately 1.5 million dollarsUS, something that Signing Time's production company could not afford.[14][15]
As of October 4, 2010, public television stations were given the right to air Signing Time! for the next two years.[8][needs update]
Cast
Rachel Coleman, the host of the Signing Time! series. She has spent much of her adult life in the entertainment industry. While performing with her band We the Living, Rachel's 14-month-old child was diagnosed as having a profound hearing impairment.
Liam Coleman,[1][16] one of the main children in the show. Liam is the inspiration behind the creation of Signing Time! Diagnosed as profoundly deaf at 14 months old, Liam is now 27. In fourth grade, they garnered national attention for winning first place in their school spelling bee.[5] Liam received a cochlear implant in January 2004.[17]
Alex Brown, one of the main children in the show. Brown appeared in the first episode of Signing Time! before his third birthday. He learned to sign as a baby so that he could communicate with his deaf cousin.[18] A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Alex has also lived in Virginia and California.[5]
Aaron de Azevedo as Hopkins, a cartoon frog.[19] Originally named "Twerp" (a play on the nickname "Terp," for interpreter). Hopkins appears as a little green animated sidekick in segments demonstrating words taught in the show. He is named after Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who in 1817 established the first free American school for the deaf and hearing-impaired.[20]
Practice Time – 2 volumes – Level 1: ABCs and Level 1: 123s
Story Time Volume 1
Sing and Sign: Favorite Songs from Volumes 1-6
Potty Time: A potty training video sold as a set with an audio CD. A "Potty Time" watch with a "potty reminder" alarm is also available as part of a different set.
Signing Time Christmas: 2 DVD and 1-CD set published in 2014. Brings back Alex and Liam as teenagers.
Other items include printed materials such as board books and flash cards, Signing Time! clothing, and Signing Time! music CDs.
^The ALSC has a list of Notable Children's Videos, so more than one video can be listed.
^This video won an Approved seal on the Parents' Choice Award among the six types of awards: Classic, Gold, Silver, Recommended, Approved, and "Fun Stuff"
References
^ ab"Meet Your "Sign It ASL" Instructors". Sign It!. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022. Liam Coleman is a Deaf American actor known for inspiring the creation of, and starring in, the Signing Time series.
^ abColeman, Rachel (October 4, 2010). "We Are BACK!". Rachel Coleman. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
^Coleman, Rachel. "Word Order." Signing Time! Volume 4: Family, Feelings, and Fun. 2004. DVD. Two Little Hands Productions, 2004.
^de Azevedo Coleman, Rachel. A Sign of the Times. 2005. Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul: Advice & Inspiration for Fulfilling Dreams. By Jack Canfield, et al. Deerfield Beach, Florida: Health Communications, Inc., 2006. 167-169.
^Coleman, Liam (writer, producer, director) (March 31, 2021). Inner Dialogue (Short film) (in American Sign Language). Morpheyes Studio. Event occurs at 1:07. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via YouTube. What if we announce what our pronouns are? They/them
^Brown, Alex; Coleman, Liam (2011). "Interview with Alex and Leah, part 2" (Interview). 4:40 minutes in. Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2012. The type of sports I like are more like swimming, scootering, skateboarding, and one that's called parkour...
