My name is Sarah Edginton. I have two girls; Cameron and Lois.

Seven years ago I was watching television and I saw an interview showing parents communicating with hearing babies using sign language. There were some very young babies who were clearly back. I thought that was a great idea and instantly went to get Cameron, (who was then just over a year old) some milk so that I could show her the sign that they had used for milk.

I continued to do this every time she had milk, and to my amazement within 24hrs she was signing milk. I was so impressed that I introduced another sign "drink" and again within a day she was signing for drink. Now there was no stopping me. I introduced "eat", "more" and "help". It was like I had opened a door for her to communicate with me.

My family and friends were a little unsure until they saw Cameron happily signing to everyone and anyone for what she needed. The main frustration she had was when she signed to someone who did not know what it meant, but most people would come to me or my husband and ask what a particular sign meant.

However, Lois was a different story as your will be. I purchased the official sign with your baby kit so that I could have all the signs at my fingertips, and I started when Lois was about seven months. Introducing the basic signs "milk" "eat" and "more" , both Cameron and I signed to each other and to Lois. Not one sign for two months. I could not believe the difference - my patience was being tested. Perhaps Lois was not as keen to communicate. I did not know of any classes or workshops at the time so I was beginning to lose heart. Although I could see that she understood the signs, she made no effort to reproduce them.

I continued to introduce signs and in the course of one day Lois (now well over 9mths) reproduce about 20 signs. I am not sure who got more excited; Cameron or myself. And to top it all, from that day Cameron and Lois signed to each other frequently about what they could see and hear.

There are many concerns that signing delays speech. However, when signing to a baby verbal communication is always used. Both of my children spoke at an early age and Lois had a verbal vocabulary in excess of 100 words at age 2.

My experience was amazing and it's the main reason I am running these classes and workshops. I have been running these classes now for 3 years during which time I have qualified in signing to BSL level 2, I am currently studying BSL level 3 NVQ.