A phenomenon that is set to change the way parents communicate with young infants, baby signing has created tangible benefits in the development and temperament of babies. "I can't tell you the amazing impact that baby signing has had on my relationship with my child, and on our lives!" says TalkFirst customer Elaine Gorton. "We can now communicate in a really effective manner, and whereas before all Hattie could do was to scream when she wanted something, now she has started to sign the tantrums are much less frequent - which is great for all of us!"

The phenomenon of baby signing has been growing throughout the USA and UK. Years ago Dr Joseph Garcia, an American child development expert, noticed that the hearing children of deaf parents learned sign language very quickly and easily, and that they seemed to be much less demanding than children who did not use sign language. He realised that the children of hearing parents could also benefit from using signs, and began to research the concept further.

The idea has grown in popularity - and has been seized by Julie Ryder (pictured above with husband Matt and Dexter the puppet), Founder of the TalkFirst Franchise. Born with normal hearing, Julie became profoundly deaf in her 20s and found that her life suddenly changed dramatically. "I had to learn quickly how to adapt, using sign language and lip-reading to be able to communicate effectively with others," says Julie.

She found that people's attitudes towards her changed after she lost her hearing, and this affected her employment at the bank where she had previously been working. It was this change that led Julie to become more aware of the issues facing people with deafness or disabilities in general and she set up her first business HearFirst, which continues to successfully deliver deaf and disability awareness training to public organisations.

However, it was when Julie and her husband Matt started their family that Julie realised the benefits that signing could have on children from a very early age. "I used both speech and signs from birth with our two children, Alfie and Annie, and they took to it really well," explains Julie. "I found that they were both very calm and able to communicate with me well from early on. While I started signing with them from the word go, it was probably at around six months that they both started to respond and use signs back."

Convinced of the success and wellbeing that baby signing could promote, Julie started work on her own baby-signing programme based on British Sign Language. What sets the TalkFirst concept apart is the attention to detail with which each lesson plan has been put together, the high quality of the materials and the thought behind each song and rhyme that has been created exclusively for TalkFirst. Keen to ensure that standards were maintained across the board, Julie and Matt realised that franchising was the best way of delivering the Talkfirst concept to babies and parents or their carers throughout the UK and Ireland. To assist with putting together their franchise system, TalkFirst approached Tony Urwin of Franchise Development Services Northern.

"What immediately struck me was the fact that this would be an ideal franchise for mothers of young children," says Tony. "If their children were young enough, they could take them along to classes. If they had older school age children they had the flexibility to tailor their working hours around their child's school times. As this is a term-time franchise the problem of arranging child care throughout the school holidays need never be an issue. This view has been vindicated with TalkFirst's first franchisees, who fall into the category of mothers with young children."

The package includes everything required to successfully run a TalkFirst franchise: all the lesson plans, promotional materials, musical instruments, quality ancillaries and, of course, the ongoing guidance and support of the franchisors. Matt Ryder has extensive experience of management in the commercial sector and has been brought on board as Franchise Manager. "I'm really looking forward to meeting potential franchisees and working with them to take TalkFirst to a wider audience," says Matt. "This franchise has become like a third child to us, and it's now at a really exciting stage of development."

Central to the TalkFirst brand is Dexter, a child-sized puppet who comes to life each week to teach the signs to the class. Specially developed for TalkFirst, the tutor can put both hands through Dexter's sleeves and use him to make each sign. There is an extensive array of merchandise available, from CDs of Dexter's songs and rhymes to t-shirts and mini Dexters. A life sized Dexter is also available as an extra marketing tool to help with franchisees' PR.

Pilot schemes in the Lancashire area have been extremely successful, and TalkFirst is now ready to recruit franchisees from across the country. Says Matt: "We are looking forward to hearing from people who are excellent communicators and are passionate about giving children the best possible start in life."

BABY SIGNING

• Reduces frustration for both parent and child.
  
  
• Gives parents an insight into their child's thoughts from a very early age.
  
  
• Reinforces spoken language, which in turn can accelerate early language development, early literacy and intellectual development.
  
  
• Allows babies to initiate conversation and gain confidence in communicating.