2025 Year in Review: Celebrating a Year of Connection, Growth, and Communication
As 2025 comes to a close, we’re taking a moment to reflect on a year filled with meaningful connections, expanded partnerships, and countless moments of communication shared between babies, families, educators, and professionals around the world.
This year reaffirmed what has always been at the heart of the Baby Signs® Program: when babies are given respectful, research-based tools to communicate early, everyone benefits. From professional workshops and early childhood trainings to international milestones and instructor-led community outreach, 2025 was a year of steady growth and meaningful impact.
Supporting Families Through Early Communication
Throughout 2025, families continued to turn to the Baby Signs® Program to support early communication during the most important early years of development. Parents shared stories of reduced frustration, stronger bonds, and joyful moments when babies were able to express their needs, interests, and feelings before spoken words emerged.
From first signs like MORE, MILK, and ALL DONE, to richer communication during toddlerhood, these everyday moments remained the heart of our work.
Expanding Professional Education & Training
One of the most significant developments in 2025 was the expansion of Baby Signs® offerings for professionals.
This year, Baby Signs® began offering more workshops specifically designed for professionals, including parent educators, in-home visitors, and early childhood providers—broadening access to research-based early communication tools across systems that support families.
Highlights included:
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Facilitating Early Childhood Educator (ECE) training for a large group of providers at Plumas Rural Services in Quincy, California, supporting early communication in rural communities.
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Leading a large virtual professional workshop for parent educators and in-home visitors in partnership with Vista Village, reaching providers across multiple regions.
- In 2025, Baby Signs® also facilitated professional workshops in Washington State, including sessions for early intervention providers, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and family resource coordinators at the Children’s Developmental Center in Richland, Washington. In addition to the professional training, an evening Baby Signs® Parent Workshop was offered for families served by the program, helping ensure continuity between provider practices and family use of early communication strategies.
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Continuing work with Parents As Teachers, Early Head Start, Easterseals, and County Offices of Education, supporting professionals who work directly with infants, toddlers, and their families.
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Ongoing collaboration with New Parent Support Programs (NPSP) serving military families through the Department of Defense (DoD).
These efforts strengthened Baby Signs® presence within early childhood, home visiting, and family support networks nationwide.
Instructor Highlights from the Field
Across communities, Certified Baby Signs® Instructors continued to bring early communication and connection to families in creative and meaningful ways throughout 2025.
Instructor-led highlights included:
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Delivery of Baby Signs® Nanny Certification through virtual training, expanding professional access across state lines.
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Family-based sign language instruction supporting intergenerational communication, including hearing families with Deaf relatives.
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Ongoing Baby Signs® story times at public libraries, supporting early literacy, inclusion, and community engagement.
These moments reflect the creativity, care, and commitment instructors bring to families every day.
Global Growth & International Impact
2025 marked important international milestones for the Baby Signs® Program.
This year, we welcomed:
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The very first Certified Baby Signs® Instructor in South Africa
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The first Baby Signs® instructor in Saudi Arabia
Alongside these firsts, Baby Signs® continued to support instructors and partners around the world, reinforcing consistent curriculum use, research-aligned practice, and program integrity across cultures and communities.
Instructor Perspective: Impact in Brazil
The impact of Baby Signs® was felt deeply across international clinical and professional settings in 2025. As shared by Angela Diniz, Independent Certified Baby Signs® Instructor in Brazil:
*“In this year of 2025, I had the opportunity to offer the Baby Signs® Program to several families in my clinical space, including children with Down syndrome, pregnant women, and children with speech motor delays, as well as to speech-language pathologists through a personalized workshop.
It has been a great joy to observe the development of children and the communication of families through the Baby Signs® Program. Offering the Baby Signs® Program in Brazil has been a watershed for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, both in early stimulation and in intervention. Reaching more families across this immense country continues to be one of my goals.”*
We are grateful for Angela’s leadership and dedication, and for the important work being done by instructors around the world.
Media & Outreach Highlights
In 2025, Baby Signs® expanded its reach through media and parent-education platforms, helping bring early communication guidance to broader audiences.
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Baby Signs® participated in Parento’s “Ask the Experts” video series, sharing evidence-based guidance with families navigating early communication and development.
Watch the Ask the Experts video featuring Baby Signs®:
https://vimeo.com/1056081258 -
Certified Baby Signs® Instructors, Kári Enriquez and Ariana Johnson, also participated in a video shoot with Bubs, a global infant nutrition brand. The video highlights how Baby Signs® can be naturally incorporated into everyday routines such as feeding and parent–baby interaction.
View the video featuring Certified Baby Signs® Instructors: https://vimeo.com/1150152173
These opportunities helped introduce the Baby Signs® Program to new audiences through trusted platforms while keeping the focus on research-aligned, family-centered communication.
Commitment to Research & Program Integrity
Throughout 2025, Baby Signs® remained firmly committed to research accuracy and ethical practice.
This included:
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Ensuring program messaging aligned with the original research by Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn
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Supporting instructors and partners in communicating benefits responsibly
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Reinforcing the Baby Signs® Program as a child-development-driven program rooted in research—not trends
Protecting this foundation remains central to the Baby Signs® mission.
Gratitude for Our Community
As we reflect on 2025, we are deeply grateful to:
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Parents and caregivers who trust the Baby Signs® Program during their child’s earliest years
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Certified instructors who bring the program to life in their communities
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Educators, professionals, and agencies who champion early communication
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International partners who carry the program forward globally
Your dedication and collaboration made this year meaningful.
Looking Ahead to 2026
As we move into 2026, Baby Signs® remains committed to supporting families, professionals, and communities with tools that foster understanding, reduce frustration, and strengthen connection from the very beginning.
We look forward to continuing this work together—building on the momentum of 2025 and creating even more opportunities for meaningful communication in the year ahead.
