Britain may be in the grip of a recession, but some businesses are surviving the credit crunch.

Yeadon businesswoman Vicki Gilbert has taken on new staff to expand the educational enterprise she set up three years ago.

Babies Can Sign is a signing programme for babies and children which Vicki and her colleagues deliver around schools, children’s centres, pre-school nurseries and drop-in sessions.

Vicki’s experience of working with people with disabilities gave her the idea to set up a business specialising in teaching British Sign Language to hearing babies and children.

“I was a PE teacher specialising in working with disabled people, and subsequently worked with deaf people, so I went to college and learned sign language,” says Vicki.

She explored the benefits of teaching hearing babies to sign with her first child, daughter Hope, after learning how it helps parents or carers communicate with their child before they can talk.

“I did it with Hope and I was amazed by it. At the time, I was doing a lot of work with disabled people for other organisations and felt so passionate about signing with children and it was a way of spreading British Sign Language to a wider community,” says Vicki.

“We are using sign-supported English. We use it in English word order because we are trying to teach vocabulary, and because it is BSL it has so many advantages.”

The greatest advantage is BSL is used and recognised by many, and it had also proved useful to Vicki. “I acquired an impairment so I had a greater interest in making sure sport and PE was accessible to disabled people.

“I feel very passionate about using it – it’s a way of giving people life skills and communicating with a wider community.”

Vicki says communicating with Hope, who is now seven, enabled her to communicate with a child in her class who is deaf. She also taught her son, Jack, now three, to sign.

“The programme we teach is very much how to use it with your child in all aspects of life. We read books and stories – it is a whole package of communicating.

“There is more than 20 years of research which strongly suggests that babies who sign talk early. The reason for that is you make connections between the left and right side of the brain when they are tiny, because they are learning visually as well as orally, and they build up a big vocabulary before they can talk.

“With pre-school children, it helps increase confidence and expression, and helps with children who are shy. It benefits literacy in hearing children. It is a life skill.”

Vicki started teaching two classes from her dining room. Through word of mouth, demand for her classes grew, prompting her to launch Babies Can Sign as a business.

Licensing the business enabled her to take on more qualified BSL teachers. She also has a BSL adviser on board.

“I work all the time – 24/7. I love teaching with families and children, seeing the pleasure that children and their parents or carers get out of signing.”

Vicki says she anticipated teaching a few classes but, due to demand, the business grew ‘organically’.

“In this age of doom and gloom, we have created nine jobs,” she says. “We have gone from it being just me to eight people. I think it is a great boost to people to see there are still positive things out there despite the recession.”

If you fancy a career teaching hearing babies and children to sign, call 077422 96160, e-mail babiescansignenquiries:btconnect.com or look on the web at babiescansign.co.uk.