Baby Sign Language?

[kennancat]

One of my friends used this with her daughter, and her little girl (turning three this year) is the most articulate child I've ever seen at that age. When I saw them use it, it was really great for things that couldn't be easily identified by pointing, like wanting something that isn't out in plain sight at the time.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I think you'd be much better off putting your energy into talking with your baby.

Just FYI, signing with a baby isn't meant to take the place of talking to them, it's in addition to, and it really takes very little energy.

 

[2Pirates_1Princess]

My Best Friend had trouble with her son. He had many ear infections as a baby and his speech didn't develope correctly. He was very hard to understand and the sign language was a huge help. It worked very well for her. As they got his speech problem corrected and he became easier to understand they phased out the sign language.

 

[Poohnatic]

We taught my younger son a few important words at six months. When we started with the day care provider at 10 months, she'd noticed his use of signs and said she loved how much easier it made things for her. He knew hungry, thirsty and tired. I didn't go further with it, because I figured those covered the bases for him.

Suzanne

 

[KirstenB]

I honestly don't see the point of this. Long before my DD could really talk she was able to communicate by pointing to what she wanted. I think you'd be much better off putting your energy into talking with your baby. Point to items as you say them and pretty soon he/she will be able to point to an item when you just say it.

I always felt the same way you do with our first daughter. However, our younger daughter, 18 mths old has delays due to hypotonia (low muscle tone). She doesn't say ANY words, just points and grunts. She already receives physical therapy, and her therapist recommended trying to get her to sign. We have all been trying it with her, but no luck. I know the OP has a young baby with no delays, but wanted to point out where signing could be of great help. To those who recommended the Signing Time videos, I'll look for them. Thanks!!!

 

[Luv'sTink]

My great niece signs, she is now 18 months and can sign more, please, thank you, pacifier, apple, help, book, eat, and a lot more. She tries to say any word you ask her too and can pronounce almost every word so anyone can understand her.

 

[MyGoofy26]

My uncle's wife taught their daughter a few (such as "more" - ones others already posted) and it was pretty helpful, but honestly I think it slowed down her progress with speaking. We used to have to fight with her because she didn't want to try anything except signing. She'd get so frustrated because we'd refuse to "listen" to her signs. She'd just grunt and growl and keep signing. She's such a smart kid (right now in 1st grade and just tested at a 3rd grade reading and math level) but she was so slow to speak because she didn't really have to.

 

[LittleBlue22]

Teaching my kids signlanguage saved me from listening to screaming or bad tempers (not that there weren't any).

ITA, talk and make the basic ASL with your infant (I started at 9mos). More, eat, milk, no, yes, please, sorry to name a few. No they didn't get it right away (just like any language), but they (eventually) knew what I was telling them. They were signing before they were verbally talking.

 

[grlpwrd]

I honestly don't see the point of this. Long before my DD could really talk she was able to communicate by pointing to what she wanted. I think you'd be much better off putting your energy into talking with your baby. Point to items as you say them and pretty soon he/she will be able to point to an item when you just say it.

There is virtue in sign language:

Recent scientific research supports the benefits of signing with your baby. Parents and teachers who participate in sign language studies say they experience reduced frustration, stronger bonds with their babies, and that their children have an increased interest in books. signing children also outperformed non-signing children in comparison after comparison, including language development and IQ. Additionally, signing children tend to learn to speak sooner, and by age two they have a vocabulary of 50 more real words, on average, than their non-signing counterparts. In the same way that crawling seems to stimulate a child's interest in walking, signing seems to provide an excellent bridge to verbal communication.

I use ASL, not baby sign language which is just a derivative of it. I have taught my kids to sign at an early age and they still do.

They are able to communicate with a few girls in their Girl Scout troop who are hearing impaired and/or deaf. I have even met a student of Gallaudet University in a hotel in Washington, DC and we were able to communicate because I knew how to sign.

Sign language is great for babies/toddlers to communicate, but it is a valuable lifetime skill, too.

 

[lalijack]

I used the book Baby Signs, by Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn with my DS7 and DD5. With DS, I started showing him the signs when I talked, read or sang to him beginning at the age of 7 months. By the time he was 12months, he knew and used more than 50 signs and could articulate about 2 dozen words (tho certainly not perfectly!)

The book is a very easy read (not medicalese or overly paternalistic) and has illustrations to assist with its message.

Neither of my kids had any delay in speech, I just thought it was a great way to teach the basic idea of communication to them. I really believe it helped them to be able to tell me what they were thinking or feeling or seeing WELL before they could say the actual words for "I want to read a book", "my belly hurts" or "there's a bird outside my window". Why let them scream, grunt or cry to get their point across until they learn to speak, when you can help them communicate with signs?

Okay, my infomercial is done! Good luck!

 

[alexy]

My DS's childcare started the baby sign program @ 6 months. He eventually learned ~20 signs.

He's now 2 1/2 and I have to say, compared to our other 2 children at the same age, he has a much larger speaking vocabulary and clearly understands even more. He seemed to connect that words had meaning much earlier and has taken off ever since! We were very careful to reinforce what he was taught at school and learn the signs they sent home so that we could communicate with him in his "language."

 

[Oceana]

I taught my DS1 sign around 6 months, he caught on quick and did a great job he however was super verbal and if he learned to sign it it learned to say it... occationally when in pain or sick he will sign while he speaks

Then my DS2, damn kid... a little sign but who has time with 2 boys! Now he is about to turn 2 and is totally non verbal... so about 3 weeks ago we kicked the sign into high gear and he is saying please and thank you and asking for stuff and doing a great job of it... his talking is improving too well... booop has only 1500 meanings rather than the 30000 it had before because half started being pronounced pobt instead =)

Improvment is all that matters right!

never to young to teach or to old to learn

 

[ElizaB39]

My bro and sil did this with their second daughter and it worked great for them. Cut down on the whining, crying and frustruation for all of them. That is what theytold me anyway.