(XP) Lurker Q - Baby sign language ...

88eve88 · April 2012

(Also posted in 6-9 months)

I'm very interested in trying to use baby sign language with my son when he is old enough. My cousin used it with her little girl and it was so easy to communicate with her.

For those of you who use it or are planning to use it ...

When to start?

How to start?

Any tips?

Thanks in advance for your input.

chulita425 · April 2012

We've been signing since I wanna say 2 months. I don't know when the "proper" time to start is but its really not much effort to sign the 3 words we're doing right now lol. He has been watching me whenever I do it so I guess that's progress :] We just do mommy, daddy and milk.

kmm2150 · April 2012

We haven't started yet but plan to - I've just been reading on babysignlanguage.com - they have videos demonstrating various signs, and info about it. From what that website says, you can start whenever you want but babies generally won't start signing back till 6-8 months, and/or usually take 2 months from whenever you start doing it to sign back to you. FWIW I have several friends who've used it and just love it, so I'm excited to start in a few more months!

lemonJAM · April 2012

We started with DD around 6 months. We just started doing a few signs for things we talk about all the time (like milk, mommy, daddy) and doing the sign every time we said it. We really only used a few signs with her (the ones I listed plus "more" and "all done"). But, she's started watching the Baby Einstein sign language DVD and now knows a ton. We're going to start signing to DS soon and I want to do more signs with him.

I think the biggest thing is just remembering to do the signs all the time.

brianandkelsey · April 2012

I've read that you can start signing as early as 3-4 months but LOs probably won't start using the signs until 7-8 mos. My LO is almost 5 mos and I sign 'milk' to him every time I give him the bottle. That is the only sign we are doing right now but I will start introducing 'more', 'enough', and probably 'mom' and 'dad'.

I've also read that once they are moving off of formula, it is good to work on the sign 'thirsty' so they can tell you they are thirsty even if they don't want milk (does that make sense?).

preggersin2011 · April 2012

I've been signing to my LO since around 2months when she first made eye contact. My friends said their children started signing back anywhere from 6-8months. Here are the words that I sign to my LO

Milk, more, finished, food, diaper(for diaper change), mom, dad, funny, again, school, work, home, later (for see you later), love you, beautiful(i sign that when i say LO's name) i also sign toy, play, bed (whenever LO is rubbing the eyes)

now that LO is getting cereal and some purees i sign hungry and full. i sign other random words too like 'cook' when i'm in the kitchen making my dinner and LO is playing. i sign book and music also

ChrMoo · April 2012

My nephew is Autistic and we sign with him in order to communicate as he does not speak. We started signing with him when he was about 1 (he's 3 1/2 now). One of the best show's to watch that uses ASL and is very easy to learn for both children and adults (its actually ventertaining) is "Signing Time."

tmadden · April 2012

We actually took a 1-hour baby class last night. They said you can start signing around 6 months and that they should be able to sign back by around 8 months. They said to introduce just two or three signs at a time and then don't add more until they have those ones down. She gave us 10 signs, including eat, more, milk, mom, dad, cookie, cracker, blanket, ... can't remember the rest! Some of us also asked about book and dog.

They said your LO's sign may not look exactly like it "should" because of their gross motor skills, but as long as you both know what he/she is trying to say and it works for you, to go with it. She said to use the signs consistently, every time you use the word, and to act animated/excited about it.

preggersin2011 · April 2012

tmadden:
We actually took a 1-hour baby class last night. They said you can start signing around 6 months and that they should be able to sign back by around 8 months. They said to introduce just two or three signs at a time and then don't add more until they have those ones down. She gave us 10 signs, including eat, more, milk, mom, dad, cookie, cracker, blanket, ... can't remember the rest! Some of us also asked about book and dog.

They said your LO's sign may not look exactly like it "should" because of their gross motor skills, but as long as you both know what he/she is trying to say and it works for you, to go with it. She said to use the signs consistently, every time you use the word, and to act animated/excited about it.

I would disagree with the teacher of that class. Sign language is a 2nd language. If your child is in a bilingual home where the 2nd language is something other than ASL, do you only speak two or three works of the non-english language? If you only sign to your child and don't verbally communicate they will learn as well.

(XP) Lurker Q - Baby sign language ...

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