sign language

sunriz

I don't post very often, mostly b/c DD doesn't nap longer enough to give me a moment!  I saw the sign language post re "more" below and wanted to respond.  I hope no one takes this the wrong way...I just wanted to throw out some food for thought.  Anyway...  I am a speech therapist for toddlers and preschoolers.  I am for teaching sign langauge and think it is wonderful that many of you are doing it or interested in it!  When teaching signs to children we are told not to teach "more" at first b/c it causes some confusion with children.  For example...If you give you DC a cookie  and then have them sign "more" they may think that that sign means cookie.  The next day, you give them crackers and have them sign "more", now they think the signs means both things.  What a lot of times ends up happening is the child will sign "more" for everything they want because they know it gets them something.  I hope that makes sense.  Instead, we teach signs for nouns and verbs.  So, if you are giving DC a cookie and you want them to request another show them the sign for cookie, etc. Once your child knows the name of the item, you could add "More cookie"  I hope that all makes sense.  And, again I think it is wonderful to teach children signs.  Just wanted to give something to think about.

mhop

I actually agree with a lot of what you are saying but wanted to share our reasons as well as my own background.  I teach kids with severe disabilities and we teach basic signs along with other aug com (PECS, etc).  I think when you are teaching signs you do have to be very careful about the meaning you assign to the sign. 

We taught "more" b/c C had mastered the physical motion of clapping and we wanted to give it a meaning.  We are using it throughout our day for her to request more food, more play, more peekaboo, etc. I think any sign or attempt to sign she makes has communicative intent and we want to honor it.

The problem with teaching more unique signs is that the physical dexterity needed is often difficult (especially for kids like mine with motor delays).  "More" is easy to physically master and I believe that she is learning that it gives her more of what she is already getting.  It's also easy to teach b/c it can be used in so many settings with a variety of objects and opportunities.

We are considering teaching "please" next but really the meaning will technically be "I want" but since please is easier to sign than want, we'll use please.  Does that make sense?  

As her fine motor skills become more developed, we definitely plan on using more complex signs.  Of course, having said that, we probably will teach signs like "eat" because it's easy, can be used for a variety of foods, and can be used for her to indicate when she's hungry.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for your thoughts.  I do think that people should think through the actual meaning of signs when teaching them.  

preemieparent

I think you make an excellent point about the potential for signs to be used incorrectly.     Parents definitely need to be aware of how and when they have their children use sign language.

I also have to agree with mhop about certain issues such as motor delays affecting what signs kids can do.  

One key thing is that I think parents need to have a plan for sign language use or an idea of why they are teaching it - do you want to teach it so that your kids can communicate basic wants/needs or do you want them to be able to communicate more specifically?   That in addition to physical ability and comprehension level should help parents choose which signs to teach.

With Olivia we started teaching sign when she wasn't verbal AT ALL.   We knew she could understand quite a bit but she just didn't speak.  She really didn't make many sounds at all (no babbling with her).   Anyway, we started with "more" and "all done" because they allowed her to tell us if she did indeed want to play more or if she was all done.  We then went on to help, play, etc.  Olivia used to get very frustrated at times and resort to screams because she didn't know how to tell us.  Now she is pretty good about signing.

For signs we are very clear to always say the word as we sign it and than say the word for whatever she may want more of.   The sign is only used in conjunction with the word she or us is signing.  We also say the word back to her when she signs it.   We also worked on pointing so that she could indicate what she wanted more of that way as well. I've found that playing dumb helps her communicate what she wants more of.   She will sit there and sign "more" for something and I know exactly what she wants more of but I always ask "what do you want more of?  Show me." and then she has to point or touch the item.    I think she's on to me because sometimes when I do that I swear she gives me this look like "seriously mom?  I want more of the bubbles that you just blew.  Come on!" 

mhop - I love your comment that signing "please" could indicate "I want."   I have held off from teaching Olivia please and thank you because I knew that she didn't understand what it meant to say please or thank you.  But I like the fact that it could mean she wants something.   Awesome - thanks!

armo

Thanks to all 3 of you for your very insightful thoughts!  Truly appreciate hearing you all and  I'll take this all into account as we start to teach our babies signs.