baby sign language

tjkdlhb

 

Englighten me... 

Useful? not? Is it a little bit too much like rote learning to teach it? (early on I mean)What did you do?  Not a fan of having DD watch videos...but if I learned a sign or two to teach her?  (Basic needs like eat, milk, more, book, etc) When did you start?  When did they "get it"?  pros/cons? 

daronsmommy

I loved using sign language with DS1. I started signing to him at 2 or 3 months. He picked up on it and started signing on his own around 7 months I think. I had taken ASL classes, but there are lots of books for baby signs and even websites that will show a video of someone doing the sign.
It was great when he started using some of the signs. Often times he didn't know the word, or couldn't vocalize what he wanted yet, but could sign to me.

CynthiaC1213

Every child I know who learned to sign as a baby learned to speak in full sentences and articulate their needs earlier than other children. So I would say that it is at least worth trying.

SMask

My 7 month old knows "more", "please", "thank you".  It also cuts down on misbehavior from not understanding how to communicate.  I love it!

twocents6708

I had the same questions as you at first but DDs child care provider starte it with her. She says more and all done. It has been helpful during mealtime. Many people have too me that signing with their babies leads to less frustrations from the child when communicating.

PurpleDrewbie5

CynthiaC1213:

Every child I know who learned to sign as a baby learned to speak in full sentences and articulate their needs earlier than other children. So I would say that it is at least worth trying.

This.

H and I started signing a few words to her around 3 or 4 months. Towards the end of 6 she was signing milk and more. She is 13 months now and mostly just says what she wants but still signs sometimes. She has easily over 20 words in her vocab and repeats almost anything we ask her to. I have no doubt the sign language helped with this.

Emerald27

What a neat idea! Is it too late to start since DS is already 1? At this point, would it still be worth it...?

songs4drowning

Popping in here because I'm a lurker on this board. I've yet to have my first, but I was a nanny for a number of years and started to very casually use baby sign language when I was caring for 4 little ones under the age of 2, all but 1 that were yet to talk more than random "mama"s. Two of them were around 14-16 months old when we started watching them.

I started because I found that moving my hands helped direct their attention on me, something that came in handy with so many around and even though they were only being exposed to the sign language around me and not really intensively they both all picked up on words pretty quickly and that it did help keep tantrums down because there were less frequently times when I was slow to figure out exactly what they needed/wanted. So personally, I'm an advocate!

Also, I found that one of the kiddos would go home and try and sign "more" to his parents when he was out of juice or water in his cup. His parents ended up doing some signing with him as well at home. 

PurpleDrewbie5

Emerald27:

What a neat idea! Is it too late to start since DS is already 1? At this point, would it still be worth it...?

Absolutely not too late. Just a pick a few easy signs be consistent and see how your S does. Make sure you say the word and sign it because otherwise the connection isn't as strong. You can also make the signs with his hands after showing him with yours. This helped DD get the hang of some of the signs. :-)

TiffanyBerry

Love it!  And, depending on how you do it, it's as route as teaching them your natural speaking language.  Use the signs the same way and at the same times as you use the spoken words in your daily "conversations".  We did a class at a local kids museum that was mostly to introduce the parents to the signs in a kid-friendly environment and to let the kids play with things that related to the signs we used (like, water when we talked about wet, and play food when we talked about foods).

My daughter spoke a bit on the later side (but still in a totally normal window) and used signs a lot after a year.  She still uses them occasionally, mostly for emphasis.

katiewhompus

Love it! Dd can communicate most of her wants pretty clearly and it has prevented a lot of tantrums. Things like wanting a cracker and not a grape, or feeling tired off her schedule. She also speaks more because, it seems, she can get her point across by signing plus trying a new word, like saying "bush" and signing bird

xcjump

Does anyone have any recommendation on good books to use to teach baby signing? 

boogerbearoriginal

We started "late" with signing - around 11m. He got it fairly quickly, which I'm guessing is because he was older. We really only did a few signs: more, all done, and eat.

We just googled the sign, and then taught him by doing the sign while saying the word and the appropriate behavior. So saying more while simultaneously doing the sign, and offering him more of whatever. Now he'll say and sign more at the same time. We never did books/videos.

I've found it's great to have another tool to communicate with LO. I wish we had done a few more words, and I suppose we still could. I'm trying to work on help, but I forget to sign it most of the time.

Bride-hilda

I think teaching a FEW words is the furthest I would take it. I've known a few kids who did sign language and they each grew up having troubles with speaking. My nephew was hardly understandable at an age where he should have been speaking clearly, and another boy I knew could only say "neh" for everything he wanted to say. I think it stumps language development, even though people are going to disagree with me. I don't think it's worth the chance that my kid would struggle with language learning.