Who does baby sign language?

diana.filipi · July 2010

Hubs and I are taking a baby sign language class this coming Tuesday. Do any of you do any baby signing with your LOs? How has it been for you? What signs does your LO know? Do they sign back to you yet?

TIA

Abinormal · July 2010

I'm interested to see what other people say. I've been thinking about starting baby sign language with Tegan.

Teacher10 · July 2010

I got a DVD called "Baby Signing Times" for Tucker and I. We usually watch 15 minutes a day of it and I use the signs throughout the day. No signs yet, but I am not as consistent as I should be. I love the DVD and highly recommend it, you will be singing the songs for the rest of your life though!

RandiDeeAnn · July 2010

We try. When she puts her hand on her head, I say "daddy" and sign. She will sometimes straighten her hand into the sign, but usually only if her hand is already on her head. LOL. She immitates snapping fingers (which we did introduce as a sign for dog..haha) but she is just immitating snapping. I can't figure out how she knows to put her thumb on her middle finger, but can't open and close the whole hand for milk...?? Who knows?

pintpo · July 2010

I looked up a few common signs, mom, dad, milk, more, please. I use them when I remember to. She hasn't signed back yet but smiles every time I use the milk sign so I am pretty sure she has related the sign with the event.

Assembly_Reqd · July 2010

Because Nate has hearing loss in both ears, I have started doing it. We are also not sure how his speech will develop since he has low tone around his mouth. We want to give him other communication options if speech is difficult.

I don't expect DS to sign back until 8-9 months or even later.....we'll see. I just am not sure they would have the dexterity/fine motor skills to do it before then.

I bought the Baby Sign Launguage Kit from Barnes & Noble but I should have just googled and saved myself 40 bucks because I found this awesome website tonight...

https://www.babysignlanguagedictionary-mysmarthands.com/Baby_Sign_Language_Dictionary_-_My_Smart_Hands.html

I think he knows "all done/finished" and the sign for "bottle". We also do "more", "cereal" & "apple"

juliane2004 · July 2010

We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.

OhioBobcat · July 2010

juliane2004:
We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.

I actually doesn't. More than anything it can help...especially if you are speaking with the signing.

MAtoNC · July 2010

juliane2004:
We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.

Where did you read this? I am curious because the scientific studies I've read have shown otherwise....

addison_clark · July 2010

I did basic sign lanugage with DS bc he was speech delayed. I didnt initiate it until he was a little over 1 year old. Now I am doing it with DD too, more proactively, she is only 8 months old.

The easiest ones to teach are food related IMO. More, milk, cereal, etc. Bc they are able to see immediately what the sign is. You ask "More?" while using the sign, make them use the sign and say the word "more" then give them more. It doesnt take long for that one to get picked up.

Teaching mommy and daddy are harder but I use the game peek a boo to teach these. Wheres "mommy?" then I point to myself and say/sign "mommy" same with "daddy".

And the most recent research shows that sign does not inhibit speech, it aids in speech development as long as you always say the word while you sign.

diana.filipi · July 2010

OhioBobcat:
juliane2004:
We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.
I actually doesn't. More than anything it can help...especially if you are speaking with the signing.

This. In fact what I've found says that the ease of later language acquisition is greatly increased because the brain is already using the language area and so it's a natural continuance (spoken language and even a 2nd spoken language).

Momachama · July 2010

juliane2004:
We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.

Yes

Cheekie4 · July 2010

diana.filipi:
OhioBobcat:

juliane2004:
We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.

I actually doesn't. More than anything it can help...especially if you are speaking with the signing.

This. In fact what I've found says that the ease of later language acquisition is greatly increased because the brain is already using the language area and so it's a natural continuance (spoken language and even a 2nd spoken language).

This. We're working on just a couple of signs now (milk & all done). She did milk for DH, but she hasn't signed for me. She has this "mmmmm mmmmm" whine/cry when she wants her milk, so I think I may be too quick to get her milk.

Our friends' LOs all signed. It was amazing. None of their kids had delays in speech.

CJ2008 · July 2010

we do it but not as regularly as we need to, and no, she doesn't do it back. We do: more, milk, change and all done. I read once they start doing a couple they pick up more really fast. there's a signing class at my library but we've never gone. I do have a book though.

jen5-03 · July 2010

I did it with DD and am starting with DS.

It did not inhibit DD's language skills at all. She was and is very advanced verbally.

We started with the 3 basic signs, milk, more and eat. We added a few more like please and started trying to teach cat, ball and some others.

But as we tried to teach her cat and ball, she started saying the words instead. And soon she was saying all the words as she signed them.

She had about 10 words at 12mo, at 15mo she could tell her teacher what she was having for lunch ("tofu" and " a'cado") and by 18mo was starting 3 word sentences.

She still signs please when she's begging/whining for something and sometimes uses the sign for eat when she's feeling shy or just being silly.

lovebug630 · July 2010

I don't think it inhibits their speech development at all, from what I've read. I've just done a few basic signs with her, like "Mommy", "Daddy", "drink", and "eat". She hasn't done anything back yet; she just smiles real big when I do it!

Assembly_Reqd · July 2010

MAtoNC:

juliane2004:
We were going to do it but opted out of it when I read about how doing sign language inhibits verbal skills.

Where did you read this? I am curious because the scientific studies I've read have shown otherwise....

This. Please reference the "study" that told you this.

You are teaching your child to communicate with you. Once you learned how to walk did you just keep crawling?

Here is the FAQ from the ASL site I gave a link for earlier...

"4. Does Baby Sign Language hurt speech development?

I get this question often, it is probably the most common concern that people have surrounding signing with children. The answer to this is 100% no! There have been zero studies that have shown signing to hinder language. In fact, all of the studies on signing with children show that signing accelerates language in many cases. People confuse speech and language. A child who signs is using language, more language in fact than a non-signing child. Speech is the ability to form sounds to produce the language. Some children don?t develop the ability to speak until much later than other children. The reality is babies want to talk, they babble all the time. When they are able to talk, they will. It is not easier to sign than talk. It is much easier for a child to talk. However, when you don?t have that ability then signing is easier and a great bridge until speech does develop.

I think this concern came from a number of places. People not having full understanding of the language and are afraid that children will be lazy and depend on signing. I?ve always heard that someone has a friend of a friend whose child was signed to and they didn?t talk until they were 2. But the reality is that child wouldn?t have talked until they were two anyway. The one thing does not equal the other. I have a colleague who has two boys and they both didn?t talk until they were two. She said she wished she knew about signing when her boys were young because it would have reduced a lot of frustration in her household.

Imagine, you have two children and they both don?t talk until they are two. You sign with the first child and not with the second. The first child is able to easily communicate with you and use 50 plus words easily, all while building more and more vocabulary until the age of two. The second child is only able to use pointing and sounds to let you know what he wants. When both children start talking at two, who did you think would have the larger vocabulary? Obviously the child who was signed to because he?s used language in a more advanced way through his two years of life. Plus the adults around him are probably talking to him in more advanced sentences than the second child because we know that the child comprehends what we are saying.

Parents should have zero concern that signing would have any hindrance in their child?s language development"

Makes a ton of sense to me....

BakerMommy · July 2010

We do sign language with DD. (And as PP said, research show using ASL signs with a baby won't delay their language development. Using "Baby Signs", which were made up specifically for babies and aren't ASL, might since some of the signs involve panting and such so you can't say the word while you do them.) We do the signs for milk, eat, more, all done, cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, change (diaper), bath... etc. She hasn't signed back yet, but seems to get excited when we do certain signs like milk and eat. Smile

ladyalmalthea · July 2010

DS recognizes signs, but does not do them yet. he recognizes "more" "all done" "eat" "milk" "diaper". I know a 15 month old that only learned "more" and even that is really usedful for his mom- more food, more piggyback ride, etc.

michelfrog · July 2010

We do several words and have been for the past month +. LO definitely understands them although she doesnt do them herself. She is plenty verbal and when we teach her the signs we always repeat the word several times so I feel she is learning both at the same time.

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