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September 2011 Moms
Mereou12
member
Will you teach LO sign language?
Mereou12
member
Has anyone thought this far ahead? Are you planning on teaching your LO sign language? There are a few posts about it today on 12-24, so I figured I'd ask the September Mommas about it.
We started teaching DS sign language when he was around 6 months old -- just the basics related to food, such as more, eat, milk, water, all done, etc. He didn't catch on until he was around 1, but once he did, WOW! He picked up the signs so quickly, and now has close to 50 signs that he uses regularly.
He was a late talker, so sign language has helped tremendously with his communication. And more importantly, it has reduced the frequency of tantrums because he's able to tell me what he wants. I love that he can sign "more crackers, please!" rather than just whine or cry.
If you're interested, check out the Baby Signing Time DVDs. They're fabulous!
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Re: Will you teach LO sign language?
I would love to do this. Thanks for the DVD rec.
We have decided against it. Unless (b/c never say never) LO ends up being a late talker, in which case we will reconsider. LO will be raised bilingual and I feel that teaching both languages plus sign language will cause a delay in speech. My BIL and SIL did it with their daughter and her speech is very very delayed - I think b/c teaching so many languages at once was just too much so she became dependant on the sign language to communicate.
This is just my opinion and I certainly see why it works for some people, but I'd rather she focus on communicating with words than hands. But if words aren't working for her, signing is definitely preferred over whining.
DS loves the Baby Signing Time DVDs ... honestly some of the only things he will sit down to watch.
We taught him really basic signs starting around 9 months, definitely helped us out! Cut way down on tantrums.
And for those who wonder about delaying speech - K is a late talker as well (not linked to signing as he only knew the extreme basics) ... he wouldn't even try saying words until a few months ago. Our ped actually suggested using more signs to encourage him and build his communication confidence. Since then, we have been teaching more signs and as he gets confidence up, he says the word with the sign ... and eventually drops the sign. For us (since that is all I can speak to) signing has encouraged his speech progression.
Definitely go with the Baby Signing Time series. We have a couple of the original ST series DVDs, but the pace is just SO fast that even I have a hard time following along. The Baby ST DVDs are slower paced, use more songs, and review each sign a bit more. Plus, the signs that they introduce are specifically geared towards older infants/toddlers rather than older kids.
That being said, I LOVE both. I can't tell you how many times I've recommended them to other moms!
That is exactly what our experience has been! As DS learns more words, he's starting to drop the signs, or at least not use them as frequently.
I also don't feel like it's language overload, when they're young their language acquisition is so much better than adults. Sure DS started speaking late, but when he did it was several dozen words at once. Now at almost 3 yrs old his vocal is expansive and he is able to speak to DH in german, me in Spanish, and great-grandma in French without confusion amongst the 3 (plus English of course).
That's awesome that you're practicing, because it IS difficult to start incorporating sign into everyday speech!
Every once in awhile, DH and I will sign something random like "all done" or "eat" to each other.
"What did my fingers do before they held you? What did my heart do with it's love?"
I tried to teach J, and he picked up words way faster than he picked up the signs. He was a pretty early talker. I'm just going to hope for a repeat (or close to it) of J, as far as the talking goes.
We did a few signs with DS1, and it helped us a lot! He loved being able to communicate before he could talk. We started around 6 months or so, and he learned milk, more, up, and eat. He made up a sign for bath. He also learned to sign diaper, but he learned to say diaper (well, di-di) at the same time. Most of what he needs to communicate, he can say now, but he still uses signs sometimes. We'll probably do the same ones with DS2.
I used it with DS1 and loved it. I think he had 20-25 signs at one point. He even made one up himself for pizza. He started signing back around 9 or 10 months. I think I started with milk, all done and more around 6 or 7 months. When he was 10 months old he signed "All done, more milk". Which was crazy to me. Because that's a full sentence. He used to tell me when he was tired by signing sleep. One morning he wanted peas for breakfast and signed that to me when he was a little over a year. I would have never guessed that's what he wanted for breakfast otherwise.
It caused no delay in his speech. By the time he was 18 months he was speaking around 50 words. And I lost count by the time he turned two. I really couldn't even tell you how many words he has now, hundreds. He used to have to sign "more" every time he said it up until a few months ago.
I can't wait to teach DS2 sign language too. And have DS1 help as well. I quiz him once in a while just to keep him sharp.
DS-11 years, DD-3 years, DS-born 9/15/10, DD-9/09/11
You're just giving birth now, you're not mother Earth now
I highly recommend signing! We starting doing signs with my DD when she was 7 months. Around 9 months, she signed back for "milk" and "more". By the time she was 1, she knew close to 20 signs... long before she could talk. It was such a huge help to communicate with her before she had the words... a lot less frustration for all of us! And she ended up being a very early talker, and her speech and language development was far ahead of the other kids her age in her daycare class. We will definitely be signing with this one too.
The beginning is tough... you feel a little crazy signing to this baby who just looks at you for a couple months before they get it, but once they get the concept, they pick up signs like crazy. It's amazing.
My dogs go mostly off of hand signals so I'm sure your dog will start to understand if you use the signs consistently with the actually actions.
We've talked about it and read some thing and decided that we probably won't teach signs. But we also said we wouldn't have him sleep in our room ever ever and that we would never cloth diaper so it could very well happen.