Sign Language- Yes? No?

mpalmateer7 · November 2013

Hi! Lurker from 6-9 months! But my burning curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to boldly ask a question I'm dying to hear all about:
DS is 8 months, and I am curious about others' experience using sign language. I'm mildly familiar with the concept, and obviously have already done some research-- but I'm interested in hearing about how you implemented it, LO's reactions, and how it factors into communication down the road. And/or why you decided not to use it, if you tried it and stopped, and reasons not to use it...
Please enlighten me! Thank you!

pb_bride · November 2013

We've been doing a few signs for over 6 months - "all done" and "more". DS is almost 1 now and he still doesn't sign. Well, he did "more" for a while, but now I give him a plateful of food, he doesn't have to sign "more" anymore b/c he never finishes all his food. I feel like he's going to be able to speak before he figures out how to sign... but we'll keep on signing until then.

I know many other babies can sign between 9-12 months. DS just isn't into it.

mpalmateer7 · November 2013

Thanks for sharing! I almost feel like my DS might be like this, too... He gets to excited and worked up sometimes. Plus, I can't see DH being consistent with signing, either. But I aim to try! Thank you!

AimeeL85 · November 2013

We did some with my DS, but not a lot. I honestly don't even remember when we started. I used it for the most basic things that I wanted him to be able to communicate to me - milk, water, potty, more, and please....I think that's all we did. Once he could say the words, we stopped.

I definitely found those few signs very helpful during the time period he used them. I never tried to teach him any others, because I only wanted it to help him communicate his needs. I didn't need him to be able to sign "blue" or "frog."

ETA: We haven't done any with DD yet who is 10 months, I actually hadn't even thought of it this time around.

jennygirlmt · November 2013

We did it with dd1, more, milk, please, all done. She was an early talker so she dropped most of it but to this day she signs please while saying it and I don't think she knows she does it

DD2 signs milk and all done. I thought she caught on to more but hadn't done it recently, but then again she isn't a big eater so she never wants more. I like it, especially since DD2 isn't talking much yet.

vrj0522 · November 2013

I love it and wish I was better at it with DS (at teaching him a larger vocabulary). We took an 8 week class when he was 7 1/2 months old. By the end of it he had one sign but the teacher taught us that while they might not be signing yet, they are probably already learning the signs, it just takes time. Over the last 10 months, I've seen specific signs appear, disappear for a time, and then re-emerge a little bit later. He knows them but LOs are just so busy developing in so many ways that sometimes one thing takes precedence over another for them.

He has about 10 signs that he uses consistently and we love it. Our biggest success story with it was when he was only a few days into 10 months old, way too early for any spoken words. He had just had an unusually huge dinner (normally a very light eater) and a little bit later signed for "milk". I did not believe it. I actually thought he might just be practicing his signs and quickly forgot about it. Well over the next half hour he got crankier and crankier and when I went to change his diaper, he once again started signing for milk, this time non-stop. It finally dawned on me that he really was asking for milk the first time and I got him a bottle of formula. I think he was on a growth spurt but since then I have been much more careful to "listen" when he is signing.

Since then, we have also had other instances of him communicating his needs and wants and us understanding when we probably wouldn't have without the signs. I especially feel it's helpful now that he says a few things but is clearly wanting to communicate much more than he is able to express in words.

vrj0522 · November 2013

That I can remember, the signs he uses all the time are: milk, water, eat, binky, more, bath, sleep, all done, cheese, come, ball, cold, hot. Cheese is his absolutely favorite food, that's why he learned it so well as compared to other foods. As you can see, most if not all of these help him express needs/wants so they have been really helpful.

jg1011 · November 2013

I've been signing with my LO since about 3 months. He picked up milk pretty quickly and started using it consistently around 6 months. To that he added all done, more, and eat.

Around 8 months he had a sign explosion of sorts. He started dog, fish, daddy, diaper. Then at about 11 months it was crazy....all of the signs I had been doing with him since 3 months and thinking he'd never do came flying out. He does all of the above plus cat, frog, bird, ball, mommy, grandma, cookie, book, monkey. He is now adding beginning sounds when he signs some and says mamma and daddy when signing those.

I will likely continue to teach him 1-2 signs a week. It has helped him to communicate needs and wants along with general communication.....like when he sees a dog or a bird. Research says that it helps him build language....whether that's true or not I will not debate. I figured if there is a chance to give him a leg up in that sense, why wouldn't I give it a try?

smileybabyboy · November 2013

I've been signing to DS since he was 6 months and he is 14 months now. He signs more and all done a lot, and I'm working on milk, music (since he loves it) and a few others. He does it at home and at daycare. Some people argue that sign language will delay their child in speaking, but even if you don't teach LO to sign, they are still using sign anyway went pointing, waving, blowing kisses, etc. I think it lessens their frustrating when trying to tell you what they want.

spinsoffresonance · November 2013

I was pretty excited about sign language when I first looked into it. I tried it for 3 days with DD but I really didn't have the follow through to keep at it, haha. I have been trying to teach DD to wave hello and goodbye (not quite the same thing, I know) for a couple months now and she doesn't get it yet.

ObLaDi · November 2013

lica001 said:

I was pretty excited about sign language when I first looked into it. I tried it for 3 days with DD but I really didn't have the follow through to keep at it, haha. I have been trying to teach DD to wave hello and goodbye (not quite the same thing, I know) for a couple months now and she doesn't get it yet.

This is me. I keep meaning to sign with him and forgetting. D'oh.

ArmyWife114 · November 2013

smileybabyboy said:

I've been signing to DS since he was 6 months and he is 14 months now. He signs more and all done a lot, and I'm working on milk, music (since he loves it) and a few others. He does it at home and at daycare. Some people argue that sign language will delay their child in speaking, but even if you don't teach LO to sign, they are still using sign anyway went pointing, waving, blowing kisses, etc. I think it lessens their frustrating when trying to tell you what they want.

This was my concern when DS's therapist suggested we try signing. She said if you do it properly, signing and saying the word at the same time, the studies show that it doesn't delay speech.

So far, we only use one or two signs (I need to get a book or something, cause I only know two that the therapist showed me).

caymanianseminole · November 2013

I'm teaching DD sign as a second language for personal reasons (my parents are Deaf so I feel it's important for her to communicate with them). She demonstrates that she UNDERSTANDS the signs I sign to her, (i.e. if I said "more food", she would smack her lips and hold out her hand, or "all done bath" she would know I'm taking her out and there would be no more tantrum). She has just started to sign last week and it was "milk". This is the age where children will start to have the motor skills to complete some signs so it just takes some patience if you want to go ahead with it.

An interesting note is that children who use baby signs tend to be less frustrated as they can get their point across and some longitudinal studies show those babies have slightly higher IQs as young children

portentosa · November 2013

DS signs "milk" for wanting everything. He hasn't narrowed it down to just milk yet. I haven't been good about signing for things every time though, I need to get on it better....and learn some more words. Words I've been signing since he was 5 months are 'milk', 'more', 'diaper', 'mama', 'dada', and 'dog'.

He has picked up other gestures DH and I make though. He holds out both hands and open/closes both hands when he's excited because that's what I do when I laugh and call him to me. He points....at EVERYTHING! If I ask him who's number 1 he will hold up his finger in a one sign. And he JUST learned to clap yesterday! The thumbs up gif in my siggy was a fluke. He's only ever done that the one time, so cute though!

minervacullen · November 2013

I do- all done, eat, momma milk, please, thank you, drink. Those are what I did with DS and he used them. It helped teach him manners and cut out some frustration when he was hard to understand. DD wil do all done and momma milk now.

this decaf life · November 2013

I have zero interest in using sign language, she's already starting to make sounds mimicking words so I'd rather focus on that than teaching her signs.

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