Baby sign language

laowaigringa · November 2013

I remember babysitting for a family in college who had taught their baby some sign language and it fascinated me. I've been thinking about trying it. Has anyone else tried it or have any thoughts about it? Any books or websites you can recommend?

MJOJwedding · November 2013

I was taught sign language as a kid - a little older than a baby, but I wouldn't talk so my aunt taught me (she's an occupational therapist). I can ask we for some book recommendations if no one else responds :-) I definitely going to try to teach my son some sign language!

orchid8301 · November 2013

Lurking, but daycare taught my son some sign language. He only knows a few signs, but it has helped him communicate so much easier. He was able to communicate with signs for several months before he started using words. I highly recommend it. It has been great for our son and our family.

Tcbrannon222 · November 2013

I have been in daycare for a long time and part of my yearly training always included baby signs. I also did in home daycare and taught all the kids and they could sign what they needed/wanted before they could talk well. My girls now 10 & 6 still remember and I am sure they will teach new LO.

juliasmama2010 · November 2013

I did sign language with Julia; it was awesome! I fully intend on doing it again. I still use "please" and "thank you" with her to remind her of her manners. It was very easy to teach her too. Once she started picking up on it, I was constantly wanting to learn new signs. We also still sign the alphabet when we sing it in the car!

megs12914 · November 2013

DH and I talked about this the other day and I really want to! I think ill google an intro book or something on amazon.

holly142 · November 2013

I plan on using sign language. It helps kids communicate at an earlier age than when they talk, which can help reduce their frustrations and help us know what they want.

I think this website looks interesting: https://www.babysignlanguage.com/

ashybear · November 2013

We're planning on it, since many have reported great experiences. 'Baby Sign Language Basics' by Monta Z. Briant is the book we were recommended.

1ofme4ofthem · November 2013

My SIL does this with her son. I taught mine a few but she has gone all out. He is great at it but that is the only way he communicates. I'm not saying I think it's bad at all, this is just my experience with it.

ach298 · November 2013

We did it with DS and will teach baby #2 as well. It helped him express himself with less frustration and I credit it in some part with how verbal he is now. The main words we use are Eat, drink, please, thank you, more, all done, and lately, sorry.

SandFHasse · November 2013

We taught DD how to say more. Im going to teach her some more words since I think she has that one down.

tahloulah10 · November 2013

I used baby sign language when I was a nanny in college and taught it to my cousin's daughter who I watch from time to time. It makes communicating SO much easier, like everyone else has said!

I just did a quick google search for the signs and it came up with a picture chart like @KaitiMac posted. Also, YouTube is a great resource for seeing the signs in action!

HappyDoc · November 2013

There are several free baby sign apps you can download on your cell phone or tablet. I have downloaded several and they each have between 10 and 20 sign demonstrations. Good luck!

Mallory Monjot · November 2013

Signing is a great tool for early communication. I think it's fun to see children sign. However, it is its own language and will not help facilitate verbal language any earlier if that is the goal (I understand that is not the goal of many). It's like teaching your child Mandarin to help them learn English.

FormerlyKrista555 · November 2013

It didn't really work for us, at least not a formal program anyway. I taught my daughter a sign for "all done" when she was in the high chair so she wouldn't screech and throw her bowl. But other than that, we really didn't have a use for it. She was really advanced in language,, but I also think you just learn what your kiddo wants after awhile. I think SOMETIMES (not always!), a child will use sign as a crutch instead of feeling compelled to learn to say the word. With both of my children, the gap in time between them needing something and not being able to express it with words was short enough that it didn't cause us much headache.

1017Shannon · November 2013

FormerlyKrista555 said:
It didn't really work for us, at least not a formal program anyway. I taught my daughter a sign for "all done" when she was in the high chair so she wouldn't screech and throw her bowl. But other than that, we really didn't have a use for it. She was really advanced in language,, but I also think you just learn what your kiddo wants after awhile. I think SOMETIMES (not always!), a child will use sign as a crutch instead of feeling compelled to learn to say the word. With both of my children, the gap in time between them needing something and not being able to express it with words was short enough that it didn't cause us much headache.

this is completely untrue..a child will not use sign language as a crutch or not speak verbally later if you teach them sign language. As long as you say the word when you sign to them, as soon as they are able to say the word they will drop the sign BC it is easier for them to say the word. My son is in speech therapy and many therapists have told me this. Just an FYI.

Unknown · November 2013

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pennstated912 · November 2013

The daycare we have chosen automatically teaches them basic signs in baby sign language. I'm excited to implement this.

mrsjenni · November 2013

Meh. Its okay. I've found that kids who sign tend not to talk as much/early b/c they don't "need" too. So many of my friends kids say nothing and just sign everything and my kids have all talked early.

Obviously not saying this happens with every kid, as they are all different. But if you teach them to sign too many things, they might replace it with talking. Just keep that in mind, I guess.

thegosiers · November 2013

Glad you brought this up @laowaigringa

I had forgotten that I want to do this! Will be looking for a helpful book....!

JKVanValey · November 2013

My sister and BIL used sign with my niece (just turned 2)... They used it for several purposes as listed by PP.... The KEY is saying the word and signing it, and initially, the LO will sign only (in his or her own way), but eventually also learn to say the word... Then, the KEY is for you to drop the sign and if the LO only signs, you prompt them for the word.

Our situation is a bit different... We will be going much further than baby sign as DH is deaf and using sign language is his primary form of communication. That's also the reason why my sister and BIL have continued to expand my niece's signing... When she is around DH, she talks so much, so now when she knows a sign for what she wants to say, she throws it in there with the word....her vocabulary is so developed, there's just more she wants to say!

I teach at a school for the deaf, so language development is my life... sign language is a mode of communicating, where as American Sign Language (ASL) is it's own language... Using sign language is not necessarily teaching them another language...Using ASL would be... But unless you're already fluent, you're not going to be using ASL...you'll use English words via spoken sounds and signs.

Anyways... Here are some resources for baby signs!

https://www.babysigningtime.com

https://www.babysigns.com

And other resources already mentioned...

*now if after birth, your baby fails his or her new born hearing screening, ask for them to screen again and talk with your doctor!!! Early intervention is the most important thing when developing their language... Remember, if your child doesn't have access, you can't expect development to occur! (Ex: if they're deaf, they don't have access to English.. Therefore, you can't expect for their English language to develop)... If you need more information, please feel free to contact me!

tootsscott · November 2013

We'll be teaching our kids a couple of signs. 'more' 'please' 'thank you' 'milk' 'help'

I worked in daycare and it's easy to implement as just regular actions, just like you would model the words 'please' and 'thank you' long before you would even expect them to mimic.. it's getting that habit/routine started.

It doesn't hurt, and I agree with PP's who said it helps babies/toddlers manage frustration.

karah4816 · November 2013

Hillarycwkelly said:
I'm definitely thinking of doing it - my mom is a speech language pathologist and taught me quite a few signs. She highly recommends it. Because I have her and I already know the basic signs I don't know of any books or websites, but I think baby signing is a great idea!

My mom is also a speech and language pathologist and my brother and SIL taught my nephew some signs. It really helped him so I definitely plan on doing so with my babies. Also, I don't know where people are getting that teaching the signs slows down language development, my nephew and much younger cousin both learned signs and were both very advanced in their language. Perhaps the children they know would have had delayed speech anyway and that is why they are still using signs.

rowanthefrog · November 2013

Yes, yes and YES! I was a baby sign language teacher. I signed with both of my boys and they are both very advanced verbally and it was amazing to have entire conversations with them long before they had acquired meaningful verbal speech. Around 15 months both my boys had something like 75 signs and 20-25 words. They both still sign with me a lot, which is fun.

Here is a video of my oldest signing around 14 mo-23 mo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOjgGPTFVGI

I really like the www.mysmarthands.com website. I'm not teaching now, but if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them!

A

salsamommy · November 2013

I'm in the same boat as @wilburbud. Tried a few signs that we learned at Mother Goose etc., but DS wasn't interested, and he was always more vocal.

For example...

"Please stop doing that" =

"I'm Hungry, Milk Please" =

hopeful808 · November 2013

I will be teaching a few basic signs and I plan on always using the word that goes with the sign. For me it will be easy since I know basic signs from working with students who communicate using sign language and from taking ASL in college. I really wish that I had the ability to have kept up with ASL, I forgot many of the signs I learned as well as the sentence structure.

BuckeyeANG · November 2013

I have noticed the same things as @mrsjenni My son was a very early talker and speaks full sentences now. Maybe if he hadn't talked so early we would have introduced some signs but we really didn't have any need to do so.

LindsB314 · November 2013

We taught dd some signs and when using them we also said the word. She still uses signs some times when saying a word as well. When she went tot, she was a little shy so when we told her to say thank you, she signed it. It has worked well for us. We downloaded the Baby Sign app and she loves to watch it.

erika_sue · November 2013

I work in an older infant room at a day care and we teach the kids very basic signs. I always say that once they start yelling at me for their food, it's time to learn "please." With six kiddos, it's much more peaceful to have them signing than screaming

Mrs.Salt&Pepper · November 2013

Some may side-eye this, but we used the Baby Signing Time videos pretty much religiously. DD loved them, and was able to sign/gesture/communicate at a very young age. She is very verbal now and I attribute a lot of her communication to those videos. I found them on Amazon.com

sugarland726 · November 2013

We did it and it was great. It really is true that children's cognitive skills develop faster than their language skills. We didn't do a wide variety of skills, but more, drink, eat, and all done really encompass a lot of their life and needs.

mj0413 · November 2013

All I can think of when baby sign language comes up is Meet the Fockers.

I'm sure there are benefits, though.

valigrl21 · November 2013

We used it with DD. We just used about 10 signs regularly (milk, more, all done, bath and a few more I can't think of right now). We always said the word and signed it. It helped for a bit, but DD was an early talker so it mostly faded. Every once and awhile she will talk and do a sign at the same time.

I guess I don't see a down side to it. You can google baby sign language and learn some basic signs in about 30 minutes. So it's not a huge investment. You won't do it forever, but if it let's your baby communicate with you a little earlier, then that's great.

rowanthefrog · November 2013

mrsjenni said:

Meh. Its okay. I've found that kids who sign tend not to talk as much/early b/c they don't "need" too. So many of my friends kids say nothing and just sign everything and my kids have all talked early.

Obviously not saying this happens with every kid, as they are all different. But if you teach them to sign too many things, they might replace it with talking. Just keep that in mind, I guess.

Honestly this is a pretty common misconception. If you are teaching baby sign language correctly then you are SAYING the word every time you sign it, therefore reinforcing both the verbal communication and signed communication. I signed with both my boys from 6 months on and they were signing lots of words by 12 months and developed their verbal language concurrently and both have always been advanced verbally...same with my nieces and nephews.

We always "made" our children ask for what they wanted, even when we knew what it was, using signs and/or words. Obviously there are exceptions, but if you are speaking and signing with your children at the same time, there should be no delay. And...if there is, well there probably would have been in the first place, and thank goodness they DO know sign language to allow them to communicate until their verbal language catches up.

A

AnnikaD20 · November 2013

My bff did baby sign language with her now 3 yo, and they still use it. We had dinner at a fast food place, and sat by the window to the play structure thing. She and her DD would sign through the window. It was mostly cute stuff until the kid started licking the slide, and bff signed "no" and a tantrum ensued (3yo logic dictates that if your mom loved you, she'd let you lick whatever you want.)

Anyway, I was impressed how effectively they were able to communicate.

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