I was reading about teaching/using sign language with babies but was wondering if anyone had tried it and how it was working?
Thanks for all of the feedback. I got Baby Signing Time Vol 1 & 2. We watch it a few times during the week and I started to sign and say a few of the signs all of the time like milk, eat, more. She hasn't signed back yet (I know it may take a while because she is just turning 7 months) but she does get really excited when we watch the DVD together.
Hi L.. I used very basic signs with my daughter and it was great. The three she really took to were eat, drink, enough/all done - and even with just those basics it was a big relief. She could tell us whether she was hungry, thirsty, bored, full - it was very cool!
T.
L., I have three kids of my own and did sign with each one of them. Ibetween my first child and my second I worked at a daycare with kids from1 to 3 and taught sign with all the ages. I found that it is great for them. Alot of people think if u teach kids how to sign they will not talk....that is not true. There have been studies that show that when children sign and atlk they are using both sides of there brain at the same time and they excell. I found with all my kids(my own and my kids at school) it made things so much easier....they were able to communicate when they could not use words...it made it less stressful for them and me. I knew what they wanted and they could let me know and they continued to sign even after they were talking well. My daughter is 2 almost three and she signs to her baby brother and he signs b/c he watches her. I love it and i can not say enough about it. It is amazing the amount of info they can retain...one of my kids at school learned over 150 signs...and she could tell u what they all ment. I did it as something fun when we sang songs I knew songs in sign and sang and signed at the same time and animals and all the signs that had to do with eating and mommy and daddy and wrking and school, they all felt like it was a game.
If u would like to talk about it more email me i would love to hear how it is going....my email is ____@____.com u enjoy it if u d it and have fun with it.
good luck
K.
Hello L.,
My dad sent us Baby einstein's Baby's first Signs, for my daughter's first birthday. It is designed for you to interact with them. My daughter loves it. it is a little long to get from start to finish in one sitting, so we divide the segments up and have fun 'talking' to each other for 10 minutes or so. She also seems less frustrated and has started adding words to her signs
e.
I have used it with my daughter. It worked so well for us. She did not have as much frustration that I believe she would have had with not being able to communicate. I highly recommend doing it. I also plan to use the sign language when I have my next child. She is now almost 16 months and she uses her sign language along with saying the words. I feel she is at an advantage.
Hi L.! I haven't done baby sign yet, but am interested in it like you are. A woman at my husband's work swore by it and keeps telling me to start it with my daughter, who is not quite five months yet. Keep me posted if you get into it and how it works out for you. Good luck!
My sister in law was very sucessful with teaching her daughter baby sign language, and she would sing for cookie, hungry, tired, and other things from a very young age. I would have tried it, but it never occured to me, and my neice is younger than my daughter. I say try it. You can never fail by trying to teach, unless you expect too much.
we used baby sign with me son, now 26months. it really helped getting through the stage when he new what he wanted but couldn't find the words!!! we plan on using it again with our next one!!!
kris
My husband used it in his first marrige with his first son. He said it was great and wants to use it with our child that is due soon. He said it really cuts down on the frustration of not knowing what they want.
I did American Sign Language here and there with my daughter ever since birth. I think it did help with some of the frustration before she could verbalized what she wanted. It was mostly food / drink related. I just decide to continue with her and she is 2 1/2 now. She seems to like it and will talk and sign certain words at the same time. I didn't take a class though. I just got books and downloaded lessons online.
Y.
a great book is called babysigns and it is by linda acredolo and susan goodwin.
Hi My name is J. Jericho i live in Charleroi Pa. My sister did baby sign language with her son adn it worked and i do it with my son who will be 2 in June. Now granted i didn't do it hard core but he signs burd, food,please,thank you things like that. Its good for the kid to know how to do that i think!!Any other questions feel free to ask.
My sister is an occupational therapist and is fluent in sign language. She spends a lot of time with my 16 month old daughter and has taught her sign language. In any case, she is picking up on it very well and is enjoying it. She is able to sign a few words by herself now. I think it's great.
My fourteen-month old currently signs eat, more, Mommy, Daddy, dog, fish, flower, train, banana, ball, cheese, grapes, baby, milk, water, cookie, strawberry, apple, sleep, and cracker. I cannot say enough about how fantastic it is that she can walk up to me and tell me that she's hungry and exactly what she wants, instead of crying or fussing. The only negative I can think of is that I do have family that is convinced she'll never speak if she signs. To that I say, how many fourteen-month olds say Mama, Daddy, dog, fish, thank you, duck, uh oh, bye bye, no, kitty, flower, baba (for drink), ball, and more? The research shows that sign language builds vocabulary, and clearly that's true.
BTW, there are some videos on the web at www.signingtime.com that are fantastic. The videos focus on teaching words and signs and are extremely well done. We don't let our daughter watch them very often, but she really loves them. My husband and I have been using them to learn signs ourselves. They're cute with catchy music that doesn't cross over into annoying. That's important to us since I'm sure we'll be hearing/watching the vidoes over and over and over and over for the next few years!
I used ASL with my daughter and I think if I had to choose one thing that helped her the most that would be it! She's 4 now. She never hit the terrible two's because she could always tell me what she wanted and it started WAY before she was two! Some examples she would sign to me are that her head hurt while she was teething, that she was thirsty after her nap, that she was sleepy...
I didn't know ASL when I started teaching her. We used a video series called Signing Time! (www.signingtime.com) and I LOVE it. I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in sign.
I originally started teaching my daughter sign because I wanted to be able to communicate with her earlier and I thought she might be a late talker because she was a preemie (born at 27 weeks). Then I attended a seminar with Rachel Coleman (www.signingtime.com) and Dr Marilyn Daniels (http://www.marilyndaniels.com/materials.html) where I learned some of the longer term benifits. (check out the paper titled "Words More Powerful then Sound" on Dr Marilyn Daniels site).
My daughter is now for and has such an incredible vocabulary and an amazing understanding of words. I truly believe it is due to teaching her some sign language.
Oh yeah, and the best part? The Signing Time DVDs are enjoyable to watch!! You won't even realize how much you are learning!
I found this such a benefit that I could go on forever.
