Baby Sign Language - Fort Stewart,GA

I think I started around then and my son mimicked right away. He knows Hungry or Food, Drink, and Sorry. The Signing Time DVD series is REALLY great for teaching signs to mommies and babies.

We started with each child at about 6 month - we started signing as we started solid foods - mealtimes were the most motivating time to get themto understand/sit still long enough to see/get the signs.

We started with "Eat" and we would talk to the baby and sign as we talked, as we were getting the food ready..."Hey baby, are you hungry (sign hungry)? We are going ot get in your highchair and EAT (sign eat)! Oh, we will get you a drink (sign drink or milk or juice or water) too!"

After each bite, we would ask "More?" and sign More and then give a bite. Or say and sign drink, or milk,water or juice, and then give it. We atarted signing at 6 months with them, and they stated signing back between 7-9 months. We expanded the vocabulary - My daughter knew probably 40 signs before she started talking more than signing, and my son probably used 25-30.

Here are the ones we used:
Hungry, eat, drink, milk, juice, nurse, water, more (both used this one for EVERYTHING for a long time), all-done, no, stop, go, up , down, sit, help(that one was important! especially during the early terrible 2s), mommy, daddy, baby,swing, airplane, music, bird, byebye, love, dog, cat, rhinocerus, giraffe, frog, seal, turtle, bear, lion, book, bed, hurt, please, thank-you, good, cookie, bowl, spoon, cup, cake, orange, apple, banana, sleep, ice cream, pancakes, eggs, play, look, open, close, socks, shoes, ceiling fan (my daughter's first sign - she was fascinated by them)

We didn't buy anything special, I just looked them up online, or we made up our own sign that made sense to us. Please is the one sign that held on the longest, my 2 year old still uses it and my 4 year old did so well into her 3s, as emphasis while saying PLEASE, begging for something, LOL! THey still see STOP and NO from me sometimes, for emphasis, as well as please, thank you and I love you as family signs we use.
I really think it helped them communicate alot better before they could speak clearly, and now they both have a great vocabulary - since sign and spoken language both use the same pathways in the brain, it just forged ahead to learning before they could actually physically speak the word. Of course we talk and read alot to them anyway (my 4 and a half year old can read at a 2nd grade level herself now, and she is basically self-taught after learning letter and the sounds they make, she sounded out words), so they are going to get a large vocab - I just think signing cuts down on frustration for everyone, early on.

Good Luck, it is alot of fun, especially when you get comments on how sweet and happy your kids are eating in public - since they can ask for what they need, as long as you are paying attention, they usually won't be banging silverware and throwing fits!

I don't remember the exact age I started with my son or his first sign, but I do remember the relief it gave us both. He was less frustrated because he could let me know what he wanted and I was less frustrated because he did less screaming. LOL It was a really good thing for us both and at 4yrs old he taught himself to read, so I believe the two things are related. Good Luck

I started when she was 6 mo. but it took a while. Probably til 9 mo. or older, before she signed back. Her first sign was "more" followed by "milk" (which at the time also meant "drink" or "nursing").

I don't remember ages... my oldest is 13 and that was a LOOONG time ago. :)

But his first sign was "more". And he used it alot when he was eating... It virtually eliminated his meal time SCREAMING in between bites of food. I'd guess it was around 7 months or so.... if the bowl was empty he'd scream until I got back with a "refill", lol.

I started signing with my son at six months. He had about 30 signs that he used from 6 mo to 10 mo. Then he started talking, and the signs went by the wayside.
My daughter, on the other hand, signed everything until she was over two. She was a late talker (needed speech therapy) so I taught her many more signs than my son. When we would go out in public, people used to ask me if she were deaf!
Even if your baby doesn't respond right away, just keep working with him. Eventually he will get it. But once he can talk, he'll abandon the signs (as it should be).
Oh, and the one sign that we still do, is the sign for "toilet". It's how I can ask the children in public if they need to use the restroom without embarrassing them.
Blessings.

we started around around 6 months , she used them around 8 or 9 months. she used , more , food, drink , all done , where the first ones

More was def first! then please and thank you He was 24 months so started saying the words soon after

I started signing immediately... full well knowing that my daughter wasn't going to sign back for a long time. My logic? I talked to her long before she would talk back, so why not add the sign in as well? Her day care also signed and since she was in a room with infants to 12 month olds, she saw signs as a normal part of her routine.

I think my daughter was around 6-7 months old when she started routinely signing for milk. She picked up milk, all done, more, eat, drink, diaper, and sleep first.

They are so incredibly helpful and linked to earlier speech development--it's great that your working with your infant!

OH poop, I have no idea how old I started the girls, they were young. I didn't go all out, I just taught easy stuff like drink, more, I'm sorry, thank you, you're pretty (LOL), etc... They were using those signs before they could speak, I do know that... I don't know, I just used the sign every time I said the word, and that was that! Good luck, it's fun :)

my son was about 6-7 mo. We only did a few signs with him...more, all done, eat...he started doing them I would say around 9-10 months. Just keep doing it, he/she will get it!!