More Signing Questions

I started signing with my daughter when she was about 8 months old. She'll be 2 1/2 next month and still uses the signs that we used. I didn't do it ALL of the time, but she picked up more and more as time went by...I can tell you that when it came to speaking that it was easier to get what she was saying at first because she would sign a word or two while she spoke. Keep up the good work, your daughter will learn to differentiate between the signs soon enough. Kids are amazing, aren't they?

Good luck and God bless.
C.

Hi A.!

Just keep doing what you are doing and be consistant. The more consistant you are, the more likely they are to pick up the signs and sign them back. Most babies don't start signing back until they are 8-13 months of age. Also, if they are working on a large developmental milestone (like crawling, cutting a tooth, etc) the signing back may drop off or disappear totally, but don't worry - it will come back.

We started signing with our daughter at about 8 months and it took her until she was about 14 months before she really started signing back and then she added about 1 a week for a while. It slowed down for a while and now she is adding signs and words like crazy!

I teach parent workshops and parent/child play classes if you are interested. I also sell a series of DVD's specifically made for children under age 3 to help them learn the signs. My daugther absolutely loves them! It was really interesting watching them with her before she could sign. She would concentrate really hard on them and you could see her hands moving like she was trying to figure out how those babies were doing it. It was really cool! You could almost see the wheels turning in her mind!

Please feel free to contact me directly. I would love to talk to you further!

J.

I think the most important thing is to follow your child's cues when it comes to signing. I started signing with my daughter at 6 months old and she is now one and doesn't do tons of signs but seems to do what is important to her. She started doing "all done" at about 9 months old...but I didn't see her do another sign herself until 11 months old when she learned "milk". Now she only does "all done", "milk", "drink", "eat", "up" (a sign she made up for us to pick her up). Right now I'm trying to teach her pain and change. Don't get discouraged! I bet you will see a signing "boom" really soon where she is doing all of the signs you show her. Most kids don't start signing consistantly until a year old and that's what we saw with our daughter. I wouldn't add any new signs until she does the ones you've been working on and some signs she may never do herself. My daughter is making up her own signs to things! Sometimes it's hard to figure out what she's doing...but she know! :)

Hi A.,

I used signs with my little guy who is now 18 mths old and it worked well. You seem to be using most of the basic signs that I used too. Over time...he changed the more sign to say please...now he does the more sign and says please out loud. I think this is because I always told him to ask for "more please". I figure it is no big deal that he is making his own signs as long as it helps him to communicate effectively with us. Good luck and have fun with it!!

T.

I pretty much second everything the other ladies wrote. We started signing with our kids about 8-9 months. They got a couple signs before a year, but it really flourished around a year. They pick them up more quickly as they get older also. My son is 13 months now and knows quite a few...'please' being his most used since he has to use it to get something. :) Don't give up...just keep doing it and she will start to sign them. You're doing great!!

Hello A.,

I am a licensed Provider and have taken a training in Sign language along with using it in my childcare. In our training the instructor said to start around 8 months. Do one sign at a time. I have a non-verbal child in my care who is almost 4 and also a down child I taught sign to. Introduce one at a time as soon as they have mastered that sign then introduce another. Give your child time to pick it up. Every child is different and there is no specific time frame. To many at once will just confuse her. Since she has mastered the Milk, go to either Eat or More. She is still very young so it will take time and patience. The child in my care took several months to master More and eat. We have learned Bed and up but he needs repetition to master it.

No need to rush it will come in time. The main reason for teaching out children to sign is to reduce frustration and behavior problems when they are not able to tell us by words what they need. The frustration usually starts around 12-18 months when they really want to express themselves.

L.