Signing with Baby

I signed with my daughter when she was an infant, but just the basics - please, thank you and more. She took to it right away. I had gotten a pamphlet from the dr's office about signing and only choose a few words to use. I would think that you could look up these "signs" on the internet to learn them.

I picked a few key words out of a baby signing book that I got at halfpricebooks for like $7. I picked "more" "milk" "done" etc. She was a very early talker though, so we didn't use it for long. She got the hang of it really quickly. I just used the signs when I was speaking. Easy, cheesy. :)

signing time can be bought on thier web site and that is how i started my son.

I signed with my son from the very beginning as an infant. I have had a few classes in sign language, so I just went with that. Moms here have offered some excellent resources. My son will be 6 in a couple of weeks, and he will still sign on occasion and definitely remembers all the signs. That is due in large part to my continuing to sign to him when I talk. When he was in pre-school, they were teaching sign language. One afternoon when I picked him up, the teacher asked me if he already knew sign language. Of course the answer was yes!

I am a strong believer in signing with your children. My daughter suffered from a slight speech delay and signing with her really helped to open up her language and relieve her daily frustrations. Our speech therapist actually encouraged us to watch the Signing Time videos together and it worked extremely well. The videos are paced slower for children and show the signs with pictures. Most libraries do carry these videos and if your library doesn't they may be able to transfer the videos in from another sister library at no cost to you. I would also recommend a website that our therapist passed on to us. The address is: www.aslpro.com. They have live videos of people showing different signs. There is a section for babies that you can click on and then you can select from any sign in their library which is really thorough. The best advice I can give you is to start with 2 or 3 signs and just sign them continually to your child until they begin to repeat them back to you. Once they get confident with them you will see them use them all the time. Then you can move on to more signs. Good luck!!

No TV is required. Just do the signs. I recommend finding words that are useful to you in communicating with your child and then watch a youtube video on how to do the sign. If a particular sign seems too complicated for your child, alter it so it's easier. Then, as you speak with your child demonstrate the sign as you say the word for the sign. It took about 1 month of signing/speaking for my child to begin signing back to us. We started at about 9 months. As she mastered one sign we began to work on more. We started with milk, water, more and then we added please, thank you etc... Our child is 20 months and we still sign with her for those words she hasn't yet mastered saying. It's been a wonderful way to communicate with her and definitely makes like easier! I think you'll find that you enjoy it. The key is to do the sign all the time, every time you say the word, every time you're doing that action or working with that object. Repetition is key. Good luck!

Signing Times is available at our library, so you could check there. Also see if your recreation center offers a signing with baby class. I did some signing with DS and plan to do it again with DD.

My daughter and SIL began signing with their son from day one!!! The first things they used were "Mama's milk" ( she nursed) and Mama and Papa. There are great ASL sign language websites that have specific baby sign language areas. Use the signs consistently...and when they start singing back to you...you will need to use your imagination as their dexterity isn't going to let them reproduce the sign exactly.
I can tell you that one of my fondest moments was when he learned to sign "Grandma"!!!! And then he made his first "2 word sentence"...when he signed "Grandpa Hat" for my husband...my husband ALWAYS wears a baseball cap...and Kieran just decided that was a good thing to call him!!! lol
My daughter has an interesting blog about her experiences teaching our grandson sign language..if you want to check it out..this is the address....
http://codenamemama.com/2009/10/06/toddlerese/
He is almost 3 now and really doesn't use his sign language much anymore...but, if he is all excited about something and we can't understand him...she will still say "Is there a sign for it Kieran??? "

I bought a couple videos off amazon. Can't remember the names. Put them on and we did it together. They would say the word, sign the word, show a picture of the word. MOST boring DVD's ever but they worked. :) He was an early talker but we still use some of our sign language. I can stand on the front/back porch, make eye contact and talk to him without ever opening my mouth--small things still but enough that I don't have to yell across the yard at him.

I have just started researching signing too, my son is almost 3 months old and I wasn't sure where to start. I saw a beginning signing kit at Babies R Us, with a video and flashcards. I'm probably going to get that in a couple weeks.

At our daycare we use it. we basically just sign and then say the word, such as milk, more, please, thank you etc. You will be amazed how quickly they pick it up. Its usually around 7-9 months when you really see results. One thing though is to accept whatever attempt they make. They will be too little to be able to do it exactly right each time so sometimes more is a clap or finger tapping. Every attempt is praised and accepted. I find it so much more enjoyable to have a baby sign more or milk at me rather than scream or yell. Everyone is calmer I feel.
We have an american sign language for babies at work. But, I have seen cheaper ones at half price books or check your local thrift there probably will be a few there. Patience, practice and repeating are all it takes! Good luck and enjoy.

I used a book, I think "Sign with your Baby". I just picked some simple signs that would make life easier, like "more". "milk", "up", etc. That way I knew whether my daughter wanted to eat more, drink more, or that she was done and wanted "up" out of her high chair. I think we started around 11 months. The neat thing was that when we moved and went to a new church, she signed "more" in the nursery and the worker there understood that she wanted more crackers! (He was teaching his child baby signs as well.) I tried to stick with actual ASL signs. When she learned to talk, the signs slowly stopped being used.

We've been signing for years with our children - started at a few months with my now 7 1/2 year old and we're still doing it 4 children later with our baby. The big kids love teaching the younger ones and it just reinforces the signs with them. We love the Signing Times videos and have been checking them out at out local library. You might have luck at your library and you can see if that series grabs you. It's been our favorite so far. Baby Einstein has a very basic signing video, too

We signed with our twins. I got the dvd baby sign and started with that. Neither my hubby or I knew anything other than the alphabet, so we needed help. Signing Times is available on dvd as well - we purchased several but you can also rent from the library if you want to try them out first.

I HIGHLY recommend giving this a try. Keep doing it and one day, the baby/toddler will do it back and from there it's like flood - they just keep learning more and more so quickly!!

Truly hleps them communicate before they can talk. Helps with temper tantrums.

Good luck

Signing time has snippets of their show featured on Nick Jr now so I am hoping they pick it up because that show was great, you can buy the DVDs though. I started signing with my daughter usuing baby signs I will put the link below. Our city offered a class and we took it for 2 years with other little kids. The link below also has a list of teachers that you can contact to see if they are doing classes. I also bought the packetd with books, dvds, and stuff so I can teach #2 myself. Hope this helps ((HUGS))

https://www.babysigns.com/

I have been signing with my daughter since she was 6 months old. She is two now. My daughter started talking a 6 months old. I am a strong believer that signing with my daughter had limited the amount of meltdowns because she could tell me what she wanted when she didn't know how to say the words. I started with milk, more and banana. I was surprised that she took to it right away. She loved that she could tell me what she wanted. I had bought a book of ASL signs. I had also found ASL flash cards for me. But much to my surprise my daughter loved to play with the cards. We made a game out of the cards. She still gets the cards out and asks me what's this. She wants me to sign with her. She started preschool last week and I found out that they also teach basic sign language to them. When I told her teacher how many words that she knew already in sign language, she was impressed.

We just started signing a few months ago, after I could no longer handle the screaming and pointing!!! My DS just turned two and I am happy that I started! We are working on it, and he knows more, milk, mom, and dad. I think that it is worth the investment to purchase a good sign language book for infants/children. I would still check with your library, they may work with a network of libraries that could supply a book or they may have other information that can be helpful.

Good luck!!

I have a 4.5yr old deaf son and for you I would recommend ASLPro.com. There you can look up specific words you want to learn. Some baby signs can be different then the actual language ASL. You can either purchase the Signing Time DVD's or see if you local library has a "Share" program. My local library shares with all of the surrounding libraries so, if they do not have something another may and can request the dvd's your looking for. It is really awesome that more and more moms are using sign as a tool for early communication. I'm hearing and so is my DH. It helped our son make a connection to speach early on. Your an awesome mom, and I bet you will see less tantrums later on then your friends that do not use sign with their children.

I used sign language with both of my boys. Each one I started with very small signs like "more" and "eat" and "drink" and "please" and "thank you". We moved on to naming the things he liked to eat and drink, then toys, things around the house, etc. Don't forget the "all done" sign! I found that it seriously cut frustrations when he was very little. I started signing at about 4 or 5 months and they started signing back at about 10 months or so. Repetition... repetition... repetition... Instead of grabbing things... "Do you want this? ...this? ...this? Are you all done? ... or do you want more?" Oh man, that could go on forever! With simple signs, they could tell me exactly (more or less) what they wanted.

I was given some "baby sign" books, but found the most help with an American Sign Language dictionary and adapting them to our needs. It's fun to sing the ABCs with the signs for them, too. My guys still like it when I do that. They are 3 and 6 years old, and fully hearing children. Except when Spongebob is on. Then they don't hear anything else. ;)

Remember that children use their own version of sign language whether you prompt them or not. You can easily move past the "point and grunt" phase to actual communication between parent and child. It's wonderful. Children can communicate well before they speak... when my guys started talking, they already knew the protocol of saying please and thank you. They did it with signs and then they did it with words. Pretty cool.

Best of luck to you. ~J

There are several books and programs out that you can learn some simple signs to start with, like "more" and "finished" and "Please" and "Thank you". I bought "Sign with your baby" used it until she could talk, and then we added more signs for fun and found that Signing Time video series at our library. She's almost 10 now, but I remember it helping her to communicate and develop speech (because you always say the word as well as sign, and the baby can make the appoximate sign before they can make the sounds). She may even be bi-lingual! Go for it!

The best way to begin is to pick up just a few signs that your baby will enjoy (mama, more, milk, daddy....) and sign them consistently with your baby. For example, when you feed her, tell her "this milk is good" and sign milk at the same time, so she can make the connection between the object, the word and the sign (don't sign milk out of context, she would not understand. She sees milk, hears "milk" and sees the sign all together).

Even though your library doesn't have much, you may find some baby signing time DVDs there. We used them to teach my children and I highly recommend them (my son learned signs, as well as English, sharing, saying please, thank you, sorry...thanks to Rachel Coleman)

In last resort, YouTube has some Signing Time clips too.

Hi, E.,

I am a signing instructor with the Signing Time Academy and I applaud you for wanting to start signing with your little one. You will not regret it! The moms here have given you some excellent advice....Yay, Mamapedia Moms! There is a website that is devoted to signing with babies that you can get lots of free info at. It also has an interactive video dictionary containing hundreds of words. The website is:
http://www.baby-sign-language-academy.com

Good luck on your journey and Happy Signing!

signing is wonderful! Baby will be able to communicate with you long before she is able to speak from her mouth, which is so great for both of you! A friend of mine let me borrow a DVD called My First Fun Signs; http://whatsababysay.com/products.html. (check out the starter kit) I started around 7 months (about the recommended age) and about a month later I witnessed the first sign, Dog! It was SO cute! We aren't into TV either, but the DVD is very cute and simple, my daughter loved it. Just be very consistent and she will be talking with her hands in no time!