Signing with Baby - Opinions?

I used a simple baby sign language book (from Borders Kids I think) with my daughter and it was a saving grace for both of us. She learned book, drink, eat, ball and various other words. Also know that it did not impead on her speach at all, in fact I do believe it gave her a jump start because now she will NOT stop talking. Gee. What did I do??1! LOL

I sign with my daughter. She is now 18 months and has a huge vocabulary. Some of my friends who did sign language said that their kids were delayed a little bit, but once they did start talking they caught up really quickly. I think the key is to say the words whenever you are doing the sign. I hope you'll do it...we LOVE it!

Signing did not delay speech at all for my daughter, in fact, I think it made her even more verbal. We started signing with her around 6 months and by 14-15 months she had built quite a vocabulary! I took a class with her once a week last fall at a nearby maternity/mother center and received a ton of materials like books, videos, and cards that I was able to use with her at home. Check out "baby signs" on the internet and see what comes up, since a lot of the baby signs used with kids are different from American Sign Language. She is now just about two and speaks in small sentences that we can usually understand! She let go of the signing as she became more verbal and more confident in her ability to communicate. I am having our second baby tomorrow and I plan to use this with her even earlier than with my oldest! Good luck!

I have taught my children a few signs to use in church etc.. to avoid having to speak to them when it needs to be quiet. I think its a great idea and helps expand their knowledge. Just remember, if you teach signs to your children and use them often, that they might use them with other family members like grandparents and others so you'll need to educate your family on the signs they use often and are familiar with. Nothing like having poor grandma babysit and not understand what your child is asking for.

I sang with my daughter and we did little signs and she HASN'T STOPPED talking LoL... But its sumthin that is up to u sumthin taht u want to do u talk to them all the time then they will learn My daugter was talkin b4 my neice that is 6 months older than mine .. Jaz is goin to be 4 on june 12 and my niece is 4 1/2 and she still is a little slower than my daughter and I think that has to do with my sister not talkin to her all the time... I love to sing with my daughter to this day and i started with my Nephew now .. Have fun Good luck

Hi K.,

We signed with our son and he is very advanced in his verbal communication. By his 2nd birthday he was speaking in 6-7 word sentances linked into paragraphs. Everyone is amazed with his speaking. We loved signing with him and it completely eliminated his frustrations around the 1 year mark. We started at birth with him and he was signing by 6 months.

Keep researching...there are a lot of studies that will show you the benefits of signing with hearing children.
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In 1987, Garcia began to research the use of Amercian Sign Language with hearing babies who are exposed to signs regularly and consistently at six to seven months of age can begin expressive communication by their eighth or ninth month.

Drs. Linda acredolo and Susan Goodwyn conducted a longitudinal study funded by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development. The study showed that signing babies understood more words, had larger vocabularies and engaged in more sophisticated play than non-signing babies. Parents of the signing babies in the study noted decreased frustration, increased communication, and enriched parent-infant bonding. Signing babies also displayed an increased interest in books (Moore et al, 2001).

They revisited the families in the original study when the children were seven and eight years old. The children who signed as babies had a mean IQ of 114 compared to the non-signing control group's mean of 102 (Acredolo and Goodwyn, 2000).

Signing is fun with baby!! In my experience, we sign and speak. (well, I did all the speaking in the beginning!) My daughter picked up signing very quickly, as well as speach. She started speaking in sentences around 18 months. Keep going with it. It's great fun!!

I signed with my son because of a speech delay a nd it was great.. The Beverly School for the Deaf teaches classes all the time or you can just use key words and go to www.americansignlanguage.com site and they show you how to do the signs by word or phrase.. I was afraid that it would inhibit his speech, but it didn't.. the research shows it actually helps with speech development. do it, it's cool..not to mention that later , you can get a point across to her from across the room without screaming it and letting the rest of the room know whats' going on.. LIke saying "don't do that" or "come here" ... good luck

We tought all 4 of our children to sign - there were no speech delays due to signing and it was one of the best things we ever did. Your infant can communicate with you and tell you what she wants - instead of her crying and you trying to figure it out. Our children just learned the basics - more, please, food, juice, thank you, love you, milk, etc. Enough to get us by until they could talk.

Hope this helps.

Hi K., I am so excited that you are concidering signing with your baby! I have been signing with babies for about 6 years now (5 different kids) and I have had wonderful results. The children are happier and more content because they can communicate their basic needs and are not so frustrated! I have not found it to cause a delay in language development at all, in fact it has actually encouraged language because they are taught together. All of the babies talked early; my daughter is only 13 months old and speaks 13 words. However, not all children start talking at the same time and it is very normal to have variations. I always sign and say the word so the child learns both and once I know the child knows the word I don't just give them what they ask for by grunting or pointing- if I do,they will soon learn they don't have to use their words to get what they want. I started showing them the word and sign at about 6 months with all the children, though they couldn't sign themselves until about 8 months- they could understand and communicate through their expression. Also showing them early helps them make the connection between the visual sign, the sound, and the object/person/action. I stuck with the basics- please, more, thank you, all done, sorry, drink, eat, Mother, Father, sleep, sit, no. I do know some people that get more specific then that but I found these to be enough for them to get by. I hope you enjoy communicating with your little one as much as I have with mine! It is really amazing how much they understand!! They are so smart.
God Bless,
D.

I think signing is awesome!! I did it with my 2nd and third son (now 4 and 2) and it was so helpful. It in no way delayed their speech. If anything it helped them understand how language works so they could communicate with us. My husband and I took a babysigns course. Sometimes they offer them through Gymboree. It helps you know which are the best signs to start with. My youngest was telling me about airplanes and cars before he could talk and he was able to tell me he wanted more of something. He could also say please and drink. It reduced the crying exponentially!! Good luck!!

I signed with my son when he was an infant, but we kept it to simple things like "eat" & "more". It was great to be able to communicate with him when he was so young. However, when he began to speak, these 2 words were the last ones he said. I always said the word when I signed it, but my sone wasn't interested in using any word he could sign.

K.,

I didn't use it on my son because my neice was taught signing and she is not 20 months old and doesn't really speak. She says like 3 words and that is it. Hope this helps!

A.

My son has speech delay, and we've started to use signing as well. My DT told us to use the signing along with using the word that way he gets both because the signing isn't there to replace speech. We've just started using it with him, however, I have a friend that used signing with her daughter, and she seemed to get to talking really quickly. I don't know if I necessarily agree with the statement you got from your childcare provider. Was she able to give you any resources showing this was proven? Signing is becoming more and more popular and seems to be working fairly well.

Hi,
I am now a stay at home mom but used to be a Special Needs teacher. I too have heard/read that teaching a baby to sign may delay speech...but only up to a point. Babies who are taught to sign are supposed to "catch up" to their non signing peers in verbal skills by age 3. The thinking is that by signing and getting their needs met that way they don't have to learn how to speak to get their needs met. But in the long run they do learn that speaking gets their needs met sooner. That being said, my daughter (first born) began speaking at 8 months, in small sentences by 12 months and full out conversations by 18 months. My son (second in line to the throne) did not start speaking until his first birthday and then only a few words here and there. He is 17 months now and still no where close to sentences. I didn't teach signing to either of them. So every child is different. Hope this helps!

Hi K..

I'm going to be signing with my daughter. I'm actually starting her off earlier than suggested in the reading. She is going to be 5 months old this week. The studies actually suggest that vocabulary will be increased using sign pre-speech. Day care may have a self serving purpose in suggesting a negative outcome as they may not be willing to help reinforce your childs learning while they are acting as the primary care givers. My best suggestion would be to discuss it with your pediatrician and see if he has heard of any speech delaying outcomes. Chances are, your pediatrician will be up to date on the latest reseach articles from trade publications. My baby doc loves the idea.
A little about me...My name is A.. I have one child - 5 mo old girl. I am currently a stay-at-home mom, but am looking to reenter the work force full time in the next month or two. My husband and I will try to work opposite hours so that we do not have to use day care.

Hope this helps.

I have been signing a little bit with my 10 month old son. Every sign is accompanied by the spoken word, so he hears and sees. A friend of mine has a son who was diagnosed with autism, and the only way he communicates is with signing, he was taught as an infant. I personally don't feel that there are any drawbacks to signing.