Are there any moms out there who taught their babies sign language? I heard that moms were teaching their babies sign language but I really didn't understand why. The facilitator at our play group yesterday explained that it really helps the little ones express what they want and cuts down on the frustration. We learned three signs yesterday: milk, more and eat. Most of the 11 month olds in the group were already signing. She suggested that once your baby starts to point they are ready to learn signing. Is anyone signing with their babes?

By Lauram on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 03:12 pm:

My son learns it at daycare. He is also very verbal though, so he never needed it to express himself. For him it's like learning another language. I think it's great. He teaches me signs all the time!

By Pixie on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 03:15 pm:

My daughter learned some in Physical Therapy - I'm terrible because we did it so much at first and it was one of those things that just faded away. I do wish we had kept with it. I think its great.

By Boxzgrl on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 03:37 pm:

An old member here Tracie (*newbabysarah* for those who remember) taught her DD sign language. She said it was quite easy to learn and her DD caught on fast. I've contemplated it with DD but that would mean i'd have to learn it too and thats a lot on my plate right now. I plan on her starting to learn a foreign language once she is in preschool.

By Pamt on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 03:54 pm:

I'm a speech therapist and I use it to jump start kids who aren't talking at age 18-24 months and also with younger children with a dx that includes language delays such as Down syndrome and autism. However, once the child begins talking I drop off the sign language and we focus more on verbalization. Of course it's easier for a normally developing child to learn a 2nd language at this stage, but how many words they know will be divided over both languages. For example, a typical one year old may have a vocabulary of about 5 words. If he is signing and speaking, he may have 3 words and 2 signs. At preschool age this will all even out, but initially vocabulary development will be spread over the 2 languages. That's neither good nor bad, just something to be aware of. And...that's why I drop signing once my kids start verbalizing. They're going to have a hard enough time mastering one language and I don't want to confuse the issue.

Typically I use signs like "more, ball, all gone (finished), eat, drink, baby, dog, cat, candy, please, thank you" when I am working with speech-delayed infants and toddlers.

By Kaye on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 05:35 pm:

There is a book called baby signs. I used it with my youngest two. I got it because my middle kid didn't speak until later and he was so frustrated. He loved it, it was great, easy and so nice to know what he wanted when I had no clue what he was saying (he did 2 years of speech later). My youngest learned it, we showed him the same signs, but since he was verbal he didn't care about it too much. His words were effective. Having babies communicate does help, but I don't think it is a huge neccesity. On a side note have you seen "meet the fockers" that baby signs

By Emdee on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 05:38 pm:

We started sign language with our dd at about 10-11 months old; she is now 20 months. It worked better than I even thought it would. We started with things like milk, water, more, all done, please, thank you. Everytime we would say the word we would also sign it to her. At first it took a while for her to try the signs, and of course, they are all her version of what she saw (so someone who knows signs may not understand her!). But once she caught on, I could teach her a sign once, repeat it throughout the day, and by the end of the day she had it down! Even if she didn't use it for a while (like "I am sorry"), she somehow always managed to remember it! Their minds are amazing. Her verbal skills, IMO, are a little behind other kids, so it has helped even now! We encourage talking, but she still signs to us. She has started saying and signing some words at the same time, like please and thank you and all done. It also taught her manners from an early age. Before she would have been able to say please, thank you, and yes mam, she could sign. Now when she asks for something it is usually preceded by a please and alot of the times she will say thank you, all without us having to encourage her to say it, although we still have to at times. She also says yes mam and yes sir to us when we ask her to mind; it has helped in discipline, b/c when she says yes mam to me if I ask her to mind then she will mind. If she is not behaving me, then she won't say yes mam and will continue with the behavior (which leads to time out or something like that). But if I can get her to say yes mam when I ask her something then she almost always minds. We really don't have disciplinary problems with her--she really minds most of what we ask her to do, which is great for an almost 2 year old. I think alot has to do with her communicating with us!! There are books available that show the signs for babies--they are really easy to learn and really I have had no trouble remembering what I am teaching her. I have really enjoyed it and will definitely start this with our new little onw! By the way, it also is useful when you are in a quiet (or loud) place and need to communicate with them.

By Hlgmom on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 10:00 pm:

I use it with my dd- she is 14 months. It is really helpful. I find that with the words that she does sign the verbalization follows shortly after. Our first was "all finished". I used this one to help during meals- it was much more enjoyable to see the sign than for her to hurl things from her highchair!
Now she uses it in relation to be being finished with anything.
Most of the research I did on it say that it can hel pto stimulate verbal skills as well. One of my original concerns was that it would slow down her talking- that has not been the case so far. It definetely helps to reduce frustration- you can see how excited she gets when I understand the sign and what she is asking for!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 07:01 am:

I didn't really set out to teach Sarah signs, but she figured one out for herself. If she was thirsty, she put her finger on her tongue! That worked for me!

By Unschoolmom on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 08:46 am:

Same thing here Dawn. Harry had his own signals (or he'd just go to the fridge and get the milk!) and I just watched him and learned. I'm betting most babies have teir own methods of communicating and it's just up to us to observe and learn them?

By Kittycat_26 on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 10:07 am:

Timmy learned a little sign language at daycare. At 2 1/2 he still uses thank you but that's about it. Now he just says what he wants but that few words he knew were a life saver until he started talking clearly.

Cuts way down on that frustration factor.