baby sign language

at what age can i begin 'signing' with my kids? has anyone else tried this and had success?

 

I was wondering about this too!

 

I was wondering the same thing! I also hear there are some good sign language DVDs for babies. Not sure what they are called but when I find out I'm thinking about putting them on the boys' Christmas list since they'll be around 6 months old then.

 

My husband got us a Baby Signing Time Video - www.babysigningtime.com....the babies love it and the songs are really catchy! We have started to do simple signs, like more, all-done, milk, eat, mama, daddy, etc. From what I understand and read, they probably won't respond until closer to a year old, but we are just practicing! Right now the babies just laugh at me when I help them to do certain signs...they think I am hilarious! I wonder how long that will last?! hee hee

 

my sister-in-law started using sign with her son when he was almost 1, the only problem I found he had was he would only sign and he didn't actually start to talk until he was 2 1/2, but ever child is differen.

 

I started at about 9 months with my older DD. She picked it up very quickly. I think it actually alleviated alot of temper tantrums due to not being able to communicate her wants and needs. And she talked early. I did a few signs with the boys at about 10 months or so and just never kept up with it.

 

I started w/ ds4 when he was about 3 months. I would sign milk, more, and all done each time I fed him. I added in pee, poop and change when I did his diapers at 6 months. By 8 months he was signing all of these on his own so we just kept adding new ones. By a year he was able to verbally say most of the words we had been signing. I can't wait to do it with the girls.

 

I started with "more" at 10 months and they finally started doing it consistently at a year. I then did some other signs, about one a week. I agree with Rachael, it really helped alleviate tantrums. "help" was the most helpful word for Jake as he would just scream at the top of his lungs until he learned this. Now the boys sign and say the word. I only taught them about 10 words and it was really all we needed.

 

You can start any time; 6-8 months is a good time frame. It will probably be a few months before they catch on. Although one of my sons caught on to "milk" in less than a week. (I started doing "milk" and "more" when they were about 7.5 months.

 

Sorry for butting in- Do you sign regular sign language or something different for babies?

 

What we do is ASL, not anything special for babies... but there are baby designed dvds to help capture their attention. We love the Signing Time ones. I wish I'd started earlier... closer to 6 months or before.

I do it randomly, and haven't put in a dvd in a long time. But ours are really picking lots up. they started picking up and showing us signs closer to 10-12 months.... mind you they don't do it like they "should"... but if you notice, you'll see they are imitating it! and the Signing Time dvd shows how multiple children do it, so it helps you to figure it out! ours do dog, cat, just started duck/bird, more, eat, milk, dad. I think they do mom, but how they do it it looks like eat... so who knows! I've also started requesting them to sign please if they want more food... and more..

anyway, go for it!