Baby Sign Language

I was wondering if anyone uses baby sign language with their little ones. If so, did you find it worth the time to teach them? Also, when did you start teaching them signs? Also would appreciate any suggestions for good books/DVDs/websites on the topic. Thank you!

 

Although I don't have any suggestions for material (I've been doing infant signing in classrooms for so long I do it from memory) I would say GO FOR IT!! I started with my own children and students at about 6mos of age, showing them the sign, helping them do the sign and saying the word when appropiate. I think any media that has the basics, and is user friendly should work, it's not complicated. It helped later when it was discovered that one of my boys had a speech delay because his speech therapist was able to get an idea of his speech habits by signing with him (he is now 2) You should try it!! :youcandoit:

 

It is definitely worth it. We started with Sidney as soon as she could focus, and now, at 7 months, she's starting to make definite, purposeful hand movements approximating milk and diaper. Here's one link. I also have the book (at the end of video) and the Baby Einstein DVD. We use milk, diaper, bath, up, cereal...you know, important things like that!

 

I thought it was definitely worth it. Aside from the fact that they look adorable signing, it was amazing to be able to understand them so easily before they learned to speak. My kids picked up the food related signs very quickly and would tell me when they were hungry and even ask for a banana or goldfish by signing They told me when they were sleepy, they signed different animals and play items (cat, dog, ball, bubbles, swing, and book were VERY popular). I was amazed at how much they were able to communicate, and I really think it encouraged them to be eager to try to talk - once they saw that we understood and RESPONDED to their requests, they worked harder at expressing themselves and even came up with their own signs for things.

I used baby sign books that I found at Burlington Coat Factory on sale for $2. They are neat little books with fold out pee-a-boo flaps on each page where it shows the sign and then you lift up to see the picture of the word. They came with DVDs, but I barely ever used them because I tried not to let them watch TV when they were that small. They watched them a few times when they were sick when I was trying to keep them still to rest. It was good for me to watch them, though, because they showed a lot of kids signing so I could see how the signs can vary - you don't have to worry about whether or not they get it perfect, just that you are responding to the sign they are trying to make.

Good luck if you decide to try it!!

 

I definitely think it's worth it-and we only knew about three or four signs! But it was totally awesome! If I knew how to sign, I would have done more, and I most certainly wasn't diligent about it. I did it a few times here or there-and it was "more." Imagine my surprise when one of my boys signed it back to me!!! I was floored! It's never too early. And if you do big ones-like "more" "milk" "please" "thank you"-it will be amazing at what they will be able to communicate to you!

Give it a shot!

 

At what age would you start this?

 

YES!! I am 100% for baby signing. We ended up having a dd who went through speech therapy and the signs really saved us because at least she could communicate certain important things to us. I started right around six months with them. But once you start, you need to be consistent and do it all the time in order for them to catch on. I never read any books or watched DVD's. I wrote down a list of words I wanted to teach them, then went to THIS SITE that shows a quick video snippet of how to do it. It worked very well for us!!!

 

I'm a speech therapist and use baby sign all of the time with my girls and young clients. Start now and be as consistent as possible. You will be the most successful if you use signs during your regular routine.. for instance.. right before you give your LO's a bottle, you could sign "milk" or "eat." They will get the idea very quickly.. they probably won't sign back until they have the small/gross motor control to do it, but their receptive understanding will grow very quickly. The videos I have had the most success with are the "signing time" videos. Good luck!

 

Yep, you can start at anytime. I think around 8 months (with consistency prior) is when people most say that they start signing!

 

yes! Our library had several options there for checking out for free! love that!

anyway our favorites were/are!

Eat, More, Milk, Please, Thank you, Sorry

its so cute to see the kids still do some signs even though they can talk now.

Please was a HUGE hit with our twins, it kinda ended up being a "I want" sign.

anyway, it really helps them to communicate with you, so go for it!

 

We started around 5-6 months. So far we have only done "milk" and "eat" before and during bottles and baby food feedings. It is so worth for just those few little things.

When they get fussy around feeding time now, I sign "milk" to them and they get all excited. They are finally starting to sign "milk" on their own just this week!