Baby sign language?

Is anyone using baby sign language with their twins? If so, at what age did you start? Does it appear that your babies have caught on? Have they signed anything back, and at what age?

I started about a month ago and think maybe there's a glimmer of recognition in my girls' eyes when I sign (and say) cat -- they ADORE our cat -- but I'm not really sure.

Oh, what signs do you use? So far we're trying cat, drink, eat, more, car, sleep, play, and change diaper

 

I've been trying off and on. Lately I've been using the sign for mommy, daddy, eat, drink, milk and "all done" more oftan and try to at every meal. I just bought the Baby Einsteins First Signs DVD to show me the signs. They haven't signed anything back yet BUT get a huge kick when they see me doing it. It gets giggles everytime At least I'm entertaining them

 

We started around 8 months with my older DD -- and it took her until 13 months or so to start signing back. But once she got going, she could eventually sign whole sentences to us -- if she saw my DH walk into the bathroom, for example, she would sign "daddy" and "potty" and "wash hands."

We were so glad we did this, because she didn't say any words until almost age 2. (Now she doesn't stop talking for a minute, though.)

I highly recommend the Signing Times DVD's! The first one is basic and sort of boring (but interesting for babies, I think), but the rest of them are terrific and have great songs. I've learned a lot, too!

 

We started t 6 months with my DD and she started signing back at 8 months. She had over 60 signs by her first birthday.

One thing that helps is just start with one sign. Once they get it and sign it back, introduce another. Soon they will understand what you are doing, and will pick them up faster and faster!

 

We started ASL at about 9 months and they were about 11-12 months when they REALLY started to grasp it and sign back. They LOVED learning it (still do) and they still sign a LOT. We can actually have little sign language conversations from across the room...even discipline! LOL We used the Signing Time videos and picked up a few other signs here and there.

We started with milk, more and eat and once they caught onto the concept, we pretty much signed any and every sign we knew and they signed right along with us!

Actually, sometimes I catch them making up signs. Tony has a sign for flush, Ethan made up a sign for warm (i guess he forgot the real sign?), etc...

 

Hi,

A friend of mine has ID boys she started using sign with about 10 months old. One of them caught on after a little while and the other took a while longer. Her boys were born at 32 weeks, so they would have been 8 months adjusted age.

 

We've started signing with the babies - eat, more, cheerios (their favorite food), all done... They watch very closely when we do it, but haven't started signing back yet. (Not expecting it this early, of course!) We read the Baby Signs book.

Trish, I ought to do the cat sign with our babies too - they are in LOOOOOVE with our cats! (Too bad the feeling isn't mutual! :lol: )

 

QUOTE(Trishandthegirls @ Jan 3 2008, 08:01 PM) [snapback]556523[/snapback]
Is anyone using baby sign language with their twins? If so, at what age did you start? Does it appear that your babies have caught on? Have they signed anything back, and at what age?

I started about a month ago and think maybe there's a glimmer of recognition in my girls' eyes when I sign (and say) cat -- they ADORE our cat -- but I'm not really sure.

Oh, what signs do you use? So far we're trying cat, drink, eat, more, car, sleep, play, and change diaper


We started when they were newborns, they started signing around 11 months and now at 15 months they sign pretty consistently about 15 words... Go, milk, cat, dog, car, vegetable, fruit, eat, more, drink, up, bath, book, hurry, diaper and I can't remember what else... They recognized the signs long before they started signing back.

 

We started when they came home from the hospital (about 8 weeks). Zoey started signing milk at 6 months. She pretty much quit crying for milk at that time since she signed it and we responded. One night I was so tired that I had her in bed with me. She was moving around so I woke up and saw her hand in the air signing milk. It was so sweet. We then taught them more, eat, drink, please and thank you. They know more signs now (23 months) and use them as they use their words. Or use the signs when their mouths are full of food and they can't talk!

 

We found out in September that our 2 and a half year old son Spencer has moderate hearing loss in both ears. He now wears hearing aids. Our twins are now 16 months old. We have been teaching him and his sisters Kiera and Katie to sign. ASL is what is what we want them to learn. We are really careful to show them the videos that are ASL. For those of you who may not know ASL is American Sign Language. It is a little different in how you sign things than signed exact English or SEE. We really recommend the Signing Times Videos and the Hearing and Speech Center that we get services through uses these videos in their library. It is so fun to watch all of them talk and sign. We have only been doing this since September and They are really catching on. it is fun for them. and if I do not understand what one of them has said and they sign it I know what to do for them. They say quite a bit. They sign milk, cheese, baby, mommy, daddy, movie, play, cookie, motorcycle, I don't know why my daughter likes that one so much we don't have one. They sign eat, cat, read, cold, book, go, stop, cereal, dog, fish crackers, Banana, ice cream, apples, apple juice and many more. Due to my sons hearing we want to give him the best possible start we can so we really spend a lot of time on this. Most parents do not have quite the same need that we do. We take a sign class and during the class the kids are in a play group with one on one adults who also sign the entire time they are with the kids and we also have a teacher come out to our house who teaches my husband and I how to work on this with our kids. I try to sign all the time but I am not that good yet. It really has helped everyone in our family how to communicate better. When Spence has his aids on he can hear us so it is no necessary to sign but maybe in the future it might be and I want us to be able to sign. Also in case you wondered It does not confuse kids to be learning sign or make them not want to talk. It just gives them another way and also this young is when kids learn other languages so well and It helps with future learning and understanding other people as well. I saw someone say that they have conversations in public and even some discipline It is much nicer to show a sign than to yell when your temper is tested. Stop and no can be just as effective in sign and sound nicer with out the loud voice. I think it is great and would do it even if we did not need it. Good Job all of you. When Your kids go to school and have a friend who has hearing problems they will be able to talk with them. Again Signing Times Videos are great. PS If anyone knows how to make the lilypie avatar thing work help. I do not know how to make it work. Thanks again and Good Job

 

QUOTE(Trishandthegirls @ Jan 3 2008, 05:01 PM) [snapback]556523[/snapback]
Is anyone using baby sign language with their twins? If so, at what age did you start? Does it appear that your babies have caught on? Have they signed anything back, and at what age?

I started about a month ago and think maybe there's a glimmer of recognition in my girls' eyes when I sign (and say) cat -- they ADORE our cat -- but I'm not really sure.

Oh, what signs do you use? So far we're trying cat, drink, eat, more, car, sleep, play, and change diaper



Sorry, didn't read other responses.

we started with Signing Time at 10m. They started signing consistently at 14m (but loved the learning part and were FASCINATED with it before they could actually produce it).

Now at 21m, they are picking up (and instantly using) signs WAY faster than I can.

Their first signs were: milk, more, Dad, eat, cat, sleep. they now have so many I couldn't begin to list (or remember them).

 

I started signing with our girls at around 10 or 11 months. They caught on quickly and at about 18 months we bought the Baby Einsteins "First Signs" video. They went nuts over it and within a month knew almost every sign on the video. I think, as far as my girls are concerned, it really helped develop their speech. They rarely spoke or interacted with us at all until we began signing and they began speaking everytime they would sign. And soon their speech just took off. The words they sign have much better pronunciation than those words they say in which they do not know the signs. It is also a fun way to interact with them. It has become sort of a challenge to me to teach them the alphabet in sign language. They will constantly look at people's hands now when they speak because they have been so accustomed to us trying to sign different words to them. When they play with their fridge letters they will sign the letters that they know. It is pretty cool, I think.