Baby Sign Language

O.k. for those of you who teach your babies to sign...Do you use lots of signs at the same time or just use one a lot until they get it before you start adding another one. I'm just not sure which one would be the most helpful first or which ones they will catch on to the most quickly.

 

I started with one (more) and once they got that I did "milk". They picked up on that pretty quickly. I pretty much waited until they learned one before teaching a new one. It was hard enough for me to remember to do the signing all the time with just one word!

 

QUOTE(mommymeg @ Jan 24 2009, 10:38 AM) [snapback]1160306[/snapback]
I started with one (more) and once they got that I did "milk". They picked up on that pretty quickly. I pretty much waited until they learned one before teaching a new one. It was hard enough for me to remember to do the signing all the time with just one word!


Yup! I haven't taught them a whole ton of signs, but more is their favorite. They really pick up on food related signs, lol!

Someone also said that "no" is a really convenient sign. You can say no in public without making a big deal out of it, or can say no calmly at home without it being a huge deal. I use it a lot, but they don't sign it back to me.

And animal signs for fun. Just a couple so far. Okay, mainly just "dog." When there's a dog around, Elanor will slap her thigh (one sign for dog) while saying dog (really sounds more like "doh!"), and clap her hands furiously (her sign for more). She adores dogs!

 

We started out with one sign at a time milk, more, and then eat and then after they had those down we happened accross the baby signing time videos. They love love love watching them and it was like an explosion of signing happened, they started picking up a few signs with us reinforcing them and now they are picking up signs just from the video and teaching them to us. Now we do signs for just about every word we know and its amazing how quickly they pick them up.

 

We started with a few at a time but once they got the hang of signing, it only took a few times of showing it for them to get it. The first sign they got was more & then eat. Daycare taught them hat & baby...I was only intending on teaching them signs that would help with communication frustration stuff. I also ditto Baby Signing Times (we accidentally got Signing Times Vol 1 & 2 first but those were ok too)....they picked up a lot of those signs just by watching the DVDs & I got a few mins break while they were enthralled. We haven't taught a new sign in a long time, but if we do, the next signs will be hot, cold, & hurt. Help has been heavensent since a lot of frustration comes from not being able to do something, so I find it super cute when they stop...sign help please...and then look at us like, "Well, come on". A lot of my friends love how well my boys communicate with their signs but it is slightly incovenient for people who don't know the signs. We have to give grandparents, baby sitters, & daycare a crash course of any new ones they come up with!

GL!

 

I did three at a time. I think the first three were milk, more, and mom. Once they got those, I introduced three more. Once they had five or six, we started watching Signing Times (the regular ones, not the Baby ones). By then, they picked up signs really quickly and they probabably have 30
]\ or 40 signS. \\\\\\\;]9


(sorry - two toddlers are helping me type)\

 

Ditto to all the PP's -- don't start with more than two or three important ones. For us, those were "more" and "all done" and "drink" -- it was most helpful for me to know if they wanted more to eat, or if they were finished, or if they wanted a drink -- it made mealtimes so much easier!

 

We started at 10 months. They started watching Baby Signing Time DVDs. It kept their interest. Then we would sign to them a few signs at eating time - milk, more, eat. And, within a week my ds started signing "milk" and my dd signed "more" shortly after. Signing is definitely one of the best things we did with our kids when they were young. We didn't know how to sign before then, but learned how and grandparents learned too. We all thought it was great! Have fun. HTH.

 

At first, I just did a couple signs, like "more" and "all done". That's all I knew. Once I learned more (which happened when we got the signing time videos) I used the signs I knew everytime I said a word. That seemed to work well for the kids and they picked up the signs pretty quickly. It's just like any other language and the more the use it the more fluent they become.

 

I just want to make a little side note that teaching "all done" early on has proven to be VERY helpful in our house. My boys used to throw their food when they were done & it drove me NUTS! Once we taught them to SIGN all done & hand us their plates, the throwing stopped! I can't tell you the amt of people who comment on how 'clean' my boys are at meals since no food is flying around!!!!! I think our family was cringing at Christmas dinners b/c of the 'decorating' the boys did with Thanksgiving dinner, only to be shocked at their "all done". Granted, if we don't get their plate quick enough, it's dumped, but "all done" is up there with "more, drink, & help" in my book of favorite signs!