For those who use sign language

We've been signing since they were about 11 months old. (They're now 18 months.) DD catches on just by watching the videos. Sometimes I learn the sign from her only after she's seen it on the video. DS is another story. He watches the video but never practices what he sees from it. I have to show him, show him, show him and show him again. And he really doesn't care much for the whole signing thing. He might do it every now and then, but only a small fraction of what his sister does....and never without prompting and begging from me. She does about 40 signs. He does 4. What's typical at this age for learning and using? How do yours catch on?

 

I'm curious to see the results from other posters, too.

We just finally started trying some signs in the past month or so. We got the first two volumes of Signing Time, and they sit and watch for awhile, but then they get bored. Mostly they just like the songs. They definitely aren't learning the signs directly from the video because they aren't paying enough attention to the video. Mostly it's for DH and me to learn the signs, and then we've just started using them in our daily lives. Whenever we say the word that we also know a sign to, we also sign it. And we still put the video on regularly, because I figure it reinforces it for them, what parts of it they do watch, and also refreshes the signs for DH and me. And if they do start to get into signing, then I figure they'll be used to the video so maybe they'll get more from later volumes when they're older.

I'm guessing it's been maybe three weeks since we started using some signs consistently, and they have just within the past few days started signing 'milk.' I think they're picking up on that one first because we probably use it the most often.

 

I am a deaf Mom to my twins who are hearing. They both didn't learn any signs until they were about 12 months old (but I've been trying to teach them since 6 mos old). I teach them one word at a time "milk", "more", or "all done". They LOVE watching Baby Signing Time Vol. 1 and 2 but they still didn't learn signs quickly. It took a while for my twins to sign "dog" or "cat". I highly recommend to get the DVD. Some babies do well in earlier stage on most average at 9 mos and some do it better after 12 mos. It depends on how much they can pick up w/their development milestones.

D, w/Rianna and Justin (18 mos)

 

I started at the very beginning signing the more common baby first words - mom, dad, brother, drink, milk, more, eat etc They were signing before a year more, eat and please. At 18 months, I couldn't even count the words they both sign... and DS doesn't talk really at all so he signs more than DD.

 

We started at about 11m and they understood what signs WE were using very quickly as they recognized them from the videos (Signing Time). By 14m they each had about 10 signs. At 18m they had probably 50 signs. I no longer keep track (~150?). They pick them up WAY faster than DH and I (we're always looking at each other for sign-interpretation help, LOL). Also, now that their speech is developing at light speed, they have relaxed a bit with some of the signs (but still LOVE the DVDs). They call pajamas "sleep clothes" like they do in the DVD, but no longer bother with the sign. However, if I were to sign "Sleep Clothes" they would know exactly what I was talking about. Hope that makes sense.

Signing was great for us b/c their speech didn't really take off until 21m. It was so nice to have a way to communicate with one another instead of having to interpret how many different things 'da could possibly mean.

I wouldn't worry about their differences in picking it up. Girls do tend to take to language more quickly than boys...perhaps it is just a reflection of that? It's so hard not to compare twins, but remember, they are different kids.

 

I've been signing with them since they were 10 months and they only have "more" They use it for everything! Even if they didn't get anything yet. They will spontaneously come up to me and sign more and I have no idea what they want. Noah just started saying cracker and will imitate some other words but that's it. Aiden doesn't imitate anything..Obviously due to this EI is coming in to work with them. As I read these other posts I'm so worried that they don't sign more than they do.

 

We started using signs around 4 months. At 6 months, Zoey was signing milk. We stuck with practical words (eat, drink, more, milk, apple, all done) and manners (please and thank you). They were a little speech delayed so it helped at 12 months. They are now 2 and will sign when their mouths are full or if they really want something and we aren't responding to their words. We didn't let them watch TV until 22 months so they didn't watch the videos until then and they have now picked up dog, hat, cat, duck. We just signed everytime we talked to them.

 

We started at 10 months and my kids started sigining within the first 1-2 weeks. After that, it picked up after they turned 1. At 18 months, they were both sigining like your DD. My kids seemed to have seen the benefit in it because they would sign to each other and even to other kids they would meet that didn't know how to sign. Now that they talk fluently, they rarely sign. Not sure why your DS isn't into signing. For us, my DS likes milk. Once he knew that he could sign for it and get it, I think it was an answer to prayer for him. Wishing you all the best...Signing was wonderful for us.

 

We have been signing since about 12 months as well. My girls will now catch on to just about any new sign I give them. They have difficulty forming their hands to make the signs for the alphabet, but are improving all the time. Allison knows the entire alphabet when I sign it and can form many of the letters herself. Sarah is very close behind her. They, too, have many signs that they know and I think it has dramatically improved their speech. I started signing because they just weren't talking much to us at all. After we started signing, they took off with their speech.

 

We started at 8 months and they were signing full force around 12-13 months. They have now dropped most signs since they have words, but still hang on to a few for emphasis, like "more" - they will sign and say the word at the same time.

 

We never used the videos. We picked up signing through E/I. When speach really took off, the signing slowed and they only use a few now. They still sign please and thank you, more, drink and eat. These were the signs we focused on in the beginning and used the most consisitently. When the little boy I babysit on occasion is here, they sign much more. He depends on signing to communicate and it is great to see them with each other. They "translate" for him which is quite cute. Just keep at it. It is really a wonderful blessing to have that ability to communicate with them.

 

Wow. These are some impressive posts. I think we started signing w/ ours at about 7 months or so. I am much more consistent w/ it than DH. I think that our girls understand a lot of signs, but they don't actually use lots of signs yet. They also tend to generalize some and use a sign they know well for lots of things. Now that they are getting a little older they seem to be slowly picking up more and more and it is getting really fun.