I thought signing was supposed to help

My DS knows several signs: more, help, milk, eat. There are times when he is at the table and will constantly whine and I will ask him what do you want and he will point to an area on his plate and make a sound. He is wanting more but won't do the sign all the time. I sometimes have to say "use your words", tell mommy what you want and sometimes I even have to go as far as saying do you want more and then he will do it. The whining is driving me crazy. Shouldn't he be using them without be having to ask? He will also whine at the toy box when he wants something he can't reach and instead of signing help he will stand there and get mad. But if I say to him what do you need he again will sign help or I will have to ask him to use his words. Be honest, is something wrong here?

Thanks!

 

I doubt anything is wrong, it sounds like he will use them when he wants to. One of my girls was like that, and still is. She doesn't do so well when she's told what to do, she will do it when she wants to do it. Fun times...not. Just continue to remind him of the sign and definitely praise him for using it appropriately.

 

I don't know if this will help you, but one of my girls does this too. She's incredibly verbal, so there's no reason why she can't tell me exactly what she wants. She talks in three and four word sentences on a regular basis, so it would be easy for her to say "I want more cheese" or "Open box mom". However, she still whines some of the time. I almost think that when she gets frustrated, she forgets that she can tell us what she needs and reverts to whining.

I write all that to tell you that there probably isn't anything wrong with your son. I suspect it's just typical toddler behavior.

 

Both of my sons do the same thing. They can sign and talk but sometimes whine. Mine will cry/ whine as they say what they want, but at our house they have to say it in a nice tone, and most of the time say please. We almost always have to remind them. I think it is just being a toddler.

 

I'm pretty sure language (whether signing or spoken) as a mode of communication doesn't become "natural" for a while - the process of turning emotions and desires into words is a big, long jouney for little ones (heck, I have a hard time turning my emotions and desires into words). I look at talking as a behavior that needs to be practiced and reinforced and rewarded just like table manners or riding a bike. And just like we offer a word to an adult who has (momentarily) forgotten it, we need to offer words to little ones before they remember what it was that they were trying to say.

Or at least this is what I tell myself around the twentieth time I've said "Use your words; do you want X?" in an hour...