Just starting sign language at 19 months...is it worth it

Jake & Josh will be 19 months next week. They have been in speech & devolpmental therapy for about a month now. Today, the developmental therapist recommended that I get them sign language dvd's since we've been working on signs for the past month with no luck.

Right now they have the speech of an 11 month old. They pretty much babble with mama, dada ect.

We're working hard on getting them to talk so I don't know if teaching the sign's will delay their speech. Plus, I really don't want to get yet another learning dvd and find they have no interest in it.

I would say for the past two months we've been working on the "more" sign and they could care less. I've even tried giving them ice cream to get them to sign "more".

Anyone else start sign language this late?

Thanks

 

I introduce signs here and there - so far the only one that they consistently use on a daily basis is "done". Signing should not delay their language, so I wouldn't worry about that. My younger boys don't show that much of an interest in it compared to how their older brother was at their age. I don't think it would hurt anything for you to introduce a video to them - but it just stinks that if they don't like it, you can't force them to use it.

Good luck!

 

I think signing really helped my boys to develop their English language skills. We started earlier than 19 months, but at this age they are total sponges so I definitely do not think it's too late. The videos are fun, and if you reinforce by using the signs in your daily life here and there, you should see some results. Hopefully they will take to it and it will help them to communicate in the meantime! GL!

 

If you don't want to get the DVDs, then I encourage you to get the Baby Signs board books. They have several different titles, like THIS book here. We used the books from this series with loads of success. I liked that the kids and I could interact, read the books together, and practice imitating the signs together. Seemed like more of a language-rich approach to teaching signing to me.

 

Our EI lady also told us to start signs and i told her i was worried that it would delay their speech. She said that they thought that in the 70s and 80s but the newer research shows it helps to activate the speech pathways in their brains so actually speeds up speech development.
We started about a month ago and they don't really do it but i keep trying. i want to look into seeing if my library has any videos.

 

I just got off the phone with the EI cooridinator. I told her my concerns, mainly that it's been well over a month and I thought we'd see some progress by now. I keep doing the signs and they really have no interest in them.

Today the speech therapist said right now they probably won't get too much out of the dvd's since they don't sit still very long. I told the coordinator that I have one therapist telling me I should start using them asap and the other telling me it won't help at this time.

I guess I'll buy one and see if they have an interest in it. She said she'll check back in a month and if I still don't see any type of improvement, I can look into switching therapists.

They really don't have any interest in any type of dvd or show I put on for them. They'll look at it for a minutes and then continue what they were doing.

 

Try borrowing them from the library first to see if you like them. The DVD's are more for YOU than the kids. They will respond to YOU way better than anyone on TV.

Signing improves verbal skills, and it really makes the "terrible two's" easier. I'd say its worth it.

 

You could adapt them or make up your own. It really is for you to communicate with them, not too many kids will later on use sign language as an adult. I can't really find DVDs here in Australia if I have they were about 50.00 and likely not that good. I took some sign before and they pick up some. My two are 20 months old and the one is now really starting to talk but the other one says about 4 words.

 

Can anyone recommend a good DVD? I was thinking about trying this too.

 

We used Signing Times DVDs with our girls starting at about 10 months old. They didn't grasp the concept until closer to 14 months and at peak probably understood and used 40 signs. Now that they're talking they don't sign much, but they still have fun signing 'play' or 'more' or 'I love you' when we're out in public. My girls were really early talkers and I credit Signing Times with at least some of their interest in language.

Someone asked for a recommendation on the DVDs... I liked Signing Times. They're simple, repetitive, and have lots of children doing the signs, which kept my girls interest.

 

I've been playing the Signing Time dvds for over 6 months - on and off... mainly off... but I LOVE the series. Thankfully our local library has the whole series so we can swap them out every so often and get to see a new one. I'd start with one that's just the basics.

I loved that Rachel who co-developed the series has a personal experience... her daughter was found to be deaf at over a year old... they started teaching it to her and to her cousin who was born about that time, and the two kids are also the stars of the show. Its a very cute series and Love the music ...

Ours don't say a whole lot... but the know what milk, eat, more is... and maybe please... they also know dog and can show me ... that's so cool when they start signing back! I'll show them the dog sign and they go to the dog... and pet her! so so sweet! they also know hat, or maybe they are signing dad... we're not sure! its awful fun though!

at the begining of some of the dvds Rachel talks about how signing HELPS speech, not hinder like they use to think.

Keep with it... one month isn't probably enough time... and yes, find a series you like... I checked out some other dvds from the library and didn't like them at all. good luck!