Sign Language

We have the Baby Signing Time DVD's and LOVE them. We've had them since December and watch them a lot, and my DP and I are constantly singing the cheesy songs to the kids. My son's first spoken word was one of the words signed on the DVD, spoken while the DVD was playing, but he doesn't sign at all! Neither of them do, in fact. They recognize and love the songs. One of my boys claps his hands together as his "universal sign" throughout the entire video... the other watches but doesn't do anything.

If your kids sign, when where they first exposed to it, and at what age did they start signing?


BTW, I know officially they should not be watching TV/videos at this age, but I find this to be a relatively harmless and educational form of it. Not a perfect mom! hehe

 

I started signing around 11 months....they started to use signs a few months later. It took a while (I'd say 14 months or so), but then BOOM they had 15 signs mastered in a few months time. At one point they knew over 35... and now at 2.5 they still use them occasionally!

 

We also started around 10-11 months. I started with the regular Signing Time DVD's, got 1-3 to start. I don't think the baby ones were out when we were that age. Anyway, at first it was just entertainment, something I didn't feel guilty about letting them watch, but then we started incorporating the signs, and the signing really took off! I would say also around 15 months here. They *still* watch Signing Time, and although they don't really use the signs as much to communicate, they still love to sign and know tons of signs, I would guess over 100. They know the entire ASL alphabet, actually better than the written alphabet. There are some things that they still always sign, like please and sorry. I really wish we could keep up the signing and learn ASL as a second language.

 

I started around six months doing a few signs sporadically. I consistantly signed 'milk' at around eight months and both of my girls got it around 10 months and use that sign whenever they see their bottles or want milk. I didn't really keep up with any other signs until about a month ago and now my girls each know two others (cat and home). I purchased the Signing Time DVD yesterday actually and we watched it for the first time in the afternoon. I don't let my girls watch any other TV but this DVD seems pretty harmless to me. My girls were fascinated. I'm not sure if they understood the signs, but they had fun watching.

 

We started signing to the girls when they were around 4 months old. Zoey did her first sign "milk" at 6 months. They used more, eat, drink, apple, please, thank you, and bath the most. We never used the DVDs because I didn't let them watch TV until they were 20 months old. They now talk at a 3 year old level (according to EI) but they are 2. They were actually behind in talking because they had too much fluid on their ears and had hearing loss due to it. They still use their signs when their mouths are full and they want more, please.

 

started signing just meal signs (milk, more, eat) at 6 months, and DD has been consistently using "milk" since about 8 or 9 months. DS just started about 2 weeks ago. but now, they are signing it when i sing twinkle twinkle little star, as i open and shut both my hands (though in a different position) so don't know what's gonna happen now LOL. they also sign for a pancake at mealtime (i made up the sign), but again, very similar to hand clapping, so :unknw:

 

I'm right there with you on watching the signing videos. We love those videos and watched them quite a bit to learn sign language. All that said, we started signing to our twins at 10 months. Within the first week, my DS started signing milk. He loves milk and once he figured out this was his way to get it, he was thrilled. My DD's first sign was "more" when eating. This also is typical of her behavior since she oftens finishes her plate and asks for more, yet she is a little skinny one. She signed shortly after my DS. After that we didn't see new signs for a couple of weeks. And, then they had a burst of signs that they would do. And, it just took off from there. My kids loved signing and we enjoyed it too. It was a great way to communicate with them when they couldn't talk. Now that my twins are talking, we rarely sign - sad to say. My kids have been very vocal - talked early and put together sentences early - and I think a lot of that is due to signing. My DH and I feel that it is one of the best things we have done for our kids at that age. I think it is great that you are doing this. If you don't see results right away, don't give up. It takes a little time, but once you see them signing you won't believe all that they can learn in a short period of time. It is definitely worth it!

 

Good for you, you're going to be soooo glad you started signing. If you keep it up they'll sign, then talk, then you'll use both to understand what they are saying. Mine started watching Signing Time early (like 8 months) and we were really consistent. We saw our first signs around 10-11 months and then they added a few here and there from then on. Now they talk and sign up a storm. Just know that signing is like talking and they may not use the correct form each time but if they are consistent with what they are doing and use it each time-- then it counts as a word... it's called sign approximation. I love signing so much, I've just begun exploring companies and have decided I'm going to teach it. It's such a great tool for parents to communicate with their children and REALLY cuts down on frustration. My mother has been a pediatric nurse practioner for more than 30 years and she can't believe how well my children were able to ask for what they want and communicate so early on. I also think it really helped my son who wasn't as verbal as my daughter.

Good luck to you and happy signing,
Colette