Anyone do sign language with their baby?

Sign language? You mean I was supposed to do that as well as toilet train? I'll never catch up now.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jun 5 2006, 01:30 PM) [snapback]266184[/snapback]</div>

Absolutely! We did "baby signs" with our now 5-year-old daughter. Would do it all over again with a new kid. Babies can communicate WAY the heck before they can talk, and this gives them an outlet. Otherwise, you've got a pissed-off baby sitting there crying. Knows exactly what she wants, but has NO tools to tell you what it is. The parent guesses, and is right only half the time on a good day. With baby signs, you know if you've got a thirsty problem, hungry problem, too hot, too cold, tired, scared of the dog, pooping, wants the special toy etc.

Fantastic way to involve yourself in the child's comunication at an early age. When you realize you're actually communicating with your baby years before she can talk, you've got something truly special going. Being able to meet your baby's needs with less frustration is golden.

At first I thought this was some new-age parenting crap, but have come to really respect it.

 

Did a few signs with both of ours. I don't remember them all but we had about 5 different ones. More, like, don't like, happy, sad,.... that was probably about it. The most used and most useful was the "more" sign, it's very handy to have a nice quiet sign when they are still hungry rather than crying. Once they both learned to talk they would still do the "more" sign w/o thinking about it while also saying they wanted more of something. That stopped after about a year. IMO anything that makes it easier for kids to communicate gives them some empowerment and you end up with happier kids.

 

Yes, we did it with both of our kids (now 3 and 6). Pretty basic stuff, but incredible that they could do it way, way before they could communicate verbally.

Now they don't even remember!

 

My wife, who is a veteran Special Education preschool teacher, purchased three DVDs titled, "Signing Time" which are produced by a small company named "Two Little Hands Productions." Using the DVDs, my wife trained our granddaughter from infancy to use signs to communicate, avoiding much of the "terrible two's" that were mentioned in one of the previous posts.

The three videos were designed primarily for toddlers but are engaging for infants, nevertheless. The video series has now been expanded to something like twelve DVDs and has an additional set created especially for infants. Research shows that babies who learn how to sign speak earlier than those who did not. The results with our granddaughter were nothing short of remarkable; she signed to her family in public places and simply amazed passers-by who witnessed her communicating with sign language at such a young age. Our granddaughter is nearly four now and is a virtual chatterbox asking questions about everything and cracking jokes like there's no tomorrow. She has a real command of the language and we think the Signing Time videos had something to do with that.

I know I sound like the overzealous grandpa, but these DVDs made all the difference in her behavior - and ours - for the first two or three years of my granddaughter's life. My wife and I highly endorse these videos.

If that weren't enough, my wife then showed her School District how the Signing Time DVDs could be incorporated into the classroom, especially with Communication Disorder students who struggle when creating speech. The district purchased a set (the original three) for each Special Ed preschool classroom and the teachers all love and use them. This has given many speech-impaired children the "voice" that might otherwise have gone "unheard."

You can learn more by going to the following link: Signing Time!

Hope this helps!

 

We did baby sign and are VERY GLAD we did!!! Children WANT to communicate long before they can talk. Crying and throwing tantrums IS their way of communicating (along with smiling and making happy baby noises). Give them another option and they will take it, especially if it gets them what they want more consistently. We started around age 9 months and she started signing back about a month later.

We did about a dozen signs and our daycare provider (two days a week) did the same ones. Let's see if I can recall which ones...

Milk (meant for breastfeeding in our case) was the second one I taught her and it was the first one she learned. I should have started with that one!

More was the first I one I tried to teach her, as recommended by many "experts". She didn't sign that one back for MONTHS.

Eat / Hungry

Water was one we did to her, but she would do something different back. (Very difficult for young children to physically do...you hold first three fingers up ... like a "w" ... and tap against your chin)

Sleepy

Book / Story

Drink is one we used very generally with her when she got a little older.

Please

Thank you

Sorry

I Love You (We did that sign to her, but she could not do it back until she was much older due to the manual dexterity required. This is the only sign we still do.)

I do not recall any other signs we did right now. We did them even when she was learning to talk because they were faster for her to communicate. We let her decide when to stop signing. She talked at a very young age (in complete sentences with an impressive vocabulary) and potty-trained herself at the same time (age 21 months), which I have heard and read go hand-in-hand. Something about the connections required in the brain to do one are the same connections required for the other, as well. In any case, my husband and I got a lot of questions from older relatives who didn't understand the point and thought it would delay her speech. They didn't live anywhere close to us, so it didn't impact us much. It is just interesting that what people fear is actually the opposite of what happens.

Oh, I didn't buy any videos or take any special classes. Those are widely available, of course. I bought a book that was unnecessary (I only read the first two chapters), but made me feel better about embarking on this adventure. What helped me the most was talking to other parents who signed. They showed me the signs they used and we just worked on one at a time. It was a lot easier than going through the typical "laundry list" of what could be wrong when our baby was crying. Also, signing is not THAT different than the ol' point and ask. It is just more efficient.

Enjoy your day!
Karin

 

We used baby sign on our first two kids, and plan on using it for our third as well. Our daughter did not use it as much as our sin initially, but she has used it longer than him (albeit for only a few signs). I definitely recommend trying it out. Our son used it to communicate long before he could verbally. Our daughter started speaking much, much earlier than expected, so it wasn't as noticable. Anyway, definitely worth the effort.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jun 5 2006, 04:30 PM) [snapback]266184[/snapback]</div>

Well, not yet, on account of not having a baby at this time. However, a good friend of ours got really into it with his son, and another friend has used it with his daughter. Their experiences have been very positive, and we'll probably try it ourselves when the time comes...

- Michelle

 

Signing made a tremendous difference for a Down's Syndrome child in our family. His mother did say, though, that "The experts" said using signs delayed his speaking ability. I think they should be grateful that they were able to communicate with him as early as they could. Unfortunately, none of the rest of us knew the language, and we didn't see them often enough to learn it. He may have had more relationships and stimulation if people other than his mother could understand and communicate with him. It kept him isolated.

Still, I wonder about the speaking ability. At 14, he is terribly difficult to understand. But who can say what might have been? He might have been frustrated a great deal longer in his life and still be difficult to understand if they hadn't used signing. I am grateful for whatever has made things easier for all of them. He's a really sweet boy.

On a lighter note, we have a 2-year-old in our family with a "Golden Finger." He doesn't need to talk because he gets anything he points to. It's fun while it lasts!

 

I did with my kid. She lost each sign the minute she could speak the replacement word or phrase.

Pretty much the only ones that were really useful were EAT, MORE, ALL DONE.

Nate

 

Go for it. Well worth it. Don't get carried away though. 5-7 signs (milk, more, all done, etc.) covers most of the basic baby needs.

 

well i am glad to hear so much feedback on baby signing and we will definitely continue to sign to Ryland. i guess what i need to know is what age did anyone's baby start to respond?

we have signed from day 1 on basics like mommy, daddy, eat, etc. and still not anything but an occasional response (sure that was a random movement)

we also netflixed a few "Baby Einstein" DVD's on signing as well. a very good source for baby intel!

 

oh, maybe we are being too optimistic then. Ry will be 4 months next week. what is "hand over hand" signing?