I've been trying it with my baby for about 4 months, but she hasn't picked up on it yet (she's 11 months). She doesn't act like she understands me or wants to do it herself.

Reply

We have been doing this with our daughter (now 16 mos) since she was about 6 months. It took forever for the first signs to happen and just when we wanted to give up, she started signing! Now she knows almost 50 signs. It has been a great experience and I feel like I usually know what's going on in her head. Instead of going "oh, oh" on the street, she can sign dog and I know she saw (or at least thinks she saw) a dog, so we can talk about it.

We bought DVDs for her to watch called "Baby Signing Time". Not only are they educational, but they are her favorite to watch. We have since gotten "Signing Time" which features older children and more complicated signs like feelings but she's catching on to them, too. Since "Signing Time" is based on American Sign Language, she could actually continue and communicate with people. These DVDs are done by a mother with a deaf child who wants other children to be able to sign with her. Now there are 15 DVDs and they are well done and fun to watch. Check out www.signingtime.com.

Reply

Oh, I forgot to say, that we also had the concern that our toddler's speech would be somewhat delayed. Not at all. She is talking up a storm and is right in line with other kids her age. I could totally see how slower speech development is possible, although the baby sign people say it doesn't happen. Of course, kids are going to be talking for the rest of their life, so what's a few month's delay!

Reply

Hi! Just wanted to note that I signed with two of my children and not only was it great fun but extremely useful. It's really amazing what they hear and see and pick up on and having the ability to let you know about it (as well as their needs) without as much of a fuss is priceless.

Reply

I used the Sign With Your Baby (http://www.sign2me.com) program, which is based on ASL (American Sign Language), rather than a program which allows child and parent to create their own signs. Personal preference, but my reasoning was that I'd like to see him carry his signing with him, and knowing the correct signs from the start is a good thing.

I started signing to him around 4 months, he used his first sign, "more" at 9 months. After that, he signed like crazy... he understood that he was communicating. I don't think it inhibited his verbal skills at all, we simply incorporated the signs with the words. For example, we would always sign AND say "more", "finished", "I love you", etc.

At 2 1/2, he still uses some of the signs (*very* handy in places like church, where we need to be quiet), and can now sign the entire alphabet, including the little "Now I know my ABC's..." song at the end. It's become a great game for both of us.

Reply

My daughter is 9 months old. I started signing with her very early (3 months, maybe 4) and she started signing back at 6 months. She only knows a few, but those that she knows, she is very reliable with. As I learn more, I teach her more. Right now she can do "drink," and "more," and "nurse" (probably shouldn't have taught her that one, she's very demanding). We're working on "sleep" (why would anyone want to do that, Mommy??), "play," and "eat."

It can delay verbal speech slightly in some children - but no more so than learning two verbal language simultaneously would. I find it very useful to know what's going on in her little head. I hope that as she gets older, and I'm not holding her all the time, it'll get easier to teach her more signs.

I would recommend starting as early as possible, though. I think the recommendations for 8 and 9 months don't give babies enough credit. Just start with a few, and go from there. As their motor skills get better, you can add more.

Reply

I didn't start signing with my daughter until she was 12 months and was showing no indication that she would start talking. She picked up signs faster than I could teach them. She even started making up her own signs! My husband also had concerns that she would prefer signing to talking, but I was so happy to see her excited about communicating and less frustrated. She finally said her first word at 14 months and when she had her final speech therapy evaluation (she never got any therapy, but was being monitored) recently (at 26 months) she tested at a 32 month level. I think signing with babies is a lot of fun and I look forward to using it with my son when he is born. I think big sis will enjoy teaching him some signs too.

Reply

We did a small amount of signing, using mainly the video from www.mybabycantalk.com and starting around 10 months. The main sign my daughter picked up was "milk," which she would use when she wanted to nurse. It was so funny to see her wake up in the middle of the night and stick her little fist up in the air and open and close it. However, her verbal development was very early so by the time she would have been signing a lot she was already talking a lot.

Reply

My husband and I started signing with our daughter at birth. She was signing milk, bath, and potty at three months. Now, at 11 months she is speaking and sometimes signing what she wants. I'd say it works. Don't be afraid of it, studies show that it aids in speech development and motor skills. We are going to continue to teach her ASL and use it as "our familys secret language" and she will have the ability to know another "language" that most think is too dificult to learn. It was very easy with video/dvd instruction to do the signs correctly, however if you just buy the books they can sometimes be confusing in direction. No one said you had to follow ASL, you can create and change the signs to adapt to your child and their skills.

Reply

We have been signing with Emerald since about 5 months and she is now using 4-5 signs regularly and picking up more at a rate of 2 a week. She is 13mo.s and using "more" "done" "dog" "light" and "diaper". (she does others but we aren't sure yet what they are) The instructors here in Santa Cruz have told us that they actually learn language faster when they also learn sign, because it stimulates a larger part of their brain and starts the concecpt of communication earlier then verbal language alone. Also that children who learned sign languge as babies had higher IQ averages. The reason I wanted to do this with Emerald was the idea that it would reduce her frustration as a toddler. Sign language is easier to learn then verbal language and they are able to pick-up signs faster and therefore able to express their needs/wants and communicate concepts earlier. We also say the word when we do the sign so she gets the idea that there is a connection. She says the words "Dada" "Mama" "Tuesday" (our dog) "done" "bye bye" and "Hi"
I think its a great tool to help your child learn, starts the idea of multiple ways of communicating and different languages, and helps us to "listen" in ways that aren't as obvious.
The trick is to start with only a few signs and repeat as often as possible. Always use in context where they can see your fingers and never make their fingers into the sign for them. Our break-through came by using toddler kibble, we gave her a couple O's and when she was done made the sign for more, gave her a few, it was only about 3 times before she got it!

Reply

We did this with our boy and loved it. At 22 months he has mostly given up the signs because he can communicate verbally, but before he was physically capable of speaking he could sign. I started signing with him about 4 months old and he was nearly 9 months old before he signed back. Once he started, he did his favorites all. the. time. More, milk, eat, drink, change, bath and help were the most used and the ones that he still sometimes uses.

Reply

I taught my daughter a few around 11-12months and she picked them up reasonably quickly - however, now (at almost 2) she LOVES it. She'll say the word and the sign at the same time. And it was a great way to teach her hard to say words - like THANK YOU. She could do the sign way easier than say the words.

Some people say that it interferes with speech - however, that's a total misnomer. It can be extremely helpful in allowing your child to express him/herself before they can verbally - and children pick up motor imitation quicker than speech at an early age.

Reply

Hm. I don't think that it would "delay the desire to speak" any more than learning to crawl would "delay the desire to walk". It's another method of communication, and- if the baby is into it- it allows for earlier expression of thoughts and desires.

There's always the chance you'll end up with a lazy baby that wants to sign for longer or crawl for longer, but most children are driven by the desire to experience and do new things. There are more words in a child's daily life than there will ever be signs (unless the child is being raised in a fully ASL environment) so it's likely that the driving force of learning to sign will also be the driving force for learning how to speak. Just in the meantime, there will be another avenue to express some needs/desires.

Reply

I don't have much to add in support of signing; it's been great fun and a valuable communication tool for us as well. We started teaching signs to Jude at about 8 months, but didn't get any signs back from him until 11 or 12 months. He's now 15-months-old and it's wonderful that he frequently tells what he wants, rather than just shreiking, by using signs for "more" "down" "milk" "drink" "eat" "banana" "apple" "sleep" "bath" etc. He's also using sings such as "airplane" "birdy" and "baby" to point out things he spots. He now learns signs faster than we ourselves can learn and teach them -- we'll make up a sign for something we don't know, and he'll repeat it back to us after just one or two times showing it to him.
Great fun, useful, and no indication that it's slowing his verbal development (he's starting to pick up speech prety quickly, but still mostly uses the familiar signs).

Reply

I used sign language with my son and he was talking full sentences at a year. I also used sign language with my daughter. I used it because she was speech delayed. Sign language filled the void until she decided to speak. I too used signingtime (www.signingtime.com) My daughter watched the first video, and was already signing before it was over. I have all 13 volumes, plus 2 baby signing time and the books. Once Kyra started talking, she then started talking along with the DVD's.

I highly recommend sign language for infants/ children. It fosters communication, and is a language that they can continue to use for life.

Also, signing time is a sponsor of your blog. It has a discount code in the ad blurb you run sometimes.

Anne

Reply

Hello Kristin,

What you are doing and wanting for Nolan is AWESOME! What a great way to help him in his future! As for the signing, I tought all 4 of my children to sign, my children are now 8Yrs old, 5 yrs old, and the twins are 3yrs old. Only one of my children have had speach delays and it had nothing to do with signing it was because of his condition that he has. he is also delayed in other areas as well due to his condition. Signing with my kids was awesome and still is, We as a family still benifit from signing with our little ones. I can sign to them in church, concerts, etc. and not disturb those around me while I can still parent my child to behave during these different events. Not to mention all the wonderful things I found out when they were little, I never knew that a child had interests so young, preferences, and no better feeling in the whole world than your child knowing you can help them when they are ill but cannot SAY the WORDS they need to so you can help them. With signing they could Sign where the hurt was! It helped so much. Signing also put joy into many other things as well, like get down on your knees once and walk around look up, down, and at your 'new' eye level, what do you see? Isnt it different than what you normally see! Now imagine when you go to the park with your child! How much are they seeing as opposed to you. With signs your child can tell you about all of them, and now with your new knowledge of their eye level you can see what they are as well. Imagine how much fun sharing their amazing worlds are now! I would not change one second of our signing experience with our children, we love and cherish every bit of it! We used the Baby Signs Program, they use ASL, are the original researchers, have really fun products, and they are the World's Leading Sign Language Program for Hearing Babies. But look around make sure you are comfortable with whom you choose, this is who I chose for my reasons. Go to www.babysigns.com and check out their FAQ's and I am sure most your questions can be answered, if not email an instructor and they would help you. My instructor was GREAT! Good luck in your search I hope all works out well for you and Nolan.
Wishing you the best,
Sabrina

Reply

I had a friend who did this with her twins who are now almost four. They both talk very well, and I think have forgotten much of their sign language, but probably not all of it. It shouldn't hinder his verbal ability, as long as you continue to talk to him!

Reply

I started working with my daughter at 7 months (now 16 months) she only signs what she is interested in. "more" "food" "drink" and "bed" aside from that I can't get her to pick up anything else, like "please" "mama" (but she says it VERY well and VERY OFTEN) "thank you" and "dada" (just started saying it for the first time since before christmas).

IT is fun and my mom says I look silly, but it works. I now know when she want more or she wants food or she wants a drink or when she wants to go lay down (she doesn't always want to sleep, she may just want some down quiet time in her crib).

Reply

I have used The Baby Signs Program with all 3 of my kids. It was very successful for them. We started with my oldest (also named Nolan - great name!) at 2 1/2 due to a speech delay (at his therapists's recommendation). It really helped him work on his LANGUAGE skills while he was still figuring out how to make his mouth work. He ended up going from zero percentile to 86th percentile in expressive language in an 18 month time period.

I started at 8 months with my twins. I used the Baby Signs program with my kids because it is mostly ASL (aprox 85% are ASL signs), but also offers more developmentally appropriate signs for some tougher ASL ones. They had no trouble switching to the ASL version as they got older (it's like going from TUMMY to STOMACH).

As far as your concern that it could delay speech. Some people do claim it can cause a delay but no research has substantiated it. In fact, research shows accellerated language development. My suspicion is that in individual cases of delay, it is because the parents signed IN LIEU of speech instead of IN ADDITION to speech. Or, the child may be like my son and be destined to have a delay no matter what you do, but since they had been signing, they chose to "blame" signing.

Kristin, you have an additional reason to teach Nolan to sign. When babies are learning 2 spoken languages, they can sometimes get confused because it is really twice as much work on their little brains (was that an English word or French? Is the white stuff in the bottle MILK or LAIT?). Signing provides a consistent label for objects, thus "connecting" the two spoken languages together (OH! MILK = LAIT). This will help them understand earlier that two words can mean the same thing, which is essential for dual language aquisition.

Good luck to you and Nolan!

Reply

I started signing with my 12 month old and wished I had started sooner! She did her first signs in about a month after we started, and I think by 14 months she was not only signing tons of words, she was saying them too! Signing doesn't delay speech, it enhances it. It gives infants and toddlers a chance to communicate, which makes them excited about learning and sharing their world with you... the best part of signing with a young child is that it reduces frustration for both the child and the parents. I would highly recommend it. The company I used was www.babysigns.com, and the book that they are based on is "Baby Signs: How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk." They also put out some really cute board books. My daughter also liked, and still does like, the Signing Time videos. She's 2-1/2 now and still wants to watch them sometimes.

Reply