Lily and Libby

 

Every parent knows that in the early years of parenting, communication between you and your child can be difficult. As a new parent we try to decipher our baby's cries. Are they hungry, tired, sleepy, lonely, uncomfortable? It is a constant challenge to figure out what our child needs. What if there was a way to bridge the communication gap between you and your baby? Some say there actually is!

 

Baby Sign Language has recently become a hot topic among new parents. Parents and caregivers, with much success, are learning sign language in hopes to better communicate with their children. Tess, mom of 11 month-old Julia says, "It's easy, fun, and makes communication a lot less stressful for the whole family! Who wouldn't want that?"

 

I have personal experience working with children using sign. I started teaching my 2 1/2 year old signs when he was 5 months old. I am also currently teaching my 8 month old. I feel it made a huge difference in my first child's daily experiences. It fostered communication and curbed temper tantrums. The way I see it, the less time and energy a child spends being upset, the more they can spend on learning!

 

Research has shown that babies who sign have faster rate in their development of speech and language skills, increased intellectual skills and higher self-esteem. A study by Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn found that signing children outperformed non-signing children in comparison, after comparison. Babies who sign have also been found to be able to understand more words, have larger vocabularies, score higher on IQ tests, and engage in more sophisticated play.

 

Many experts recommend parents introduce signs, while using the verbal label, as early as early as possible. The earlier you start the more time you will have to learn the signs and get accustomed to using them as part of your daily interactions. Ideally, you should start exposing your child to signs between 6 and 10 months of age. Do not feel frustrated though if your baby does not sign back to you until they are at least 8 to 12 months old. Remember children understand a lot more (receptive language) before they can communicate (expressive language).

 

Learning or being exposed to more than one language is optimal before a child's second birthday. If they are exposed to different languages during these formative years, they are more likely to reap the benefits in a variety of ways. There has been a great debate as to what program or type of signs a hearing parent should teach their child. Some say use the standard American Sign Language, others believe that if you make up signs you will remember them easier.

 

Personally and professionally I recommend using American Sign Language because ASL is the third most used language in the United States. Not only will you be able to communicate more efficiently with your child, but you are giving them a leading edge in the real world. As an adult, being bilingual makes you a hot commodity and extremely marketable. Although the numbers are growing, companies love hiring multilingual employees because they are few and far between.

 

American Sign Language can be learned in a variety of ways. You can you can go to the American Sign Language online dictionary here: http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm This is a great tool and it is free! The signs are shown as a video; which many people find more helpful than trying to figure them out by reading a diagram. There are hundreds of words to choose from, so you will be able to look up any word that will be helpful when communicating with your child in your daily activities and routines.

 

There are some other great websites that will help you get started:
www.signingbaby.com
www.sign2me.com
www.handspeak.com

 

There are also many programs for purchase which are geared towards children. I recommend Joseph Garcia's SIGN with your BABY Series because it uses ASL and it is a great tool to help you and your family learn some basic signs. This program can be found here: http://www.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932354018/ref=nosim/theparentstat-20

 

Most importantly, as you start out, I recommend teaching your child the signs that will be most helpful to you and your child as you go through daily routines. Some useful signs that you may want to start with include, more, eat, and help. A few others that are useful: drink, change (as in diaper) or toilet, sleepy, please, yes, no, stop, and all done. Once your child has mastered some of these important and functional signs, you may choose to move on to others.

 

Just remember that signing with your baby or child is a tool to lessen the frustration of being unable to communicate. Learning and teaching sign should always be a fun and relaxed experience for you and your child.

 

 

 

Mother, early childhood educator, parent counselor, and author, Colleen Newman is degreed in Early Childhood Education and Psychology. She spent several years teaching preschoolers before the birth of her first child. When Newman decided to share her love and dedication to children, her parent education company was born. My Baby and More Parent Coaching and Educational Services, a home-based business started by Newman, was created in 2005. My Baby and More provides parents with the education and support of positive parenting and natural parenting methods such as breastfeeding, babywearing, and attachment parenting through one-on-one phone, email, in-home and office consultations, seminars, and classes. Newman is also a Breastfeeding Counselor for WIC and holds a certificate as a Certified Happiest Baby Educator from Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Baby Program. Newman loves spending time with her husband, John, while they have fun raising their two children, Wes (3) and Claire (1). http://www.MyBabyandMore.com

 

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colleen_Newman

 

 

Many parents start out signing with their babies at an early age, but others don't find out about the wonders of signing with babies until their children are nearly toddlers (as in my case). I think that every child responds differently to signs, but there are a few common signs that children love from an early age.

 

If you start out at 6 or 7 months of age, there are a number of wonderful signs to begin signing with your baby. Here are my recommendations:

 

If you start out at a later age, such as 12 or 14 months, the above are all great suggestions also, but you can use signs with an older baby that a younger baby might not yet be interested in:

 

If you do not know how to do these signs, look them up at this website.

 

The key to beginning signing to a toddler is to observe him or her for a few hours (or days) and see what the toddler is really interested in. Toddlers are busy people and it may seem that he or she is really interested in everything. Just choose a couple of things to begin with (maybe a few from both lists above) and see how fast he or she picks it up.

 

Establishing a signing relationship is the same for all age groups. When your baby or toddler is wanting something or doing something, show your child the sign for it. Your child will begin to associate the sign with the thing he or she wants or needs and will soon sign back to you.

 

I believe that careful observation by parents who are signing with their baby is essential to success. By noticing what your baby is most interested in, you will have a child who quickly learns how to ask for what he or she needs. And once your baby realizes that signing will get what he wants and needs, he'll be eager to learn more signs.

 

 

 

Links

 

Online Sign Language Dictionaries