Baby sign language

[Nicolalove353]

I have been thinking of starting to teach my son sign language. Has any one tried and been successful? What age should I start teaching him it? Any suggestions on how to do it?

 

[Cccbb61013]

I don't have personal experience but I work with a girl who has a 1 year old who signs & it's absolutely adorable &amazing!

 

[AP]

It's never too early! Choose regular and only a few words, like Milk, and always remember to sign and talk at the same time, don't just sign

 

[Athena]

Interested in replies...I'm starting a course in jan I can't wait, think it's amazing!

 

[izzlesnizzle]

My friends little girl is a pro at it at 17 mths old. Her mum and her have whole conversations in it and im always amazed by their communication. Ive been teaching it loosely since 7 mths and my LO has only just started to respond to it recently. It definitely helps to know what she wants. She is picking it up so quickly now but it took her months to grasp it. She can do milk, please, drink, hungry, more and some of the animals but most of the time I have to prompt her and she will do the sign rather than doing it off her own bat but she does milk off her own bat so that's been helpful. She probably would have responded to it quicker if we'd have gone to a class every week but I just taught myself off the internet and do it sometimes rather than all the time. I think consistency is key with it but its very cute and very helpful once they pick it up.

 

[LockandKey]

I looooove baby signs! It's so cute to see them sign away when they want something, and knowing that you can successfully communicate with them without having to rely on the use of words, I think it's also less frustration for you and your LO as well.

I started teaching DD baby signs by 7 months, and by the time she was almost 8 months she already knew how to sign "milk," "more," and "eat" I had tried to teach her more, but I will admit I got a bit lazy with it and she never learned more than the 3, but she used them up until she was about 18-20 months old and she replaced her signs with actual talking. I definitely plan on teaching my son signs too when he's a bit older.

To have it a success, you have to sign to them constantly, repeat, repeat, repeat, and use the sign in a sentence that would pertain to what the sign is, or point to the item if it's an item or food/drink, and usually they pick up pretty quick.

 

[Scout]

Get in the habit of signing whenever you talk and lo will pick it up. My friend's hubby is deaf and so she signs and speaks all the time and her lo picked it up really fast. Now that he's starting to talk, he still signs everytime he speaks and it's so much easier to understand his signs than his speech right now.

 

[Indi84]

I've been doing some since birth, but I wish I'd done classes with him too! He can sign milk and thank you, but he doesn't do it consistently, maybe classes would have encouraged him more? Or maybe he's just not into being polite ;-) if I ask him to say thank you and he does it though, my heart melts!

Edit, he understands more then he will sign, but seems to know the basic farm animals, I love you and more as well.

 

[laila 44]

This may seem like a silly question but is there a reason for wanting to tach your child sign language? I was always under the impression that unless the child is hearing impaired that they should learn how to speak and use words as opposed to signs... Please do correct me if I'm wrong as I don't know much about this subject...

 

[Nicolalove353]

I've been doing some since birth, but I wish I'd done classes with him too! He can sign milk and thank you, but he doesn't do it consistently, maybe classes would have encouraged him more? Or maybe he's just not into being polite ;-) if I ask him to say thank you and he does it though, my heart melts!

Edit, he understands more then he will sign, but seems to know the basic farm animals, I love you and more as well.

Since you started signing a bit from birth, how long did it take for your baby to pick up on it? My son is 7 weeks and I don't know if I should wait a bit or start now.

 

[Nicolalove353]

This may seem like a silly question but is there a reason for wanting to tach your child sign language? I was always under the impression that unless the child is hearing impaired that they should learn how to speak and use words as opposed to signs... Please do correct me if I'm wrong as I don't know much about this subject...

From what I have heard it doesn't delay babies with speech but it helps with their frustration. Since babies cannot talk for a while, it helps with getting across to their parents what they need/want. You still talk to your baby and encourage them to coo/talk so they pick up the language too.

 

[Zephram]

Baby sign helps even hearing babies develop their communication skills. It's well worth it if you can be bothered.

I've taught little one a few signs. He knows milk, fish (yep, random), the obvious ones like bye bye and waving, and one I made up to mean 'windy' as I didn't know what the sign for wind was and LO kept looking around when the house creaked in the wind. He now does the wind sign when he hears the wind or sees trees moving in the wind. It's pretty amazing actually.

 

[SassyLou]

We went to TinyTalk classes from DD being 4 months. We'd been signing milk from birth, she did the sign for milk at five months, and became very good at it lol.
She's now 18 months and has 50+ signs, she also speaks quite well now. We have a number of the older something special DVDs (from BBC website) and some singing hands DVDs which she absolutely loves.
I've loved doing this with her so much that I've signed up for a professional makaton training course. Mainly for work, but will continue to use it with DD.

 

[Indi84]

I've been doing some since birth, but I wish I'd done classes with him too! He can sign milk and thank you, but he doesn't do it consistently, maybe classes would have encouraged him more? Or maybe he's just not into being polite ;-) if I ask him to say thank you and he does it though, my heart melts!

Edit, he understands more then he will sign, but seems to know the basic farm animals, I love you and more as well.

Since you started signing a bit from birth, how long did it take for your baby to pick up on it? My son is 7 weeks and I don't know if I should wait a bit or start now.

Honestly he didn't sign milk until 10 months, then thank you came about three weeks ago! so a long time!

 

[AP]

This may seem like a silly question but is there a reason for wanting to tach your child sign language? I was always under the impression that unless the child is hearing impaired that they should learn how to speak and use words as opposed to signs... Please do correct me if I'm wrong as I don't know much about this subject...

Sign language actually encourages speech. This is why you should use the word with the sign at all times. Signing isn't to replace the speech (with a child that can/will talk) People think it delays speech but it actually encourages the part of the brain that handles speech(they are next to each other). I did see a video at my makaton training, and it really made sense.


My 4 year old uses sign language. She's a bit different though, she can't talk. Well, now in the last few weeks she has a handful of words but her makaton sign language is out of this world and really opens barriers.

Tori didnt need the sign language but she's picked it up (it was gonna happen, as we all use it) and she has been able to sign words she cant quite manage - the words came eventually!

It's hard to actually get into the swing of things sometimes, when you think you won't need it. But it is sheer magic when you see them signing back. and makes it all worth it. It's great to know some words too!

www.makaton.org do a handbook and picture books for signing with babies.
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/My-First-Signs
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/My-First-Makaton-Symbols-and-Signs-Set
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/Makaton-Signing-For-Babies-Pocket-Book

 

[Athena]

This may seem like a silly question but is there a reason for wanting to tach your child sign language? I was always under the impression that unless the child is hearing impaired that they should learn how to speak and use words as opposed to signs... Please do correct me if I'm wrong as I don't know much about this subject...

Sign language actually encourages speech. This is why you should use the word with the sign at all times. Signing isn't to replace the speech (with a child that can/will talk) People think it delays speech but it actually encourages the part of the brain that handles speech(they are next to each other). I did see a video at my makaton training, and it really made sense.


My 4 year old uses sign language. She's a bit different though, she can't talk. Well, now in the last few weeks she has a handful of words but her makaton sign language is out of this world and really opens barriers.

Tori didnt need the sign language but she's picked it up (it was gonna happen, as we all use it) and she has been able to sign words she cant quite manage - the words came eventually!

It's hard to actually get into the swing of things sometimes, when you think you won't need it. But it is sheer magic when you see them signing back. and makes it all worth it. It's great to know some words too!

www.makaton.org do a handbook and picture books for signing with babies.
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/My-First-Signs
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/My-First-Makaton-Symbols-and-Signs-Set
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/Makaton-Signing-For-Babies-Pocket-Book

Thank you for this it's very interesting. I'm excited to start a sing and sign class with Rose..do you know if the signs they use at these kinds of classes is proper makaton? Thanks

 

[deafgal]

I think all kids should learn it. Did people really believe deaf should only communicate with each other and family? They need friends too. It's a language that meant for anyone, not just for the deaf.

If more people learn sign language, deaf people would not be stuck with people who learned it just to abuse them (sexually, mostly)

 

[AP]

Athena it depends on who is doing it /whether it's a franchise and even what area you are in, so best speaking to who is delivering the training x

 

[Blue12]

The first two signs I taught were more and finished. That really helped me to know how much to feed and when to stop offering

 

[MommyJogger]

We started at birth, got lazy, and then picked it up again at 6mo. By around 8mo, he was able to tell us when he wanted to nurse and go to sleep. That was all until just after 11mo when he had a "signing boom" and could tell us when he was thirsty for water, hungry for solids, hungry/thirsty for nursing, sleepy, wanted a diaper change, wanted to poo in the potty, could ask for several of his favorite toys, more, all done, outside, and a couple random ones that only make sense in his own head. I think he's naturally very easily frustrated (moreso than the average toddler) and being able to communicate what he wants before he's capable of voicing it has really helped stave off a lot of tantrums and frustration. I wish we'd started with proper ASL or makaton. We just used best guess for signs we found on the internet-- it didn't matter to us then as long as he could communicate with us, but it would be nice if we could transition so that he could eventually talk to several non-verbal children of friends/at daycare. I'm hoping he picks up proper makaton from his teachers at daycare (they sign everything when they speak, I think they're using makaton, because I know it's not ASL).