Baby signing

[RachA]

I was just wondering if this is something that i should do with Esther.

She doesn't actually say many words. She does chatter away a lot but there aren't many actual words there. Bizarrely enough she can sing twinkle twinkle little star really well - although at the moment the only words that sound like they should are 'little star' and 'you are' and she doesn't say the every time.

I think she does know the words but she just doesn't want to say them or else she knows big brother will say them for her.

I'm just a bit worried that if i teach her to sign that it will make her even more reluctant to talk as she'll know she can tell me what she wants without using words. I also pretty much always know what she wants without her saying it so is signing any different to me interpreting her facial expressions and hand pointing etc?

If i did go down the signing route how long will it generally take for her to pick the signs up?

 

[Tacey]

I'm not sure about an older child, but we started at about 8 months with Alice and she started some signs the following month. They key is to always say the word you sign. I wouldn't have thought it would hinder her speech. We wave hello, and yet 'hello' is often one of the earlier words children learn. On the other hand, you'll probably find her speech comes on in leaps and bounds in the next few months anyway. If she's not frustrated by not being able to speak, you could just wait it out.

 

[polaris]

Signing doesn't hinder speech as long as you use the word as well as the sign. I think it actually helps with speech development because the child figures out the whole concept of symbolic representations and realizes how useful communication can be.

 

[Pink_Tinks]

Signing no way affects speech - Harrie does not stop talking and uses sentences, I taughter her sign as soon as she started talking and she says the words as she signs them.

I think its brilliant for them to know

 

[RachA]

Thanks. I think i may look into some basic signs to teach her.

As she seems to be quite lazy about talking i was just worried that if i gave her a method of communicating that meant she didn't have to talk that she'd keep using that rather than learning to talk.

Does anyone know any websites that teach any basic signing?

 

[TaylorsMummyx]

There's some goof videos on you tube xx were teaching ds ATM xx