experiences with signing

[ksomom]

I'm interested in hearing everyone's experiences with teaching their baby/child to sign. 

[rixu]

i am showing E the songs from signing time and now she can express every thing by action though she don't know the word. i am happy for her

[kmum]

We signed with our 5 yo.  I didn't think she picked up on signing really early, however the long term results have been wonderful.  As she learned the spoken word, the sign slowly disappeared from daily use.  She does remember most of the signs still though.  She was talking in sentances at 18 or 19 months & is still ahead of her peers in language skills.  She is now helping teach our younger dd some signs, & younger dd's spoken & signed vocabulary is definately expanding. 

[texaslady22]

We also taught our son signs from the time he was a little guy. Once he started talking, he pretty much stopped signing, but we think he remembers them as he'll sign them every once in awhile...

[Plnkkylemichael]

we did not teach our oldest but our second son we worked with him and now he is able to tell us what he needs. and I am hoping that he will start telling us when he needs to go to the restroom. He is like is older brother and does not say the name of the animal rather he makes the animal sound and signs what it is. I would work on it with your kids. its great.

[lil]

My little girl whom will turn 2 come Feb 2009 is not talking yet though she says words like "dar-dee", "ma", "ma-mee"..but not looking at us when she says those words. So, i'm not sure if she is really talking.

Her pediatrician did refer her to Speech Therapist but I don't see a need at this point of time as there are kids that only talk when they turn 3 or even later!

My concern is if I teach her to sign, would this discourage her from talking altogether since she has found a new way of communication without having to express her thoughts, feelings & messages through words?

[nhockaday]

Babies who sign normally have a larger spoken vocabulary.

What are the benefits?:
Sign language is a wonderful way to communicate with your baby. If started soon enough, many babies can sign basic words before they can speak them! In a long-term study funded by the National Institute of Health, researchers found that signing actually makes it easier to teach a baby to talk. Also children who were consistently signed to as a baby scored higher on standardized tests of both receptive language development (how much they understand) and expressive language development (how much they can say).

-Child can communicate wants and needs at an early age
-Child may learn to speak earlier (because sign language is used in conjunction with speaking, you teach your toddler to talk as you sign)
-Child may have a higher I.Q. (research suggests as much as 10 points higher)
-Child may have an easier time learning a second language later in life
-Both child and parent experience lower frustration levels because baby can communicate needs earlier
-Parent and child create a deeper bond and a higher level of trust
-Parent receives greater insight into child's mind
(these benefits are from the signbabies web site)

[Kimba15]

I started signing with my little girl over a month a go and she already recognisies the sign for 'milk' ( i think thi is because she eats so much and therefore has seen the sign for milk so much beause she is a little guts)

I have started to introduce the sign for 'more' 'sleep' and 'book' but i do not expect to see any results for quite some time yet I also use YBCR in combination.

Kimba

[fatima786]

hi

my son is a year and 8 months. he uses words and can sing tommy thumb completely but does not use sentences. i havent thought him sign language. will it be too late to introduce it now?

[nhockaday]

No, not at all. He will probably catch on pretty quickly! I do highly recommend Baby Signing Time. My son didn't start signing until he started watching them.

[THen]

I agree with nhockaday (and thanks, nhockaday, for the write up on the benefits ).  It is never too late to teach signing.  (My 8 and 6 year old were excited to learn new signs to teach to the baby.)

I taught (and am teaching) my 5 boys signs.  Some more than others.  It was really helpful to know what they wanted.  Now, some picked up more than others, and as texaslady22 said, once they started speaking, they usually stopped signing.  But the older ones always help teach the younger ones by signing to them.  And sometimes we'll sign across the room to each other if we don't want to disrupt another conversation. 

My youngest seems quite determined to skip the signing and try to go straight to speaking.  He babbles, and "asks" for things, but I cannot understand him.  I sign to him while I speak and ask if he wants ..., but he looks at me disdainfully and "says" the word.    But he does sign on occasion.  I think it is just his personality. 

The other day he was in the church nursery and the lady was asking him if he wanted more crackers.  But she signed "milk."  She said my boy gave her a blank look.  She finally asked if she was signing right (I was in the next room) and I told her she was signing milk, and showed her the sign for more.  She laughed and signed "more."   My boy then got a "Oh, that's what you mean." look on his face and started signing "more."   

[fatima786]

will try it out and see how he reacts to it. any idea i the sign language taught to kids is the same that is taught to people that are hearing impaired

[nhockaday]

Yes, it should be ASL (American Sign Language).

[fatima786]

thats great! i should get signing time. my sister in laws niece has had  cochlear implant. she heard sound for the first time when she was two so she signs. would be good for my son to communicate with her.

[nhockaday]

The videos are really amazing. I am mad at myself for not trying them sooner. I've had them for a while but didn't want to use them b/c Gabriel was already watching YBCR twice a day and Tweedlewink at night. I don't really like him watching so many videos. I had been signing with him since he was 6 months old, and although he understood many signs, he never signed back. So I decided to try BST and take a break from watching Tweedlewink for a while. He really loves the videos and he can do several signs now. And they're great for learning signs if you don't know many. I like BST better than Signing Time, but they are good too, and there are many more videos.

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