What is the point of teaching sign language

[Joha]

I have been showing my daughter the BST videos since she was about 4 months old. I started showing them to her because I thought it will be a great tool for us to communicate before she could talk. That way she will not feel frustrated because she couldn't talk. They say they usually start signing at about 9 months. My daughter is 9 months old and she is not signing back which is fine since all babies are different. My issue is that all the kids you see in the videos are older, meaning kids that can talk, so I'm not sure about the point of teaching them siging language unless you would like them to really learn it as a language. I like the fact that it reinforces her reading program to certain extent and she loves the DVD's, they are very cute.

When  my daughter was about 6 months old, we thought she was signing milk and we were sooo excited. Later we figured out she was just playing with her hands    Once in a while I sign milk and she reacts, but it is the same reaction when I show her her bottle 

I would like to hear from other parents their reasons to teach their kids sign language and they results.

[Xica]

Hi Joha,
I started teaching my daughter SL when she was a lot older that your daughter with the BST and ST dvds. I did it because we couldn't understand what she was trying to say. She is kind of a late talker and doesn't like to repeat. However, she would repeat a sign for me if I ask her. Ex. Please, want, more, cracker. Of course, if she really wants something from me.

Her first sign was bird and she did it when we were strolling. Milk is a sign that she does it with the dvd, she won't really ask too much for milk. Sign language has giving her more vocabulary and a way to express her self. Sometimes she only signs, signs and says the word or just says the word.

A couple weeks ago we had a birthday party at a pottery art place. My daughter wanted to played with some foams and she was able to ask for all the ones that she wanted to use and play. Even though she could not say the word she was able to communicate.

The other thing that I like about signing with her is that I can sign and say the word either in Spanish or English and she understand that I am talking about the same thing.

[Joha]

Xica,

Do you think your daughter is kind of a late talker because she is able to communicate with signs?

I like too we can use both languages when signing...

[nhockaday]

Remember that all kids are different. My son was exposed to signing since he was 6 months old, but he didn't start signing until after his first birthday. Just keep at it. Once she learns those first couple of signs, she will have a signing explosion. My son was a very late talker, and signing really helped us communicate. He still doesn't talk well, but he still signs. Even if she talks on time, there will be some things that she cannot say, and signing will help fill in that gap. I know you know all the benefits of signing too.

[Xica]

No, I don't think so. In my daughter's case, it can be that at the beginning I did not talk to her at lot. Also, my husband travels a lot and we don't have too many family here, so she depends on me to learn. Also, being expose to both language, she is picking the easiest words to say for everything. Also, she is creating her signs for thinks she likes and I haven't taught her yet and use them along with talking.
Sign language is helping me to talk more to her because when I sign I say the word in both language.

[Joha]

Thank you to both for the reply. Valerie is my first baby so there are certain milestones that we reach together because I'm not 100% sure of the time frame for some of them. For whatever reason I though kids started talking earlier, but I see your kids are older and they are using signing as a communication tool, which was the reason why we started teaching her signing language. We'll just be patience and wait when she goes through her "signing explosion". 

 

[PY]

Hi joha,
I started to sign to my baby since she was 7 months, I knew sign language so it was easy for me to teach or showing her the sign all the time and at the same time showing her the object, so she can recognize and remebers the sign. When she turn 11 months I was waiting for she to start signing but nothing..( I was kind of upset ..I tought maybe won't work for her)but after she turned 12 months, right after her birthday she started to sign..her first sign was more, and milk...when she turned 14 months she had like 20 signs in her dairy bases.

She never liked BST or ST videos when she was younger, for some reason, she just will cry everytime, so I tried twice and thats it!! I was just doing the signs myself for her all the time, and I made some flashcards for her, in one side goes the object and the name of the object and the other side goes the sign. I just cut some magazines to get the pictures from there. It was a challenge get real pictures and colorful, I also find them online and printe them, after that I write the name of the picture with read marker  and then laminate them myself with the big tape I found on wallmart...because is way chepear..of course it took over  three nights to finished them.

I have to make more flahcards  because she knows all of them...the most important part she really loves her flashcards, she brings them to me all the time to see the pcitures and do the signs. It encourage me to keep making more.

Now she is almost 19 months and I lost the track of how many signs she knows AND SHE is learning more form ST , she started to watch ST  one week ago, now she enjoys it better than before.

Hope it helps. or gives you a better idea. I have being hearing people saying to me...don't sign to your baby..it will delay her spech!!!!I DON'T BELIEVE THAT AT ALL.....I love when she signs to me, it make our life way easier and funner. I can ask her anything and she will make the sign...so I know what she wants. I am very proud of her, the funny part is her daddy didn't have a clue about siging and now he signs with her and understans her better.

I think signing with her make us closer to her. We have a preschool .we have kids from her age too , they don't sign but they don't have vocabulary either, Catalina signs , speaks 12 wrds in spanish and some in english...It is frustrated not being able to comunicate with the rest of the children, if they don't sign...they just make sounds and I have not clue what they want...I have to guess and they get really sad if I don't do what they are asking me for.

Don't worry Joha, It takes time but once you get there is easier and it will make your baby's life easier and happier. Keep it up!! Karma to you for making this for your daughter. You are giving her a way to make her life nicer.
 

[Joha]

Thanks for your reply PY! I think I'm back on track with the signing    What I was saying before, for wathever reason I thought kids started to talk earlier than they actually do, so it definetly makes sense and I do know that it gives them some literacy and development advantages too. I have also experience that it may make a bit easier the bilingual teaching, so that is a plus too.

Since you know signing language, Valerie has been hitting her arm with the other hand and I'm not sure if she is trying to tell me something. Do you know what this may mean? One of my issues it that I have a terrible memory so sometimes I don't remember the signs    I need to start watching the BST videos with her everytime so I can remember the signs! I do soemtimes, but not always.

Thanks again!

[nhockaday]

Is she signing cracker? You are supposed to hit your elbow with your fist. Gabriel used to hit his arm instead.

[waterdreamer]

Signing is a great second language for any child. I started teaching my son sign later(25months) because he was speech delayed. However there are studies that say that signing helps children speak, it should not be looked at as "well they can sign why would they talk." It should be looked at the same way as crawling is to walking. Children want to communicate, and they soon learn that talking is more effective then signing. And if you child is one of the late talkers you gave them a tool to express themselves and avoid frustration and behavior issues.

[Joha]

Is she signing cracker? You are supposed to hit your elbow with your fist. Gabriel used to hit his arm instead.

Well I thought about cracker but I hardly ever give her any and it was at such a random time that it just didn't seem to fit what was going on in that moment 

[nhockaday]

What was going on? If you remember, maybe I can help.

Another thing, you mentioned that you don't watch the videos with her every time. I highly recommend you do that b/c she will learn to sign much faster if you are doing the signs with the videos and helping her sign too. I used to do the sign and then show Gabriel how to sign it with his hands. He would then try to do it himself. I think that really helped, plus you learn the signs too. Kids love to show off. If you're sitting there with her, she will be more compelled to do a sign rather than doing it by herself.

[Joha]

She was just sitting on the carpet with daddy, mommy and grandma. We were just talking to her. She had already had her breakfast. Maybe it was just a reflex?

Thanks again for the suggestion about watching the videos with her I'm definetly going to be doing that from now on.

[nhockaday]

One more thing, do you sign with her throughout the day? It's really important for her to see you signing. It reinforces the videos, and hey, look, Mommy is signing ball. Cool, I might try it too.

[Xica]

What was going on? If you remember, maybe I can help.

Another thing, you mentioned that you don't watch the videos with her every time. I highly recommend you do that b/c she will learn to sign much faster if you are doing the signs with the videos and helping her sign too. I used to do the sign and then show Gabriel how to sign it with his hands. He would then try to do it himself. I think that really helped, plus you learn the signs too. Kids love to show off. If you're sitting there with her, she will be more compelled to do a sign rather than doing it by herself.

Nkockaday is right. No only you will learn the sign but you will see how your kid does the sign for the things she is learning. For example, my daughter used to sign water with only 1 finger; but because she was doing it along with the video, I knew what she was trying to say. Same thing for rhino, cracker, train.

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