Baby Sign Languageby Teresa McEntire | More from this Blogger 06 Jul 2006 09:00 PM Babies use gestures to communicate from an early age. They might point at a toy that they want or wave bye-bye. The fine muscles in a baby's hands are developed long before they can speak. Remember how your baby could find a minute piece of something off the floor and pick it up, but couldn't tell you that they wanted a drink. Baby signing takes the babies natural inclination to use gestures and gives them meaning. What is baby signing? More and more parents are teaching their babies signs so that they can communicate with their child before they can talk. As a parent you teach your child certain signs that represent common objects, desires, and needs that your baby has. Allowing them to communicate with you. Most parents start with need based signs such as: milk, more, drink, hungry, all done, sleep, diaper, etc. These signs allow your child to tell you when they need something. Once your baby has mastered the need-based signs then you can add other signs that your baby finds motivating. Think about what your child enjoys, if your child loves books or to play with balls teach him the sign for book or ball. You might also teach your baby a sign for mommy, daddy, or their siblings' names.
Sign for Eat Sign for Mommy What are the benefits to baby sign language? Babies who are taught sign language:
Parents who teach their babies sign language experience:
Does baby sign language inhibit speech development? In 2000 Baby Signs.com published the results of a study funded by the National Institute of Health, which showed that babies who signed were consistently more advanced in their language and speech skills than babies who never signed. The reason is simple just as children who learn to walk stop crawling, babies who sign stop signing after they can talk. It is a natural progression. Signing Baby.com explains that, "far from getting in the way of the process, Baby Signs provides a bridge that helps the transition from no language to spoken language. The experience of Baby Signing teaches babies useful lessons about how language works-lessons that speed up the process of learning to talk once words are finally available. By enabling a baby to practice learning and using symbols to label objects, express needs, and describe feelings." As a parent teaches their baby sign language they immerse the child in words since the parent is supposed to say the word every time they do the sign. The more words a child hears the easier it is for them to speak. "In addition, once a child begins to produce Baby Signs on his or her own, parents find themselves responding with words and words and more words. When your baby begins to look at you and sniff for flower while strolling through the park, you will automatically respond with something like, 'Oh, you see the flowers! Yes, those are pretty flowers. We see lots of flowers, don't we?'" Note: All photos were used by permission from Signing Baby.com Learn more about Teresa McEntire  Teresa McEntire grew up in Utah the oldest of four children. She currently lives in Kuna, Idaho, near Boise. She and her husband Gene have been married for almost ten years. Relevantparenting tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags baby sign language, communication, sign language Discuss this article
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