I get a lot of comments and questions on how to teach your child sign language. The reason I decided to teach my daughter sign language is I have watched a lot of children who do not know sign language and when they get to the age of, “I want to do everything myself” it can get very frustrating, especially if you cannot understand each other. So my initial reasoning was to help pre-empt the terrible toddler years. My daughter has been signing for a very long time now that she is 17 months! Crazy how fast time fly’s by. She can sign a whole host of words now. This is what I did to get started and steps I suggest.
First off they say you can start teaching baby sign when a baby can follow your hands. I started teaching my little one at about three months. Mostly so I could start figuring it out for myself so I was better at it by the time she was ready. Since I started so early so did she! My daughter signed to me for the first time at 5 months asking me to change her diaper. I was shocked and astonished and didn't believe it until she continuously did it the rest of the day. It took much longer for her to start signing other words; her next word was daddy that she signed. Just recently she has actually started signing mommy for mommy and daddy for daddy. For the longest time I was daddy too. Back to the diaper changing, I think this was her first sign because she did not like her diapers wet and a light bulb went off in her head when I would do that sign for change me and then change her.
I learned most of my baby sign by watching YouTube videos
for free! I would watch them with her
while she nursed, and I would teach myself about 5 new signs a day, and before
I knew it I had quite the vocabulary. Here are some of my favorite YouTube
videos I watched.
Patty is funny to watch, but my daughter actually loves
watching her! Now she will sit and watch her videos and sign along with her. It
is the most precious thing to watch.
Baby Signing time has a whole bunch of videos you can watch short bits
of for free, you can also rent them from the library. They do take a long time to get from the
library for the wait.
I also took a baby signing time class, which I felt was
beneficial in the fact that it got me going and kept me going, but I do not
think I learned a whole bunch of words from the class, it was just fun.
The science behind it:
·
reduces frustration, biting and other aggressive behaviors.
·
helps parents and teachers be more observant and responsive.
·
builds trust between babies and their parents and caregivers.
·
allows babies to share their worlds revealing just how smart
babies really are.
·
promotes positive emotional development.
·
results in better language development.
·
results in better motor skills.
·
reduces stress levels among center staff.
·
increases a mother's feelings of self-efficacy.
·
boosts babies' self-confidence and builds self-esteem.
·
helps mothers become more "tuned in" to their children's
emotions.
·
increases the children's attempts to communicate with their
mothers.
·
decreases the number of expressions of distress from the children.
Here are some of the most important words:
More
More
Milk
Diaper
Mommy
Daddy
Eat/Food
Water
Hot
I love you
Thank you/ You’re welcome
Please
Hurt
Help
All done
Nice
Gentle
Again
Sorry
I sign and speak just about everything I do for my little
one, at first it seemed a little crazy when she was three months just staring
at me, but now I feel like we have conversations and she just understands me
and sometimes understands more than I think she does. Don’t forget it can be months before your
baby signs back to you. Continue with
repetition and soon they will understand and sign back!
Some important notes make sure if they start signing you
sign the correct version, their little hands will get the hang of it as they get
older. REPETION, REPETION, AND REPETION. Oh and don’t forget patience.
Whether or not it’s for you, you can start small and keep
adding words as you build your vocabulary. The two things I love most coming
from my signing tot are I love you and please and thank you!
Research taken from babysigns.com and
baby signing time.
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