sign language for babies

lola_2-2

Noticed there were classes in my health club and some books on the market about learnign to communicate with your baby before it learns to talk. Has anyone tried this? Can you recommend a good book?

Jay-Jay_4

Hiya!

I did signing with both of my two and my youngest (16months) still signs.

I've done BSL (british sign language) and SSE (sign supported english) and I bought a book on signing to babies, researched it and used it with my eldest from her being a few months old.

We only used basic signs like drink, more, all gone etc but she picked it up VERY quickly indeed. Both of mine could ask for a drink from around 6 months of age which makes life SO much easier. My youngest's favourite sign at the moment is 'more' and 'yoghurt'....usually combined :rolleyes:

The idea is to get them to use the sign along with the word, so although my youngest daughter signs 'more' she also says it very clearly.

A few people argue that children wont speak if they sign.....RUBBISH! They speak quicker if anything and there's non of that squealing that you get at around 1 year old when they want something but can't tell you due to lack of language.

How many children learn bye bye as their first words? now think about what they do when they say it.....they wave...well THAT's a sign! The fact is that children learn quicker when there's an action. Think of songs like The Wheels on the Bus, Incey Wincey Spider etc...they all have actions (signs) and our children learn them really quickly.

There is a book called Baby Signs which IIRC is sold by Forest who sell books relating to deafness, that's the one I bought (I lent it to someone and never got it back)

There's also TinyTalk who organise the groups, there are none in my area otherwise I would've loved to have gone. Here they learn songs with actions but the songs relate to real life so that the child learns to incorporate it into everyday life.


Edited to say: If any of you have babies of around 6 months you may like to try the sign for drink. Each time you give baby their beaker say here's ****'s DRINK and do the action that you would do if you were miming a drink (Think Peter Kay..wanna brew) Each time they have a drink say this and when you take the beaker from them repeat that it's ****'s drink while doing the action. It's important to speak clearly and repeat yourself frequently so that the baby knows that you shaking your hand in front of your mouth while saying the word 'drink' means that they do actually get a drink.(don't do it at any other time) in a week or two your baby will shake his hand in front of his face and look at you knowingly...voila!

Spendless

Jay-Jay wrote:

Hiya!



A few people argue that children wont speak if they sign.....RUBBISH! They speak quicker if anything and there's non of that squealing that you get at around 1 year old when they want something but can't tell you due to lack of language.

I'd like to agree with Jay Jay here.

Though I never signed with mine as babies, they've both go on to attend a private nursery which is attached to the deaf school. The nursery has hearing,deaf and hearing impaired children there. The staff sign as well as speak to them and son was picking up sign language. He's forgotten it now he's 5 and in the local infant school, but there is been no problem whatsoever My 2 are complete chatterboxes.

bylromarha

I finished a baby sign course last month and it was really good. During the 5 week course, we covered general things like pls,thx, all gone, foods, drink, animals, transport, alphabet, family, routine, colours, weather. She basically taught us BSL, but gave us the freedom to say go with your childs signs...and also how to practically use them.

there were some successes during the 5 weeks with some of the older babies, so the impact is realised in a short time.

Our course was funded by the council as adult learning, so not only was the course free, but so were the creche places for the babies during the 2 hour sessions.:D

Below is one of the books someone spotted in the library, so worth checking out.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904550045/qid=1116951275/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-4590276-9162820

HTH

Lucie_2

BBC Breakfast did an item on this recently

jellyhead

i read an article about it somewhere recently but can't for the life of me think where, the conclusion was that signing doesn't inhibit the baby from learning to speak, they do both at the same time. as my firstborn didn't speak until 3 and a half i think signing could have made his life (and mine!) a lot easier during the terrible 2's. he signs now, my stepsister is deaf. i've had sign classes but i just can't do it, hubby and son are great at it though and maybe i'll learn at the same time as little roo, i'm planning to teach him :-)

Savvy_Sue

Jay-Jay wrote:

Edited to say: If any of you have babies of around 6 months you may like to try the sign for drink. Each time you give baby their beaker say here's ****'s DRINK and do the action that you would do if you were miming a drink (Think Peter Kay..wanna brew) Each time they have a drink say this and when you take the beaker from them repeat that it's ****'s drink while doing the action. It's important to speak clearly and repeat yourself frequently so that the baby knows that you shaking your hand in front of your mouth while saying the word 'drink' means that they do actually get a drink.(don't do it at any other time) in a week or two your baby will shake his hand in front of his face and look at you knowingly...voila!

Hey, I use this one when I'm putting the kettle on at work and one of my colleagues is on the phone! It works really well!!! (As long as I know WHAT drink they want!)

Smiley_Mum

I signed with my kids and they picked it up very quickly and it did make things a lot easier. I can't say I noticed them speak any quicker but now they are in school and nursery they are certainly on the ball with learning. I used the following -

Sign with your Baby by Joseph Garcia, complete with video. It was featured on Tonight with Trevor MacDonald back around 1999/2000 when my first son was born.

Jay-Jay_4

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Hey, I use this one when I'm putting the kettle on at work and one of my colleagues is on the phone! It works really well!!! (As long as I know WHAT drink they want!)

ahah!!! now you see...what you need to do is mouth "coffee" while making a C shape with your index finger and thumb (the BSL sign for C). If they shake their head then mouth "Tea" while touching the outside edge of your left hand (palm up halfway between your little finger and wrist) with your right index finger (BSL sign for T)........ After a while they'll be signing what they want before you ask, you can then reply with a two finger salute (BSL sign for F off)

ribenagirl

I'm a speech and language therapist. Most therapists agree that it promotes interaction between parent and baby, stimulates basic communication skills like listening, turntaking, and rewards the baby's attempts to communicate. Babies comprehension develops more quickly than the ability of their oral muscles and the parts of their brain that control fine motor movement. Signing enables them to successfully interact with the world around them albeit on a limited scale. As another poster said, the most success is with the older babies who are making the beginnings of speech sounds (like cooing and babbling) and older anyway.

What we can't agree on as a profession is whether it actually delays the onset of speech because the baby has 'no need' to speak (which is more complex) if they can already sign.

However, my own personal view is that baby sign is a good thing. Children quickly learn the social norms of the culture they are brought up in. So long as the parent provides the word, and use of the word is encouraged (and there is no reason why a parent can't later expect the child to say the word and gradually 'fade out' the signing), my own view is that is would help not hinder. I am not speaking on behalf of the profession, just giving my own view

Personally I am all for it and think it's great, and when I have my own I will definitely be signing with them!

needmoney

Jay-Jay wrote:

you can then reply with a two finger salute (BSL sign for F off)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: hope u don't teach that to the babies too:D