Teaching your baby to sign with Baby Signs
If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I'm a big fan of Signing Time(as are the other reviewers here) , a set of videos and DVDs designed to teach your child to sign.So I was curious to take a look at the other program I had heard so much about but not seen - Baby Signs. There are two major differences between Signing Time and Baby Signs - the first being that Baby Signs is more of a program and line. They offer products beyond the DVDs - including flashcards, books, parent kits and local classes.
Second, Baby Signs is geared towards infants. The videos are definitely more focused on introducing the under-12 month group to sign language.
A teddy bear named "Beebo" helps to teach the signs, and the set-up is very Baby Einstein feeling - stuffed animals and other objects do a good job keeping baby's attention. Not all of the signs are ASL -- some of them are modified to something a little easier for your baby's hands.
It still boggles my mind that everyone doesn't sign with their child. At 20 months, my son is now able to communicate with me verbally (for the most part) but months ago, that wasn't the case.
I *know* that things would have been a lot more difficult if he weren't able to sign "help," "more," "eat," and others when he wanted something. I found that signing with my child definitely helped to reduce frustration with my son once he was able to tell me what he needed.
Check out Baby Signs online.
7 Comments:
Whitney which would you recommend getting for a new baby?
I bought the Parent Kit and signed with my twins. It was a wonderful experience! My twins used over 100 signs at the peak of their signing! We sang and signed, we read books and signed, and they could tell me what they saw, heard, and the coolest was to realize they were telling me about something they remembered! I have older children that I did not sign with, the difference between my older children and my twins in terms of frustration was night and day! I loved every minute of it and would suggest getting the kit for any new parent!
I have also met a few kids that were taught sign and continued to use it when they should of been learning to speak. One didnt speak til 20 months and the other almost two. The doctors related all of it to signing. The kids had no reason to speak cause they could sign for whatever they wanted. It does have some downfalls.
As a family using the Baby Signs program, we learned that you must ALWAYS speak the word as you do a sign. They compare crawling/walking to signing/talking. Crawling does not impede a baby's natural progression to walking. It actually whets their appetites for getting around a little more efficiently. Same goes for signing and learning to talk. My son attempted to say the words he was signing from a very early age. He wants to do everything just like we do, including talking! We have cherished our precious "conversations" with him since he was 9 months old!!!
I would certainly recommend it for an infant. I think you need to go with one or the other (Baby Signs or Signing Time) and be consistent in which program you choose- since the signs vary with each. I'd be inclined to say that if you wanted to start very early, to try Baby Signs, and if you start later, to consider Signing Time.
We used Signing Time, and didn't start until 12 months. If we had started earlier, I'm sure he would have started signing earlier too.
I'm not sure I believe that signing delays speech. All the kids I know who sign are advanced in their communcation skills. With DS, I was always really good about both signing and saying the word at once.
To be sure, some words he still won't say and only signs (for whatever reason, he's VERY stubborn about "bird." He has yet to attempt to say that word- even though he puts other words together in sentences, he just has to still sign bird!) but I consider it a feat either way - as long as he's communicating to me what he's seeing/thinking, I think it's a good thing.
I totally disagree that signing will cause your baby to delay speaking. My daughter is 16 months old and we have been signing with her since she was 5 months old. I started using the Baby Signs program and within two weeks she was signing back at 10 months old. She know over 50 signs and is able to communicate everything she sees and feels. She just learned to tell me she is afraid and sad this past week. She is also talking up a storm. She uses both signs and words and the signs do not stop her from trying to talk. I would say that her signing has actually helped her to talk sooner. I wouldn't know what to do if she didn't sign to me. She would just whine and cry and that would be frustrating.
There is actually 2 decades of scientific research on using the Baby Signs® Program which proves that it does not hinder - but in fact helps boost language development. You can read about the research online at:
www.babysigns.com
Of course, there is always a percentage of children who will be delayed in speech. So, in reality, these 2 children you speak of may have had speech delay issues that would have happened regardless of whether they learned to sign. The wonderful benefit they were given though, was that they could communicate with signs their needs, wants, etc. until they were able to communicate with speech. I'm sure it greatly reduced their frustration!
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