Sign Language For Babies - Beyond Peek-a-boo

Like to know what your baby is feeling? There's a world of different approaches to learning, an article in the Chicago Sun Times states, and sign language for babies is one of them. I whole heartedly agree!

August 27, 2007 www.suntimes.com

Maybe you know this already, but there's more a baby under age 1 can (and some say should) experience than peek-a-boo, visually stimulating toys and the important but typical array of other developmental activities detailed in countless baby books and magazines. Much more. If you're searching for alternatives, one of these might fit the bill.

Sign Language for Babies

"[Babies] know what they would like to share with their parents through the observations they make," says [sign language for babies expert Linda] Acredolo. "They even have some sense of what they're feeling. And so with simple signs, they can express those emotions, and they can let parents know what they are seeing and perceiving and remembering."

And, Acredolo says, her research has proven that signing won't stunt the development of verbal skills, as some skeptics fear. Other experts agree.

Liz Gordon has taught baby sign language in the Chicago area for two years. "It's very important for parents and anyone that really deals with the child on a regular basis to use the signs consistently at home," says Gordon, who teaches private in-home sessions (for groups of four or more) and public classes at various suburban park districts. One of Gordon's former pupils, the 13-month-old daughter of Wauconda resident Heather Kearns, began at 9 months and already has mastered 35 signs. "It's sort of cool," Kearns says, "because you're like, 'We're actually sort of communicating. She's getting her point across.' "

Sign Language For Babies - Trendy or For Real?

Turns out that sign language for babies is more than just a hot trend for new parents.

As I mentioned in my last post, being a bit of a research junkie, I started looking for more info online about sign language for babies.

There is a ton of information out there and gazillions of books, videos, and flash cards for teaching your baby to sign. From the proliferation of merchandise available, it seems that a lot of folks have jumped on the bandwagon of the sign language for babies trend.

But, it is true that the benefits of sign language for your child’s development are well documented. It has been shown that pre-verbal babies are happier and less frustrated when they can communicate better with their parents and that there are longer term developmental advantages too.

I found several well known experts who promote the benefits of sign language for babies based on years of research.

• Linda Acredolo, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and Susan Goodwyn, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and child development at California State University, Stanislaus have conducted over two decades of academic research on the use of signs with hearing babies, including a long-term study funded by the National Institutes of Health. They wrote a book, Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk.They have found that babies who learned sign language were able to engage in more joint attention episodes with their mothers at 19 and 24 months than other babies, and that these babies tend to learn to talk earlier too. They have also found that the experience has a positive effect on IQ at age 8.
  

• Joseph Garcia began studying American Sign Language in 1975. He began using it extensively in his personal and professional life, and eventually became a Certified Interpreter. Becoming involved with the Deaf community, he soon noticed that hearing children of deaf parents started communicating with sign language at an earlier age than hearing children did with spoken language. Intrigued by this observation, he decided to research early childhood language acquisition and the part sign language could play in the process.He has written the book Sign with Your Baby.

• Marilyn Daniels, Ph.D. a professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State University, is a distinguished researcher and a recognized authority on the benefits of teaching sign language to hearing children. She has written a book on the subject, Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children's Literacy.

Dr Daniels promotes the benefits of having babies learn a national sign language instead of invented gestures or "home signs." She prefers to teach hearing babies American Sign Language (ASL) because it is a recognized language.

Learning ASL also furthers brain development in hearing babies, says Dr Daniels, because "ASL uses the eyes to a far greater degree than any spoken language. The eyes develop sooner in young children and when you take in information with your eyes you are using the right brain."

A guide to teaching your baby to sign is the best way to get started in learning to communicate with your baby. With all the products out there, it is hard to choose where to start – many of them look like they might be good. My friend Melissa told me about Sign Language for Babies and Beyond that she found online. I like that it uses signing based on ASL, especially as I want Emma to learn a language that will help her to be able to keep talking with Great-Grandpa as he loses his hearing.

Sign Language For Babies

When my daughter Emma was born, all my friends with babies and toddlers were talking about sign language for babies. To tell you the truth, up until we became pregnant with our daughter, I hadn’t thought about all the ways we would interact with our baby or how we would enrich her development. Like most parents-to-be we were focused on the event – the birth – and holding our new baby in our arms. No clue as to how dramatically our lives would change, forever!

Once we finally started sleeping again, and Emma became more of a little personality, it was so much fun to see her developing and doing new things every day! We joined a “play group” that I found out about from another new mom I met in childbirth class. Everyone was talking about sign language for babies and how great it was to learn how to communicate with your baby even before they can talk.

First I just started picking up a few signs from the other moms and babies in our group, and trying them out with Emma, but then being a bit of a research junkie, I started looking for more info online about sign language for babies. Turns out it is more than just a hot new trend for new parents.

You know what really grabs me about teaching Emma sign language for babies as she develops? Her great-grandpa who dotes on her is going deaf. Maybe Emma and Grandpa can learn together and he will always be able to hear her!