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.