American Sign Language and your Baby
That's my baby signing water. His version of water but water nonetheless!Today he said “La La”.
Some people fear that their baby will have speech delay if they use sign language but the opposite was found to be true. According to a study that was published out of
I was lucky to learn American Sign Language, the beautiful visual language of the American Deaf population, in college. With my first two girls I signed mostly for fun since even at a young age had a large amount of spoken words. But with my son, I started teaching him when the screaming got too much! We figured he had something to say and we’d help him out a little.
I started signing to him when he was about 6 months of age with “all done” and “more”. These for obvious reasons I knew would come in handy when he wanted to get down from his high chair or he wanted more food. But when I really got serious at 15 months old, his vocabulary blossomed! He took months to learn some signs such as water but minutes for "apple" and seconds for “candy”. I think he was pretty motivated!
My son is speaking more and more each week. I know as he learns to speak more, signing will be something he does for fun and not out of a communication necessity. But for now it is part of every conversation we have, and I’m so grateful to be able to understand how he feels and what he wants.
Sheila Cason, MD
Labels: Communication
3 Comments:
I didn't sign with my first two, but my mom started signing with the twins for fun (ASL is a hobby of hers), and it turned out to be WONDERFUL. They were in that stage where "cracker" was "hah-her" or whatever, and it was SO FRUSTRATING for them and for us. But then my mom taught them the SIGN for cracker, and if they said "hah-her" and knocked an elbow, we were like, "OHHHHHHHHHH!"
Is it too late to teach my daughter sign language now? She's coming up on 14 months old.
It's never too late to teach them sign language!
Watch her language and see if there is something you really want her to know or if she says a few things that all sound the same. You can then tease out what she wants by giving her a few signs. I think the biggest hurdle to get through is for them to realize that the sign you are making is representative of the word you are saying. So having said this, I think it can help if you sign a word she already definitely knows such as eat or Mommy...
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home