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Parenting
Baby Sign
Language
by Kay Green
Baby Sign, the teaching
of sign language to hearing babies. Why? When? How?
I have always had an interest in sign language
since knowing my deaf aunt and uncle as a little girl. I myself know a little
sign for worship at church. I read about the new idea of teaching sign to
hearing babies and immediately knew I would like to do that with Haley. My
adopted daughter will be 1 year old on Tuesday.
I admit I did not teach sign to me 3 teenagers
when they were babies. However with baby number 4 in my home with me at age
40, there are a lot of things I do differently this time around.
Sign language for babies uses a different part
of the brain then speech. Studies have shown that these babies who learn
sign are less frustrated because they can express their wants and needs.
It also says that these babies are actually ahead, not delayed, in speech
development. Babies are able to do many signs before they can speak the
words.
Our babies all do some signs without us even
thinking about it. They wave Hi and bye-bye. They point to things they want.
They make animal signs or sounds. Haley loves to do fish lips and blows kisses,
nod yes and no. When your baby starts learning to wave it is a perfect time
to begin teaching other signs.
When Haley was about 8-9 months old and could
wave I started showing a few signs consistently. Milk, more, kitty, all done.
I remember well the day Haley got the sign for MORE (fingers tips together
in front of your chest). She has always been very verbal and clear about
what she wants. That usually meant yelling at you. I was working on the computer.
I had a bag of baby cookies. She would have one, then come back and scream
indicating she wanted another and I gave it to her. After 5 or 6 times I
thought "Wow, I am teaching her to scream for what she wants." The next time
she came I said "MORE?" and did the sign with my fingers. I repeated that
for several times. Then the next time I did it with her fingers and said
the word. We did that a couple times. Then she came up and did the sign the
next time, without screaming. YEAH! Success! That way too easy. I realize
how quickly she got it and started showing her other signs. |
