We’ve been talking about baby sign language both here and in the Parenting blog. Because I’ve gotten a couple of notes on blog I wrote about baby sign language, I thought we’d start off this morning with a few questions and answers about baby sign language.
Does Baby Sign Language cause a delay on when a baby speaks?
Studies indicate that teaching your baby sign language helps teach speech at the same time. The point is to not sign in silence, but to use signs in conjunction with spoken words. Let’s put it this way, the sign for thank you is to put the flat of your hand and fingertips to your mouth and waving your hand down in an arc while you say thank you. You are using both the physical, non-verbal signal in conjunction with the verbal cue – this helps your baby connect the two and learn the meaning associated with both.
Sign language is just another way to learn to communicate. In fact, they are teaching sign language in many preschools in conjunction with learning the alphabet. My daughter benefits from having a transliterater in the family, but she can also sign the alphabet and several other key phrases from thank you to I love you –and she used baby sign language so it’s not a stretch for her to use her hands to communicate now as she did when she was a baby.
Isn’t sign language harder to learn than spoken language?
Not really, most baby signs are a simplified version of sign language based on ASL (American Sign Language) or New Zealand Sign language. The signs are more like miming signals or for lack of a better description like playing charades with your baby. They touch their lips to indicate hunger, the tip their thumb up for wanting a drink and they tap the top of their head to say they want their hat.
The point of baby sign language is to help you connect with your baby and communicate before they are able to form full sentences. Why miss out on the opportunity to learn more about the facets of your baby’s personality and their desire to interact with you? And the great thing is that baby sign language, whether you know it or not is very recognizable for people – and it is a delight to everyone who gets the opportunity to interact with them.
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