Tag Archives: sign language

Spilling Crackers

Posted on by

My wife and I have been trying to use some sign language with our son to increase our communication before he becomes reasonably vocal. He learned the sign for “milk” very very early and he’s been progressing ever since. At each milestone we’ve introduced more words: “More,” “Bath,” and most recently “Cracker.” Today we wondered how to sign “Crackers” in the plural because me son certainly found a way to get a lot of them at once. My wife lovingly found little crackers from an organic company and has been kept sane by ensuring her son is getting the very … Continue reading →

Baby Sign Language: Good or Bad?

Do you sign with your baby? Popular books like BabyWise by Ezzo tout signing with your baby as the answer to teaching your baby manners. At around five months, you’re supposed to start teaching your baby signs for thirsty, hungry, please and thank you. Other proponents note that babies definitely are able to think more than they can communicate. Teaching sign makes communicating basic needs much less frustrating. (Have you ever had your child repeatedly say a completely unintelligible word to their utter frustration because you can’t understand?) If only all babies signed, we could see what’s inside their heads … Continue reading →

Baby’s Favorite Places: First Words — Around Town

The Baby Einstein Company has a new DVD in town called “Baby’s Favorite Places: First Words — Around Town.” This new video features baby’s first words around the neighborhood and around the town. This is the second Baby Einstein video to feature the words in sign language; the first was “Baby Wordsworth: First Words — Around the House.” As in “Baby Wordsworth,” Academy Award Winning actress Marlee Matlin introduces the sign language for the word as a picture of the object is shown next to her. Each word is spoken as well. At the end of each segment, a child … Continue reading →

Teaching Baby Sign Language

This blog contains some basic information about teaching baby sign language much of it drawn from the site Signing Baby.com. For more detailed information, pictures of babies signing, and helpful hints I suggest visiting their website. Most parents start with need based signs such as: milk, more, drink, hungry, all done, sleep, diaper, etc. These signs allow your child to tell you when they need something. Once your baby has mastered the need-based signs then you can add other signs that your baby finds motivating. Think about what your child enjoys, if your child loves books or to play with … Continue reading →

Interview with Creator of Signing Baby.com

Monica Beyer is the creator of the web site Signing Baby.com. She currently lives in St. Joseph Missouri with her three children, Dagan (10), Corbin (7), and Lauren (3). Besides baby sign language her passions are reading, web design, and gardening. I recently interviewed her about baby sign language, her use of it, and her web site www.signingbaby.com. How did you get started using baby sign language? In the year 2000, my second son was around 11 months old. I saw a television program about a baby girl who could use sign language to show her mother that her teeth … Continue reading →

Some Q&A on Baby Sign Language

Posted on by

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 … Continue reading →

Come Sign With Me

Posted on by

My husband’s step-mother transliterates for a living. A transliterater is someone who uses American Sign Language to communicate a lecture or discussion for deaf students and others. She works in a college system and enjoys the experience of living and working in two different, yet parallel communities. She was one of the first people to mention sign language for babies – a growing and popular trend in infant and toddler development. The Desire to Communicate The desire to communicate is very strong in humans and it is present from the moment our babies draw their first breath of air and … Continue reading →

Baby Sign Language

Babies use gestures to communicate from an early age. They might point at a toy that they want or wave bye-bye. The fine muscles in a baby’s hands are developed long before they can speak. Remember how your baby could find a minute piece of something off the floor and pick it up, but couldn’t tell you that they wanted a drink. Baby signing takes the babies natural inclination to use gestures and gives them meaning. What is baby signing? More and more parents are teaching their babies signs so that they can communicate with their child before they can … Continue reading →