Rewards of Baby Signs

Beyond communication with Deaf people, American Sign Language (or any sign language for that matter) has a very real value for hearing people, namely parents. Recently hearing parents have caught onto the idea of baby signs as a way to communicate with their children earlier than by speech alone. The basic concept is that developmentally, children can make signals with their hands long before they can speak. In short, hands and arms develop quicker and easier than throat and tongue muscles. So by teaching babies basic signs such as "milk", "food", "bathroom", "mom", and "dad", they can express themselves much earlier in life. Babies have been reported able to communicate by sign as early as 6 months, as compared talking which ranges from 6 months to 2 years.

So what's the point? Well, when your toddler is screaming it's head off, having a way to communicate rather than guessing at screams can save you and your child much frustration. It is also useful in quieter situations, like meal time. Babies can learn to ask for specific foods or drinks by name. Or during playtime, babies can ask for a book or specific toy. Here's an example:

Laura Berg, mother in the video and founder of My Smart Hands, shares this success story about Baby Signs:

One story I always share with people is when my daughter was ten months old she was eating Cheerios and signing ‘more'. I'd give her more and she would throw them on the floor and sign ‘more' again. I said to her, "Then you don't want MORE… what do you want?" She looked at me and signed ‘more cheese'. I was amazed for two reasons: 1. She put together a two word sentence at ten months. 2. There was no cheese in sight. I hadn't offered her cheese during that snack time yet she was able to clearly communicate to me what she wanted. I could imagine how frustrated she would have been if she hadn't been able to tell me what she wanted.

Baby signs are also a great way to help along kids' grasp of language and vocabulary. A child may know what something is, but be unable to name it vocally. But with signs, their vocabulary can build as they're learning to talk. They can grasp concepts earlier. Berg says:

Imagine, you have two children and they both don’t talk until they are two. You sign with the first child and not with the second. The first child is able to easily communicate with you and use 50 plus words easily, all while building more and more vocabulary until the age of two. The second child is only able to use pointing and sounds to let you know what he wants. When both children start talking at two, who did you think would have the larger vocabulary? Obviously the child who was signed to because he’s used language in a more advanced way through his two years of life. Plus the adults around him are probably talking to him in more advanced sentences than the second child because we know that the child comprehends what we are saying.

And there is no risk of a child not developing speech. Babies will naturally absorb the language that is around them, and unless the parents are only using ASL in complete silence (very unlikely for hearing parents), babies will listen and imitate sounds of the language they hear. In fact, when teaching baby signs, parents often repeat words many times, giving babies a ton of verbal reinforcement. Berg says:

There have been zero studies that have shown signing to hinder language. In fact, all of the studies on signing with children show that signing accelerates language in many cases. People confuse speech and language. A child who signs is using language, more language in fact than a non-signing child. Speech is the ability to form sounds to produce the language. Some children don’t develop the ability to speak until much later than other children. The reality is babies want to talk, they babble all the time. When they are able to talk, they will. It is not easier to sign than talk. It is much easier for a child to talk. However, when you don’t have that ability then signing is easier and a great bridge until speech does develop.

Parents might feel anxious about trying to teach their kids words from a language they don't know, but Rational Jenn has a different perspective on it, which might put some at ease:

The way I'd explain it that we often teach our kids to wave "bye-bye" without a second thought. And often as not, the child would wave for a while, and then add the word "bye-bye" pretty quickly after. And even if they didn't, wasn't it cool that we knew what the baby was saying? That's how I viewed baby signs--and those signs were ESPECIALLY helpful with concepts like MORE and HELP and AGAIN and ALL DONE. You can't really point at those objects in reality, so I think using signs for higher-level concepts is so much easier on parents and kids.

...

They used signs in the same way they'd wave bye-bye. Humans are naturally gesture-y, I think. Shaking/nodding heads, pointing fingers, etc. I looked at using ASL as an extension of that. They really responded to it, and it was very natural for them, too. Children are conceptual very, very early--as early as 10 months of age. But most of them lack the physical ability to recreate words--there's a lot of skill that they need to move their lips and tongues in a coordinated manner. It's easier for them to use gross motor skills, and many of the simple ASL signs involve large motor skills with their arms and hands. I looked at signing as providing them with extra communication tools, to be able to tell us what they need ('eat' or 'help' or 'again') even though their mouths couldn't tell us.

If you feel overwhelmed, (or are having issues explaining to friends why you're making all these gestures) think of signs as a support for words, similar to the way you wave goodbye. You already use certain movements to connote certain meanings, so think of signs as an extension as that.

Most of the sites I've been to recommend starting baby signs around 6 months. It's about the time developmentally when kids can begin making the connections needed to reproduce signs. But if your kids are older, don't fret! You haven't missed any windows of opportunity. The best thing is to get started is now! To begin, learn a few basic signs (eat, milk, sleep, mama, dad) and begin using them as you say them to your baby. Repetition is good! Don't be discouraged if your baby doesn't immediately copy you. Just keep at it. Once your child begins picking up signs, if you'd like to, learn the signs for your child's favorite toys or animals. You can learn foods, clothes, and more abstract signs such as "finished", "more", "again", "yes", and "no".

So, if you're convinced that baby signs can improve communication between you and your baby (I hope you are!), here's some signs to get you started:

And here's an online ASL dictionary to look up new signs.

Happy signing!