Baby sign language?

[olive]

I wonder if baby sign language will delay speech. If the child doesn't have to speak, will they be content not to? Anyone have any experience with this?

I think that is a common concern. One of the reasons for my thread.

Dodie is about to be six months. Is now a good time to start?

 

[scooterbug44]

Don't go nutzoid with forcing it (not real worried about that with you and that sweetie) and I think it's a cool/good idea.

Noone really knows with babies so I am all about moderation and a wide variety of methods and techniques - sign language, talking different languages, etc.

 

[peapod1980]

I wonder if baby sign language will delay speech. If the child doesn't have to speak, will they be content not to? Anyone have any experience with this?

I always wondered this, too, but it wasn't really based on anything concrete; I just thought it seemed like that could be a byproduct.
Also completely unscientific are the kind of negative vibes I've often gotten from seeing it done. For some reason, most of the people I've encountered using it seemed to use it as some sort of party trick or something; it felt less like a tool than a spectacle, if that makes sense. I'm sure there are lots of people out there who use it and use it well, though. I'm sure you could be one of those people, Olive.

 

[tistheseason]

We used it a little bit -- for the words we repeated over and over. 6 mos is a great time to start it. Our favorites were "all done" and "more". We still use the signs even though both of my boys can say the words. I don't think it delays speach. I've never known a kid whose first words were more or all done anyway!

 

[Mango]

Signing? Never heard of it and I have 4 nephews. One just turned 2, and my sister is up on all the methods. Don't kids point to what they want who can't say the word yet?
Makes me wonder if it would have helped me the first time I babysat my nephew at around 1 yr., and put him to bed when my sister and BIL went out fot a well deserved evening. I had the blankey, his baby he sleeps with, but, one thing was missing. His binky. Forgot to give him that because he was quiet. How he said binky sounded very similar to his brothers name, so everytime I tried to put him to bed, he screamed, but when I went back to the livingroom where his brother crashed on the couch, he quieted down. Eventually, he fell asleep in my arms in the livingroom, but, what he really wanted was his binky. So everytime I tried to put him in his crib, he bawled. Then, enroute back to the livingroom, he was pointing to his binky on the counter, but I thought he wanted to be near his bro. He was screaming, BINKY!!!!, but stupid me got his signals mixed up. Maybe if he was pointing to his mouth or had a binky signal I would have got it. I did get him to sleep a half hour late, albeit binkyless. We still laugh about it today.

But, on a serious note, my other nephew had a speech delay, and my sister used the picture method, which turned out to really ease much of the communication fustration. She cut out pictures of everything, or snapped shots of things involved in everyday life, ie; animal crackers, juice, milk, people etc., then progressed to places. She made a hanging chart with the pieces removable so he could take the piece out himself or point to it. Then when he learned the word, it was replaced with something new he didn't know the word for. For some reason, he thought my house was also the Bank. :rofl:

 

[Ocean Lover]

We used it a little bit -- for the words we repeated over and over. 6 mos is a great time to start it. Our favorites were "all done" and "more". We still use the signs even though both of my boys can say the words. I don't think it delays speach. I've never known a kid whose first words were more or all done anyway!

Mr. OL's first word was more.

 

[ckhagen]

Lol, Mango... funny story. The picture technique is interesting. Not something that could totally be replicated through signing IMO, so a very cool way to handle that.

The most common ones we used were "more", "eat", "milk", "please", and "thank you".

In reference to the party trick comment... I think it's the same as when a child first starts talking and mom and dad sit there and go "maaaa MA, maaaa MA" until the kid repeats it for grandma and grandpa to see. Same thing, just different languages. People just like to show off new tricks, regardless of what they are.

Signing for infants is very useful IME... you're repeating the words along with the sign, so it's not like you're only signing. The child isn't deaf, so there's no reason to leave out speaking the word as well. The two (speech and sign) become one. They sign first because their motor skills develop prior to their speech skills, then when the speech skills catch up, the words will start flowing from their mouth as well as the hands. Eventually, it seems most kids give up on the signing when they realize they no longer require it to communicate.

6mos is a very good time! She likely won't start signing back for a few months, so you'll just have to get in the habit of doing it yourself and one day, likely out of the blue, she'll roughly sign a word and it will be so nice to know that she was able to communicate with you even though her tongue isn't yet coordinated enough yet to get the words she's thinking out.

 

[peapod1980]

6mos is a very good time! She likely won't start signing back for a few months, so you'll just have to get in the habit of doing it yourself and one day, likely out of the blue, she'll roughly sign a word and it will be so nice to know that she was able to communicate with you even though her tongue isn't yet coordinated enough yet to get the words she's thinking out.

From the little one's perspective, I bet this is a great feeling. I've always wondered if babies experience a lot of frustration from their brains being so far ahead of their speech skills. Interesting points, ck.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Darn, I missed out on this AND Barney!

Actually, this is very fascinating to read about. When did this become popular?

 

[GoodWitch58]

I wonder if baby sign language will delay speech. If the child doesn't have to speak, will they be content not to? Anyone have any experience with this?

If anything, I think it is the opposite. My granddaughter's class learned signing and most of them were talking at 10 months.