Anyone using baby sign language? - Page 2

[voca]

We just used whatever signs we knew, from birth just as we talked to her from birth. At 14 months she has a vocabulary of about 25 signs, which is a real blessing since she doesn't speak at all yet. I can't imagine how difficult it would be without the signs.

With respect to Mommy and Daddy: we used the signs when we said the words, but very inconsistently to be honest. Then she started using the sign for dog to refer to her Dad: doggy/daddy - you can see the phonetic relationship. At that point we made an all out effort to teach her the proper sign. She would point at him and sign dog, we would say no that is Daddy and do the proper sign. Didn't take long to fix. Then I became Daddy too, and we repeated the process to get the sign for Mommy.

[lovepiggie]

We started with "Milk", and waited for a while...Then slowly introduced more - "Cat", "Diaper", etc. He first started signing around 6 months, and started talking at the same time.

Now he is 13 months... He knows about 40 signs, and about the same amount of words... But he learns them so easily and quickly now!

I would really encourage you to try this. I can tell he's excited when he is able to communicate something to us, and even though I understand all his baby babbles, it lets him communicate with other people too! My mom was so impressed when she babysat him for an afternoon, and he asked her for a diaper change!

Also, here's a cute signing story that I love sharing. We read "Goodnight Gorilla" as part of our nighttime routine. One morning, I woke up and looked down at DS, who was just waking up at the same time. He looked at me, grinned, and did the sign for gorilla - just like in the book!

[newmamalizzy]

We just started with signs, too. So far we've been trying "milk," "mama", "daddy," and "nap." I do find it kind of tough, though, because I'm usually holding the baby with one hand and doing something else with the other. No hands left for signing! I may hold off on these signs for now and switch to ones for words I tend to say when she's out of my arms and looking at me, like "diaper."

[braidmama]

This is great! Something I've been curious about but haven't thought to ask for some reason. Our Max (as you know) is high needs as well and it has been incredbily frustrating around here trying to decipher his whines lately. Thank you! I think we'll give this a try!