baby signing « Back to Group Discussions

[tarabelle]

are any of you ladies doing baby signing? how do I do it? when do i start?

[jcwmama]

I did baby signing with my DS.  I started modeling for him when he was about 5 months old and he did his first sign at 10 months.  It was 'milk' of course!  The book I learned from, Baby Signs, recommends starting around 6 months but you can start as early as you want if you don't mind having to model signs for a while before your LO might sign back.  

I plan on signing with DD.

It is such a rewarding experience and I think it helped my DS greatly.  He's got a great vocabulary and starting speaking early and using sentences very early.  It's just fun being able to communicate with a 10-month old! 

[CherryBombMama]

I tried a little bit with ds1. I just wanted some main words, because his grunts and pointing were generally enough for me to know what he wanted.  We taught him "all done" "more" and something else 

I tried to teach ds2 those words but him pushing his plate off of the table let me know he was all done  so we never really went through with it. 

[Aletheia]

I love using sign language!  I even still use it now with my 6 and 4 year olds.  I use it mainly as silent reminders- we use "proud," "generous," "happy," "sad," "shoes" (means get ready to go right now!), and a handful of others.  "More" and "all done" my boys will still occasionally use for emphasis.

I think the biggest hurdle to overcome if you are to successfully sign with your baby is getting used to doing it yourself.  It's hard to remember, but also just hard to do- how do you use your hands to talk when your hands are so often full of baby?  :)  

I think one of the reasons baby sign language is so cool is that it forces you to really focus on vocabulary, putting it into smaller manageable chunks and keeping you from using too many synonyms.  I suspect it makes language acquisition easier because of that.

Incidentally, DS1's first sign was "light," and DS2's first sign was "fan."  The main part of the house where they lay during play time had a huge ceiling fan with five light bulbs in it.  :)  I guess they spent a lot of time on their backs!

[wendybird]

I am really excited to do signs with Lucian. The children I have had in the nursery at church who sign make me so happy...knowing what a pre-verbal child wants is amazing! I need to get on it and learn some signs so I am ready. Thanks for the reminder!

[Liss86]

We started signing at birth. As you learn signs incorporate them into your vocab. and sign every time you say it not just while talking to lo but all the time. This helps make it more natural for you. 

With my daughter it was so helpful even though she started verbally communicating early. When she was 7 months old I signed clean(I was using it to say clean you in the bath but I previously had only signed clean when we were going to change her diaper and wipe her) and she replied in asl wet diaper and she did have a wet diaper. She made her first joke in ASL at 8 months I signed to her that I was going to the bathroom and she laughed while signing clean. It was a great way to connect iwth her and really see her personality for the beginning. 

It's helpful if you physically help show them the way to sign each sign. 

I hope this isn't to rambly today was a long day. Best, Liss

[RosieL]

Huh. I was going to wait a couple months, but Liss, you have inspired!

[Liss86]

Yay, Rosie! It's a lot of fun. I really hope you enjoy it! :)

[RosieL]

Do you recommend a particular resource to get started?

I think I need to post signs around the house for my husband...

[Liss86]

we used the iasl app on the ipad, the baby signing time and signing time series, and took a baby sign language(asl) class. I didn't have Athena watch baby signing time until after she was one though and that and Little Pim spanish were the only tv I let her watch. but since your lo is so young you could watch and learn. We got the whole series on ebay and rented from the library before that. Also there is a guy online I'll try to find the link. 

[prettyisa]

I just checked out Baby Talk by Monica Beyer--I think I'll check out youtube for more instruction, too, but the book is good because it's pretty simple and straightforward, and you can get right into signing without it being too overwhelming. Edie laughs now when I make the 'milk' sign, even though I'm not sure she totally gets that it's a word yet.