How to Teach Sign Language to Babies

More and more parents are using Baby Sign language with their infants, whether they are hearing-impaired or normal. If you thought using sign language was not “natural” , think again.  We teach our babies to wave ‘good bye’ when somebody leaves home;  we nod our head up and down to convey ‘yes’ or approval, and we nod our heads side to side to indicate ‘no’ or disapproval;  and we put our finger to our mouth to tell the baby to keep quiet. We do this unconsciously, because it’s natural to enhance our speech with gestures for clarity. When you point your finger at a bird, you will, in all probability, flap your hands to indicate flying and your child will flap his hands in glee, just as you do.  Baby Signs is just an extension of the gestures that parents already use with their babies.

Your child need not be hearing impaired for you to teach your baby to sign. Just as babies learn to crawl before they can walk, babies gesticulate before they speak. Once they learn to walk, they stop crawling; similarly once they learn to speak, they stop or minimize signing. No worries on that account, despite concerns of many a mom that this may delay speech development. Signing can help children to associate symbols with sounds and meaning and understand that a word or a sign can represent something else.  As s child’s mind and body develops, he will transition naturally to speaking to convey more complex thoughts. Far from getting in the way of learning to speak, Baby Signs speed up the process of learning to talk once words are finally available. Using the sign language, the child learns to use symbols to label objects and express his needs and moods. Thus Baby Signs create the mental framework in which it will be easy for the baby to incorporate words in the coming months when he is able to co-ordinate all of the hundreds of delicate muscles in the tongue to produce speech.

Watch the following video, if you need any reassurance.

The following video teaches babies American Sign Language (ASL)

So, when can you teach your baby to sign? You can start when your child is trying to tell you something – for example, when he starts to point at things, or when he starts looking intently at his toys and plays with them, or starts turning the picture books. That means you can start training when the baby is between six and twelve months. Using the Baby Signs stimulates the baby’s brains, giving it the jump start for learning the language and acquiring good communication skills.

As a parent, the experience will be rewarding to you; as it can help you to bond better with the child, understand and meet his needs quickly. You will be amazed what an awful lot the kids have to share with you, even before they learn to speak.