Baby Signing: How Do You Feel About It? Do You Think Signing Is Beneficial?

I think it's great.
I tried doing it w/my baby.
I did not, however, keep it up.
Wish I would have.
Why not use it? Why not try it?
The way I think it benefits a child is that it allows them to communicate w/an easy medium when they do not have the verbal skills quite developed yet.

I think it is wonderful and I plan to do it more with my soon to arrive baby than I did with my other two. I always had good communication with them, even as infants, but it is still something that is beneficial.

My son is learning baby sign at daycare, and I love it. I really think he communicates more and better because of it.

I love signing with my daughter :) she's 22 months now and bows about 40 signs. She darted signing at 4 months she would sign milk more and all done :).

Around 18 months or so I started getting worried because she was not speakig too much. Just mom dad dog meow. So I thought signing was slowing her down but when I talked about it with her dr he said she will talk when she is sure of herself just like walking
She doesn't feel te need to speak because she already knows so many signs that she is practically already communicating to you what her needs are.

He also told me that signing ir like a bridge to speech they just need to connect the thing to the word. Oh and he said that even an attempt at a word such as cccchhh for chicken was considered her using a word.

About a week after that drs appt I noticed she was sounding out signs and even saying new words I would teach her. Sign and word :)

I can't imagine our life without sign.

I taught my son sign language @ 6 months. As soon as he could talk, he could sign and speak at the same time. Soon after that we did sign and Spanish. Languages are great!

Just make sure to notify your child's sitters/caretakers of some common signs your child uses. You don't want your child signing something and the caretaker has no idea what your child is saying.

I took care of a kid in church nursery who signed but would get so upset b/c we didn't understand him (this was before I had kids).

my youngest had a few signs...he spoke early. after that i was never in a hury for my other 2 to talk.

It was helpful with my kids. They pick up on it so fast, its easier for them to do the signs to let us know what they want since they can't do it verbally. It never slowed or delayed thier speech. Once they could say what they wanted we stopped doing them.

We only did 5 basic signs with them: eat, drink, hurt, play, sleep.

My two youngest grandsons are both baby signers....the oldest one used it a lot more than his 2 year old cousin did. I was SO fascinated with it and although I was skeptical of how useful it would be at first, I am now a great fan!!! My oldest grandson ( 4 years old now) probably knew 200 signs that he used on a regular basis. They started as soon as he was born...signing things like "Mama's milk" ( his first sign!!) and "Papa"...."Diaper". Of course he didn't react to it for months but he was very young when he first "told" his Mama that he wanted to nurse!!!
I loved going to the zoo with him...and watching him sign each animal as we approached them.
We will never know how many tense moments or tantrums the signing helped them avoid...as they were able to make their wants and desires known instead of having the parents trying to "translate" their baby babble!!
Our grandsons first phrase was special to us...my husband ALWAYS wears a baseball cap...and K started referring to him as "Grandpa Hat" in sign language!!! How special is that????
It is also a GREAT thing for Grandma's to have for those Grandma Bragging get togethers....lol

I have always loved the beauty and passion of sign language; over the years,
I had taken a few classes to learn ASL. I read about using it with babies, and decided to teach my baby basic signs when I had her. All of us used signing to communicate with her from the beginning, and she picked it up quickly.

It definitely cut down on her need to cry or whine or fuss to express herself. However, signing was never meant to be a substitute for learning spoken language; it was a bridge until she was physically capable of speaking.
We always said the words along with the signs, and it worked.

I wasn't sure she TRULY understood what she was doing – the connection between her hands and our actions – until she was six months old. She signed "Please" and pointed to her rattle, which I gave her… THEN, she put it down and signed, "Thank You" before she started to play!

She was just as precocious as her older brother in speaking early and clearly, and developing an extensive vocabulary – by three years old, we could have long talks together, and she would make and stick to detailed plans. Often, when I’d say no to something, she’d offer up a “Deal”!

At four, she attended a language-immersion preschool, set up to research how it would affect learning. One-third of the students in each class were Spanish-speaking only, one-third were Japanese-speaking only, and the last third was English-speaking only (that’s us).

Although my daughter didn’t, in the long run, retain any specific Japanese or Spanish words from that time, and although we gradually stopped using sign language as her spoken language skills grew, I am sure those experiences helped her brain develop extra neural connections, and contributed to her continuing passion for reading and education.

In my opinion - DO IT - and have fun with it!

Loved it. My daughter is now 2.5 and talking up a storm. But long before she could talk she was using signs. I think it help strengthen our bond with early communication and took away a lot of stress for both of us. She had the tools to communicate and I could respond accordingly in both words and signs to acknowledge her request and either comply or deny. She still uses the sign for please. I would recommend it. Loved watching her eat and ask for more when she was still a baby. I started signing with her at about 6-7 months old and she began to respond with signs about a month later. Her first sign was "more". She could say Mama at 6 months old. But everything else was jibberish, but those little hands could ask for more, identify a bird, or airplane, request water or indicate pain. I really think it helped her avoid being a cry baby. She did not have to cry to communicate. It was great and still is.

I thought it was silly til I was at a mall with my friend... my twins were crying (screaming actually) and my friends baby was quietly signing that she was hungry, her mother whipped out the gold fish crackers... she signed "more" then "all done"... the whole time I was desperately trying to figure out what my kids needed, my patience growing shorter by the minute... right then and there I vowed to teach my next child sign language... Just my luck I didn't have any more kids to test my theory on...lol.

i think it's great and can be really beneficial. i tried it with my son but he was a super easy baby and an early talker, so we didn't use it much.

I have 3 early talkers and 2 late talkers. Signing helped with my late talkers but delayed the speech of my early talkers. It was easier to tell my talkers what to say rather than what to sign. My 20 month old knows how to sign "more please" but I tell him to say "more please" and he does. That helps too if I don't see him because I'm cooking dinner and he's in his high chair eating a snack. I wouldn't see him signing but I can hear him say "more please."

I'm an "older" mom & nobody had even thought of using sign language with a hearing baby when mine were small! There is a lot of controversy around this topic and, once again, I believe in the right of each parent to employ whatever "technique" they are comfortable with and which works in their family. The only "caution" is that many people find that children continue to use sign language rather than words even when they should be speaking (in other words, language development may be delayed). Enjoy your babies whether they talk with their hands or their voices - they really DO grow up fast! :) Best wishes to all.

Updated

I'm an "older" mom & nobody had even thought of using sign language with a hearing baby when mine were small! There is a lot of controversy around this topic and, once again, I believe in the right of each parent to employ whatever "technique" they are comfortable with and which works in their family. The only "caution" is that many people find that children continue to use sign language rather than words even when they should be speaking (in other words, language development may be delayed). Enjoy your babies whether they talk with their hands or their voices - they really DO grow up fast! :) Best wishes to all.

I've heard parents say that their children learned signing and it delayed their speech. Then others say their kids did great with learning sign and it helped them to communicate earlier. It might be worth a try.

For both my kids I taught them just a few signs - more, all done, eat, etc. I found teaching them to sign the basic things that would lead them to cry actually would cut down on the crying b/c they could communicate. Both my kids were early talkers so I don't believe that it delays speech.

I wish I had done it when my kids were small. But it was not as common back then. I would like to learn more. I have known the alphabet since childhood but that is it.
Yea to all you smart momma's out there for being proactive and teaching your little ones so early!!
Blessings
D.

Hey E.,
We started teaching our son sign at 4 months using the Signing Time DVDs. At 9 months he signed his first sign and by 13 months was signing in two word sentences. At around 15 months we noticed a digression in signs which continued until around 21 months when I brought him in for a second appointment with his pediatrician. It appears that he may have autism. It was his digression in signs that clued me in that something was not right. He is now signing again thanks to some amazing biomedical intervention, and has now surpassed his father and I in the amount of signs he knows. He still is not talking yet (due to the autism), but the signing has saved us immeasurable heartache and frustration by giving our son a means to communicate with us. We are indebted to Rachel Coleman (the creator of Signing Time) as it has truly saved us in more ways than I am able to enumerate on this page.

My oldest was signing by 4 months old. I loved that. What is wrong? And she would sign diaper or milk (all food was milk to her... Breast fed exclusively for 6 months) or bed. We even made up our own signs for things. "scary" is a hand covering an eye... Still don't like to be swung around...

I did not have any desire to use it with my kids. Every child I know that learned baby sign language was delayed in their speech. Most of my friends that used it with their first, didn't use it with their others. My niece and nephew didn't talk until they were over 3 yrs old because they didn't have to. Both my kids talked early and neither one of them had melt downs or tantrums due to a lack of communication. In fact, I have received many compliments due to how articulate my children are. My 3 year old uses words like delicious and disgusting to describe his food. He told his teacher that we had on similar to that at home. His teacher said to me that she could tell we didn't baby talk to him. (Which to me is what baby sign language is).

With that said, my daughter is in 1st grade and learning American Sign Language and I am thrilled about that. I think that will help her learn to communicate with everyone. I am a fan of leaning sign language, just not baby signs.

To each his own, right?

We taught both our girls sign language. Our oldest is almost 4 and knows at least 3 dozen signs and our 18 mo old is picking up on them quickly. Its great for them to have the abilitly to communicate before they can actually say what they want/need.

Loved but but stopped around 15-18 mos when they were talking more.

I believe signing with children is another great tool to add to their communication repertoire. As a mom to a nonverbal child, who signs selectively, this was our only form of communication for about a year and a half. I see there being no issue with children learning how to sign at all.

I used it with my kids for a few months, but they were both early talkers, so I couldn't give them signs fast enough.

We have used with both of our girls. From a very young age, they could tell us what they wanted "more, all done, milk..." Our oldest is 3 1/2 and speaks like she is several years older. Our younger is 1 1/2 and I can't even count how many words she speaks now, but she still uses some signs. It's also fun that my older could use signs to communicate with her baby sister from pretty early on.

I discovered Baby Signing Time shortly before my kiddo turned 2. At that point, he wasn't really talking at all, and his ped had said that if he hadn't shown improvement by his 2 year check up that he would need to have some testing. He quickly picked up the signs, and it also got him talking out loud. Now he's 3 1/4, has a great vocabulary and also still loves to sign. It's been a great tool when we do little bits of practice in different languages; there's no way I can say the world in English and Spanish at the same time, but I can say it in Spanish and sign it at the same time. Right now, my son is working on learning to sign the alphabet. It's adorable to watch him practice while he sings his ABC's.

Did it with both kids. My oldest talked early, youngest was a little delayed but I think that's because her brother talked for her - it had nothing to do with signing, she grunted and he interpreted, lol.

We still use some signs, and the kids are 8 & 9. Potty, poop, time to go, I love you, no, stop - all are great signs to be able to use when your kid is across the room and you need to communicate with them but don't want to yell. My favorite is potty - very handy when they are busy playing in the McDonalds play land just after they drank a full sprite, lol.

i used it with my daughter and loved it. she talked way above her age level and is very smart. she doesnt remember the signs now since i stopped when she could fully talk. i plan on teaching her american sign language too.

I taught my 2 daughters sign language just for fun.

I didn't think to start my son on it, but now that he's been diagnosed with a speech delay, we've been stepping up the sign language, and his therapists encourage it!

It can't hurt, it's fun for the kids... why not?!

We did not teach our daughter signs, and she wasn't delayed in speech but she is not articulate with words and will "make up" signs to use when she's trying to communicate. She's always done this. So for us we pushed using words because that's what she was weak in.

Every child is different with strengths and weaknesses. I don't think it matters if you teach signs so they can communicate early on if you also teach them to use words. I think the ones who are delayed will be delayed no matter what and you will have to push them to use words. They will make up their own signs in effort to communicate anyway. Most kids will point, and my baby niece when she wants more she reaches forward and makes grabbing motions with her hands. That's her signal for "I want more."

I think baby signing is just an agreement you make with your child that "this motion means this," no different from your child creating his/her own motion (for example, a child reaching up toward you to mean they want you to pick them up.) You have to teach them words anyway (usually they next start to say "uppie!")

And that, I don't think, is much different from creating your own cute words for things. Like "binkie" for blanket or "paci" for pacifier. Eventually they'll grow up and know that blankets are blankets and pacifiers are pacifiers.

I had a friend teach my infant some signs (made sure she taught me, too). Thus, before he could even speak, my son's first complete sentence was "MORE COOKIE!" He quickly and easily learned new signs and it was terrific for communication. It did not delay, nor hinder his ability to learn to speak. I highly recommend it to everyone I know who has babies.

I know that most people are doing this for early communication for a normal hearing child but just as a different prospective...

I have a deaf child who now has Cochlear Implants. We still sign and speak to him. Many hearing parents with deaf children ask this very question. It is super beneficial for ALL children. It gives your child a way to communicate early on, and helps to minimize meltdowns/ temper tantrums.
I have read a many studies of bilingual children and how their brains are like sponges in the 1st 4 years. It is much easier to teach this early on. If you speak then it is just giving your child a language base for them early on. I really can't say a negative thing about it!

I think it's great that so many people are now teaching this to their children! I hope it continues to blossom so that the disabled and deaf people have more opportunities for a one on one relationship with people in every day situations.
Thank you for starting this topic of discussion, I hope I didn't take this too far in another direction.
Take care

We taught our daughter baby signs and it was great that she could let us know what she needed. She was definitely not delayed in her speech. In fact, we were and still are often told that she has an amazing vocabulary for her age.

We tried to use sign language to help my daughter start speaking, as she was and is, a late talker. However we noticed she stopped talking at all and just used the signs, so we stopped. I think every child will react differently to it.

We loved using signs with our older baby. She is a very precocious young lady and really needed the ability to communicate before she could talk. Our lives became so much less stressful once she picked them up. That said, our younger one is so patient while we figure out what she needs that she's not really taking to the signs. Obviously, we'll keep using them, if only because at this point they're habit, but she might never really get on board.

What I will say, pick up a book or some flash cards. Baby Signs are super beneficial to families, but I would strongly advise against stressing out to get everyone "fluent". You'll start to notice words that might be better signed (for us "drink" and "more" were our must-haves) and get excited when the baby does them back.

But yes, I can say 100% that our early childhood months have been vastly improved by signing with our kids.

loved it--think it made the twos so much easier since they could communicate!

My older daughter took sign as her language in college. She swears all her kids will learn. :) I know little about it beyond it cuts down on communication frustration which is something I had with my boys. Don't know why but it is easier to learn sign than actually speak.

A funny story, my younger son has Autism spectrum so no indoor voice. His sister taught him sign so he could communicate when we are in restaurants without everyone around us knowing what he is saying. :)