The
tiny fingers
5 Most
Frequently Asked Questions!
Q1. Why should I sign with my hearing
child when he is already developing normally?
A. Signing with your pre-verbal baby can:
•Enrich your
parent - infant bond.
•Accelerate verbal language development
•Increase his IQ.
•Increase her interest in books.
•Change the way you interact with him.
•Avert temper tantrums.
•Empower him to communicate at a younger age (8-9 months old),
expressing his wants, needs, and feelings.
•Stimulate intellectual development.
•Reduce frustration.
•Build self-esteem.
Q2. When should I
start signing with my baby?
A.
Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, researchers in the field, suggest you can start modeling
signs from birth. After 6 months, however, babies are more likely
to possess the ability to remember signs and the motor skills to
produce them. You can consider the indicators of readiness below
to determine whether your baby is showing interest in
communicating. An answer of "Yes" to any one of them
means that this is a good time to sign with your pre-lingual baby or
toddler. Once
your baby has started talking, I would recommend you continue to
sign with him (this is still no too late to start, either) and
introduce new signs since it will be at least another year before he
can clearly pronounce all the words he'd like to say. Once he
sees that you understand his spoken word, he will begin to drop his
signs, one at a time.
•Is your baby at least 6 months old?
•Is your baby bringing toys
or objects to you and looking for a response?
•Is your baby beginning to
wave bye-bye or clap hands?
•Is your baby beginning to
shake his head "yes" or "no"?
•Is your baby beginning to
take an interest in picture books or in finger plays (i.e., itsy bitsy
spider or "so big")?
•Is your baby frustrated
when you don't understand what he needs?
•Are there still important
things your baby doesn't have words for? It probably isn't too
late (see Question 6).
Q3. How long will it be
before my baby signs to me?
A. It depends, but if you begin signing when
your child is 6-7 months old it is quite possible that by the time your
child reaches 8-9 months he/she may be signing back to you. Many
children do not start signing back until they are closer to 11 or 12
months old. Typically, they will start with the signs and
gestures that involve facial expression (blowing, panting), then whole
arm signs & gestures (i.e., bye bye, clapping), then hand signs
(i.e., hat, milk) and finally signs involving various hand shapes and
more dexterity (i.e., cat, pointing) Once they have seem these signs modeled enough to internalize the meanings of them and have developed
the cognitive and motor skills necessary to sign, they will communicate
to you. This process is similar to how a child learns speech.
Q4. Does using sign language
with babies interrupt or delay their speech development?
A. Actually, research states the opposite is
true. Using American Sign Language with your child can accelerate their
speech development. Since they are already using language in
their heads and putting signed words together to communicate things,
once their articulators are able to form the sounds, they quickly add
speech to their signs. Gradually, the drop the signs and only use
the spoken word. There has been no indication of a resulting
speech delay. Click here for
supporting documentation resulting from 20 years of research by Linda
Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn.
Q5. Do I have to learn an entire new
language?
A.
The intention of using baby sign language
is not to teach you or your child a second language, but
to facilitate earlier communication. You will be supporting
spoken English by modeling signs for key words. Your child will
then sign those key words which will become launching pads for language
exposure.
Baby Signs “pull” verbal language from adults
When babies use Baby Signs to call
attention to things, adults quite naturally respond with lots of
appropriate words (e.g., “Oh! You see a kitty! That’s right! That is
a kitty! That kitty looks just like our kitty, doesn’t it!”). And we
know that the more language a baby hears, the faster language
acquisition proceeds.
Acredolo, L. and Goodwyn, S. Baby
Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk.
New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2002
| Q6. When is it too late?
My baby already says some words.
Babies are usually
close to three years old before they get wonderfully full vocabularies.
Up until then, you can teach them signs to be able to communicate about
the things they cannot pronounce yet. It may take awhile for them to
say crocodile or hippopotamus but your child may like to be able to
sign to you while you are reading a book to him/her and let you know
that she knows what the picture is! So, even though your child may be
pronouncing some words, it is not too late to begin signing with your
child. They will likely pick up the signs for the words they cannot
say. In fact, the older the child, the faster they will learn to
sign back to you!
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