My third child has been my slowest as far as verbalization. With each of my children it’s been interesting to see how sign language has benefited them in different ways. For instance, now that my little boy is starting to talk more I’ve actually started focusing on sign language more again just so I can understand what he is trying to verbalize.
An example is how he uses “Ga” for multiple things. He says “ga” for water, “ga, ga” for dog, and “gaa” for book (I have no idea why!) I’d picked up on water and dog, because he was already using those signs, thank goodness. Then one day he was trying to tell me he wanted something and I had no idea what he was talking about. We wandered around the house trying to figure out what he needed. Finally he saw the book he wanted..”gaa, gaa, gaa”. What in the world! I never would have guessed. Right then I signed book to him, then I took his hands and had him sign book. We did it a few times until I could tell he understood. Later that night when I was putting him to bed he said “ga”. I asked if he wanted some water, then he said no and started signing “book”. I grabbed a book and he started jumping up and down yelling, “yeah”! That was ten times easier than wandering around the house.
This is just another simple example of why I LOVE using baby sign language and how in many instances signing can help to advance and clarify verbal language skills.
I was at a restaurant the other day and I saw a mom using sign language with her baby. I asked the mom if her daughter knew many signs. She told me she knew three: more, all done, and milk. I asked her if she had taught her older kids sign language when they were babies and if she’d taught them more signs. She said she had taught them sign language, but just the same three signs. Then she said, but I don’t know why I do it, because it’s not like I can’t tell that they want more food when they try and grab it, and I know they’re all done when they push the food away.
My reply to her was, oh that’s too bad… maybe you should teach her more signs. I was able to teach my children other food signs and when they woke up in the morning they’d tell me they wanted some bread, or a banana. They could also tell me they were thirsty, but they wanted milk, not water.
This is just one example of how using sign language made it easier to know exactly what my children wanted. A lot of parents I’ve talked to that haven’t gone on to teach their babies more signs just don’t see the benefit, but once they realize how much more their babies understand and are able to do with sign language, they are blown away!
Why not use sign language with your baby, it’s easy, has incredible lasting benefits, and it’s fun!
I love this stage of baby signing. My son is in the signing burst stage of baby signing… he can’t get enough. He’s at the point now that when I introduce a sign he can almost immediately reproduce it. He understands that I am teaching him a gesture that will represent something, so when I start signing, he watches and waits to see what I’m saying. Watch this video of Ben signing, he just turned 13 months this week.
My little 11 month old got a few of his signs mixed up… which happens, you just have to connect the reasons why this happens sometimes. I used to nurse my son to sleep right before bed, so a lot of the time when I was about to put him in bed I would say “time to go night night” and I’d sign bed. Without realizing it though I would go to feed him first. Then after awhile when I would ask Ben if he was hungry he would start signing bed or night night. At first I thought he was tired so I’d go to lay him down and he would cry and look at me like I was making a mistake. After a few time of this happening I quickly put the pieces together and realized how I had confused him. After that I started differentiating eat and bed and correcting his signing if he used the wrong one. It only took a couple days and he understood the difference, and that was at 11 months old. I can’t believe how observant they are!
So if you’ve noticed your little one has gotten a sign mixed up make sure to differentiate between your signs and then correct your little one by showing them the correct sign. If they still aren’t getting it, try to be more consistent and even take there hands and physically show them the sign you want them to do. When I’m teaching my son signs for the first time for a few days I while take his hands and help him mimic the sign correctly, it helps them to feel what they are visually seeing.
My 11 month old already signs back to me. So far Ben can sign: mom, dad, eat, more, up, all done, dog, and bed. When he starts to get a little fussy and I’m not sure if he’s hungry or tired I just ask him while signing, ” do you want to eat”, or ” are you tired, do you want to go to bed?” And it’s amazing at 11 months old he’ll tell me. Sometimes when I didn’t even know he was tired he’ll sign bed to me… and what do you know I put him in bed and he’s happy. It always surprises me at how smart babies are, and most of the time the parents have no idea how much their child understands.
I love baby sign language!!! I hope parents with little ones don’t miss out on this, because it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done as a parent by far.
I just found this blog that has the most adorable bows ever! Too bad I don’t have a baby girl… but I’m definitely going to buy some for baby shower gifts. Here’s the link, you should check it out, and make sure you scroll all the way to the end… she has some really unique stuff.
I was just going to put a few pictures on here, but I was having a hard time choosing because they’re all so cute. She has a ton more. I hope she does well because she’s really creative.
Here is a video of Ben my 9 month old signing up. A lot of the time when babies start signing back the parents don’t recognize that the baby is trying to produce a sign. If you pay attention and notice that they are attempting to copy you or tend to do the same thing over and over when you say or sign a word, then give them positive reinforcement by acknowledging their attempt and then help them by taking their hands and help them do the sign again.
Okay, my almost three year old boy gets into more trouble in a day than I can write. I’ve started pulling out the camera for some of his messes, so here’s a video that has about half of the messes he’s made this week. Feel free to give me moral support after you watch this… I need it!
Brandon is finally Potty trained!!! He’ll be three in April, so I was ready for him to be done. Ben got 4 teeth and started walking. He’s 8 1/2 months old… and I know it doesn’t sound real, but he took 20 steps this week, I caught it on video so I’ll post it later. I’ve started to retake pictures for a new quick reference book to go along with a new Signing 4 Baby DVD… I don’t want to be pregnant in this one! What a great week.
It’s amazing how fast they grow up. It’s been so fun doing sign language with another baby. So far he recognized about 10 signs and he can actually sign: up, all done, more, and eat.
And can you believe this little guys walking! He has to keep up with the other two.
