My son Ben is now 5 and a half months old.  He has become a lot more aware of his mommy.  When I leave the room he’ll start to whimper until I pop my head back in and then he smiles.  He reaches for me when I walk past him and he’s constantly grabbing for everything.  I can tell when my 2 year old walks in the room because Ben will let out a screech even before the toddler comes near him.  He’s already learned that Brandon usually means trouble.  It’s amazing how early they recognize cause and effect patterns.

When you start to notice your baby reaching some of these developmental stages, it’s a good time for you to engage your infant in learning new things.  They are extremely curious and their minds are like little sponges, ready to absorb the world around them.  This is an ideal time to really start using sign language consistently.  Some of you may have already been using signs here and there with your baby already.  If you haven’t started yet, don’t wait any longer.  Your baby is just itching to learn new things and he trusts you to give him the information he needs to continue to develop.

Many parents have told me that after their child reaches this stage in development they can tell that he picks up on the meaning of the signs they are using very quickly.  I personally agree, I noticed my children have become intensely aware of the signs I use right around this point.  Up until now they had been in the first stage, Entertainment. It was very clear to me that they were moving on to the second developmental stage of baby sign language, Comprehending. After the child reaches this stage you can be sure it wont be long until they progress very quickly through the remaining stages and will be signing back to you very soon.

I’ve decided to post the developmental stages for you again so that you can easily track your child’s progression.

Developmental Stages of Baby Sign Language: helpful answers to questions

I know that sometimes it can be confusing when you first start to use sign language with your baby.  It’s hard to know if you’re doing it right, or if the baby is responding how they should.  One thing that I found was helpful was to look for the different stages of signing.  We like to call it the baby sign experience.

The stages to look for are:

1.  Entertainment- at first your baby will just watch you, he thinks it’s fun to see your hands moving, and your facial expressions.

2.  Comprehending- your baby will begin to understand your signs, even though he wont be able to imitate the sign himself.

3.  Sign Success- your baby will be able to produce a sign on his own.

4.  Sign Trials- your baby will experiment with signs, using them in different contexts.

5.  Signing Feast and Fun- your baby has gotten to the point that he fully understands that using signs represents other objects, emotions, actions, etc… He will then look to you for more signs so that he can continue to more fully express himself.

These are the basic 5 stages of baby sign language.  If you want more details and specific examples of the stages you can visit the signing 4 baby home page at www.signing4baby.com

Remember to be consistent… and I promise the results will be amazing!

Andrea Ploehn, Signing 4 Baby Founder

My name is Susan and my 23 month old grandson, Tyler, has lived with me since birth.  I began using sign language with him around 8 months old.  He never seemed interested in signing the words, instead any word we would try to teach him in sign language he would just speak it.  Now at 23 months he will use the sign and the spoken word.  His vocabulary is amazing.  At 18 months he had the vocabulary of over two years.  I know at two years, he is going to top 2 1/2 to a 3 year old vocabulary.  I think this story is important because my daughter, (Tyler’s mom), lives with me and she just gave birth to identical girl triplets born on 10-11-08.  I can not wait until they are old enough to begin doing sign language.

I would love to try out your products and give you feedback.  Over the next two years it would be fun to video tape the triplets signing and watching Tyler teach the girls sign language.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Susan

Thanks Susan!

click here

Ben has started to show so much personality.  He just turned 4 months old, time sure does fly.  It’s so great how much the family pulls together when a new baby is born.  Our older children can’t get enough of Ben.  I’ve started doing a few signs with Ben like “eat”, “more”, “all done” and “milk”.  It will be a while before he starts to sign back things to me, but I’m certain he’ll be understanding the signs very soon… who knows maybe he already understands.

One time when Annie was just little a friend of ours was offering her some candy.  Annie looked at me to see if it was okay.  Without my friend seeing me I signed “no, no”, to Annie.  She looked at my friend and shook her head no.  My friend looked at me in amazement and said, “wow you hardly ever see a kid turn down candy”.  I acted like I was surprised too… little did she know I was just using sign language to let Annie know exactly what I wanted to.

I’ve also used sign language when we’re out playing at a park or other public places when it’s too loud for my kids to hear me or I just don’t feel like yelling at the top of my lungs.  The other parents watch as we sign back and forth.  They’re always so impressed when my kids follow whatever instructions I “secretly” gave to the kids.  I love using sign language!  I wish more people knew it, because it really is a lot of fun.

Andrea Ploehn

My daughter Annie is 4 years old, (but she acts like she’s 16, I think it’s a girl thing).  Anyway, since I’ve been recording her a little bit teaching some signs, she feels so cool.  We visited my parents this weekend and one day I walked in the room where Annie was teaching my mom some sign language.  My mom was praising her on how smart she was and that she couldn’t believe how many signs Annie knew.  Later that day Annie said, “when we get home I think maybe I’ll do a little class and teach the kids in the neighborhood some signs”.  I absolutely love the confidence signing has given my daughter.  It’s something special that people give her admiration for… Annie didn’t say it in these words, but you can see it in her eyes, she’s thinking… Sign Language makes me cool!

I’m so glad that I’ve given her extra confidence in life… sign language has been an absolute gift.

Andrea Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com

I’m really proud of myself and Debbie for actually getting the DVD put together for Signing 4 Baby.  The truth is it took us a long time.  In the videos I was 8 months pregnant with my second child Brandon, and now I’ve had my third child Ben.  I laugh at myself every time I see it on the TV, I just hope people realize how pregnant I was and don’t think I’m just oddly shaped.  Also, in the quick reference guide I had just barely had Brandon, so I’m still pleasantly plump.  Now I’m filming the signing 4 baby documentary of me teaching Ben sign language, so yet again, you see me pregnant or post pregnancy… hopefully some time people will get to see me in my regular condition (if I even have a regular condition anymore).

Debbie wishes we could refilm too.  I’m so proud of her, she has lost over 40 lbs and she looks amazing!  You’ll have to watch the video and then go to the about us link on the blog and look at her picture now… you’ll be in shock.  She’s going to kill me when she finds out I posted this blog, but oh well.  She doesn’t miss a day working out and she’s completely changed her eating habits, way to go Deb!  She’s my inspiration for getting back in shape after this baby.

Here’s the link: http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?page_id=2

Just thought I’d give everybody some “behind the scenes” info… enjoy.

Andrea Burton Ploehn

So yesterday I was busy getting dinner ready and my 4 year old went and got one of my Signing 4 Baby DVDs and started playing it.  From the living room I could hear them repeating words to the DVD, I peeked in the living room to find them both sitting attentively repeating the signs as they watched.  Later that day my aunt Debbie (the other signing 4 baby lady) was asking my kids about something and Annie started telling her the signs that fit in the conversation.  Debbie looked at me and said, “wow you must have started practicing with the kids again, I didn’t know they knew that sign”.  I just laughed and told her they were watching our DVD.  True story… I’m was so proud.

Andrea Burton Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com

I just had a new baby and my 2 year old has started to act up.  I know he’s not getting quite as much attention as he used to.  So I decided to find activities that he’s good at that can make him feel important in a short amount of time.  When he was a baby I taught him American sign language.  He learned over 200 signs.  When he started to talk more and more, we just didn’t use the signs as much.  But now, as a positive reinforcer, I’ve brought back the signs when we are watching a cartoon, reading a book, sitting down to eat, or learning about colors.  I can tell he is already starting to respond, because he feels cool (probably because he’s doing something the baby can’t).  I’ve also tried to involve him in teaching the new baby signs.  He loves this!  I can tell it makes him feel so important and it allows him to interact with the baby in a positive way.  If my toddler starts to get rough with his new brother I distract him by asking him to teach the baby another sign.  He’ll grab his brothers chubby little hands and try to make him do the sign.. it’s pretty darn cute.

Andrea Burton Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com