All of my kids have loved jumping in this.

Here is a cute video of Annie when she was 15 months old.  I love sign language!

Andrea Burton Ploehn

These days children are bombarded with information, games, lessons, and more. ASL signing is a great way to help them get ahead or just keep up.  Mothers need to remember that even those sometimes when their young toddlers don’t produce signs right away, they are still using those cognitive tools to process the information and developing those skills for higher level language.  Don’t get frustrated if your baby takes a while. The most important thing is to be consisitent when you have chosen a sign for them to learn. For example when teaching them the sign for “more”, sign it with your baby manipulating hands each time he is eating, be consistent and patient.  When you are playing a simple game and your baby wants to do it over and over again, use the sign more.  Those intellectual processes will be enhanced through both the interaction and the language use.

Debbie Parrish

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

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.

We have another DVD winner, Maria Wert- Canada

I wanted to share this story with everyone because I think Maria is one of those everyday heros we can gain inspiration from.

Hello Andrea! I am writing to you as suggested by my sister-in-law Emily Boehme to tell you a little about my little girl, Courtney, who is 20 months old. She has had a tracheostomy since she was 4 months old due to breathing problems she has had since birth. She has Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) and will likely have her tracheostomy till she is 5 or 6 years old.

We started basic baby signs from books we checked out from local libraries and she started of course with the sign for milk at age 8 months. She is very bright and finally now is starting to say Mama, Da (Dad), du (duck), and ba (ball). She is using most of the signs that I know and I look forward to learning more so that we can continue to communicate more effectively. When I learned of others signing with their babies when my two older children were babies, I have to admit I thought it would be time consuming and unnecessary. However, since this has been the only way I have been able to communicate with Courtney, I am starting to wish I had done baby signing with all of my children. I have been able to communicate sooner and more effectively with her than I ever did with my first two children.

Signing with Courtney has saved both of us so much frustration. I’m glad that Emily met you. Thanks in advance for your interest in our little family and for any help you could give to enhance our communication skills.

Sincerely,

Maria Wert

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

_{Marilyn Daniels}
Marilyn Daniels found that preschoolers who were taught sign language scored significantly higher on the Peabody Vocabulary Test when compared to preschoolers who did not learn sign language. Daniels concluded that a preschooler’s vocabulary can be improved if words are presented visually and kinesthetically as well as verbally.

You can learn more about the research conducted by Marilyn Daniels in the following articles and books:

Daniels, M. (1994). The Effects of Sign Language on Hearing Children’s Language Development. Communication Education, October, v43 n4, p291(8).

Daniels, M. (1996). Seeing Language: The Effect Over Time of Sign Language on Vocabulary Development in Early Childhood Education. Child Study Journal, 26, 193-208.

Daniels, Marilyn, Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy. Bergin & Garvey, October 2000. ISBN: 0897897927

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

One parent asks:

Q: Baby sign language has become extremely popular recently. I’ve heard only wonderful things about it, including that it eases frustration and promotes verbal language. However, my niece has been taught baby sign language and is now 18 months old and has yet to speak a word. She seems content to just demand food and drink with her hands. Does baby sign language actually delay verbal language in many cases?

The answer given by msnbc author Victoria Clayton replies:

A:The short answer is no, according to Dr. Lynn Mowbray Wegner, a pediatrician in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. In fact, signing is a very good … err … sign. It means your niece is communicating effectively, which is a major step at this point in her life.

The exact form of this communication varies. Some parents rely on gestures based on American Sign Language. Others create their own signs for everyday objects and emotions.

“Communication is communication. Signing, gesturing, using communication boards and other assestive methods are all acceptable in the very young child who is trying to get his message across and understand what others say to him,” says Wegner.

Part of the problem may be that you think your niece should be speaking by now. That’s not really true. While it’s fairly common to read or hear that toddlers “should be” saying a certain number of words by a certain age, psychologist Vikram Jaswal, director of the Child Learning and Language Laboratory at the University of Virginia, encourages parents and caretakers not to buy into this. “In my experience I’ve seen a huge individual variation in the rate of vocabulary and language development in general,” says Jaswal.

Although many kids will say their first words around their first birthdays just as many speak later. Some babble endlessly and some seem to skip it altogether and start spouting full (although brief) sentences. “Late or early speaking says nothing about the child’s future capabilities or brilliance,” says Jaswal.

Since we assume that your niece is living in a typical environment where other people speak to her and speak to one another, speech is almost sure to come. “Kids typically try to use the type of communication that’s conventional in their community,” says Jaswal. If you want to help your niece along, though, talk more to her and ask her more questions. Basically, try to engage her. The more she’s spoken to, the more likely she is to try it herself.

In fact, even when caretakers are signing to your niece, they should also be speaking the words they’re signing, says psychologist Linda Acredolo, co-author of ”Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk.”

“Talking and signing together flood the baby with language,” says Acredolowhose research, published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, indicates signing may even give children a slight future verbal edge. “At 36 months, the [signing] babies in our study were speaking, on average, the equivalent of non-signing 47 month olds,” she says.

It also helps if there are plenty of people around who do their best to understand what the child is trying to say. When adults don’t respond to a toddler’s vocalizations with correct replies and actions, the child may try to “fix” the miscommunication with physical gestures, pointing, patting the person or using signs that have been successful in eliciting past responses, notes Wegner. So if adults usually didn’t understand your niece’s babbling but they do understand a sign, she may opt for that method of communication right now (although in the long run it won’t influence her ability to speak).

Consider, also, when you see your niece. If you usually see her at night, your view of what she does could be skewed. At 18 months, if it is late in the day and she’s very tired and very proficient with signing, it may be easier to sign or gesture than hunt for the correct word and articulate it so the audience understands, says Wegner. This is especially true if the child’s articulation is not precise and the adults haveto really exert effort to understand what she is saying. Adults also get tired late in the day and may not listen carefully (or they may not be familiar enough with the child) so they don’t give the child the response the child is seeking.

There are times when concern is warranted, though. If a child has been using words and then stops and seems withdrawn or socially remote, Wegner says, it’s cause for further investigation. A pediatrician may identify temporary hearing deficits, other developmental delays or underlying health conditions affecting the child.

Other than that, don’t worry. “If the child is enjoying it and the parent is enjoying it, it creates a good interaction. It’s fun and it’s not going to be detrimental … the more you communicate the better the child’s experience will be,” says Jaswal.

I agree with this article.  I think that a lot of misconception comes from parents thinking that when you use baby sign language you aren’t continuing to maintain the verbal stimulation as well.  But according to the research done by  Acredolothe advanced verbal abilities come when the parents are signing and saying the words.  The results are not as advanced if only saying or only signing the words to the children.  It makes perfect sense to me that you should always give your children as many different kinds of stimulants in learning as possible.  We all learn in different ways, many concepts are much easily understood for some children in a visual context apposed to an audioone or viceversa.

So the key is to make sure you are continuing to use both forms of communicating, verbal and sign.

Andrea Burton Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com