Just to name a few ways that signing has helped my children: Clarifying what they are trying to verbally say. I remember when Annie was little for instance, she was listening to the adults talk and we were saying something about how to catch something. She kept looking at me funny and then she signed “Cat”. The whole time she thought we were saying Cat. If she hadn’t have signed it we both would have gone on confused and frustrated that the other person wasn’t making any sense.

Signing has helped my kids with leaning their colors and animals. When I’ve taught my kids colors and animals I teach them the sign for them as well. When they get stuck on what the color is for instance, I simply sign it and it’s a quick reminder of what the color is. Even though they may just be repeating the “name of the sign” I showed them, I feel that I’m giving them another symbol for what they are looking at. In the same way we have verbal symbols that represent the color or object. The verbal symbols are so abstract that it can be hard for a child to connect the meanings. Sign language for a lot of people is easier to connect with its meaning. Incorporating many ways of learning something only adds to the number of resources they have to pull from. Kids all learn in different ways, so the more options you give them in learning the more likely they are to learn the concepts more thoroughly and quickly.

Another way signing has helped my children is adding to their self confidence. I mentioned in an earlier blog that sign language makes my daughter feel “cool”. Annie loves showing other kids and family signs. It has connected her with us and others that sign. It’s made her unique and smart in the eyes of others. It’s allowed her to communicate with my deaf cousin. It’s opened up a whole new way of exploring and learning things. All of this has helped to boost her self confidence. And now I see it happening with my son as well. Not to mention, the bond that my kids have with each other because of sign language. Annie helps to teach her younger brothers sign language and they all benefit because of the positive interaction.

Signing has also helped my children verbally. Both my daughter and son have been well ahead of the average as far as speaking and verbally communicating. My daughter was saying full sentences at 15 months old. And my son was speaking months ahead of the other boys his age. Every child is different, but I feel that my children benefited tremendously from using sign language.

The list goes on, and I’ll comment more on it later when I have more time… but those are just a few of the benefits I’ve seen personally in my own children.

Andrea Ploehn, co-founder www.signing4baby.com