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.
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.
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.
It has been such a neat experience for my children to be around my cousin who is deaf. They always thought sign language was just another fun thing to do during the day, but now that they’re getting a little older they’re realizing that people actually use it as their language. I think they’re fascinated that even though my cousin can’t hear them, it doesn’t matter becasue they know how to sign. My cousin loves it too, he thinks it’s so cute how my two year old asks for things in sign language and then signs thank you to him. My cousin will also ask my son if he’s happy or sad or mad, which no matter what mood my he’s in, my son starts laughing and signs happy! As a parent I love to know that I’ve given my children this gift of communication, not just for them in their “hearing world” but for them in life with anyone that uses sign language as a means of communication.
This is Holly from Holly Tried It. I just started a new blog to put my posts on baby sign language in. I’m curious why you decided to stop signing with your son when you are obviously dedicated to baby signing. I’m not being critical…I’m just curious. I know that as my two-year-old grows and becomes incredibly verbal the use of sign language has changed and has taken some adjustment on my part.
Since you have started signing with your son again, do you plan to continue signing with the baby even he passes the toddler years?
Just curious!
Answer:
Hey Holly,
Great question. The truth is, with both of my older children I had always planned on continuing to sign with them even after they began to verbalize. In both cases I brought back sign language when another “non speaking” baby came into the house. I especially want my children to be fluent in sign language as a second language. I’ve been trying to pin point what the reason was for me not continuing, but maybe part of the reason is they start to venture into other new things like reading and writing. I don’t find myself using sign language when I’m teaching them this I think mostly because I’m focusing on sounds and phonics.
I definitely want to keep up the signing during the every day stuff though, the kids and I absolutely love it. You’ll have to stay on me and make sure I’m not slacking off. I’m proud of you for staying so dedicated with your little girl. Thanks for the question.
Research done by Joe Fagan from Case Western Reserve University and Susan Rose From Albert Einstein College of Medicine are finding that children who do better on memory tests when they are infants, tend to score higher on traditional measures of IQ at two, three, and even six years of age.Sign language has been proven to strengthen memory skills by combining multiple forms of learning, such as visual and auditory.
I have seen it happen time and time again, those children that use baby sign language are light years ahead of those who do not. There is a lot of research out there to back it up.
Research done by Burton L. White PhD cited that “Even some thirty years ago reports appeared that indicated that children taught sign language had acquired about seventy-five signs by the time they were nine months old. In contrast, the typical child of that age could understand fewer than ten words, regardless of how bright she was”.
When my first child started signing her first three signs I got so excited. I wanted to add as many signs as I could. I think at first I was confusing her, sometimes parents try to give too much to their child at one time. If you keep it simple and pay attention to what your child is most interested in, then they are a lot more likely to sign new signs sooner.I decided to make it easier for her and choose a few new signs to add. Annie and I were outside a lot so she heard dogs barking and birds chirping. The next signs I added for her were dog and bird, and she almost instantly began using them. With my second child he just loved to eat, so his next signs were food signs. I added apple and bread. And what do you know; it was almost instant, because he really wanted to know how to communicate this to me.
It’s amazing how quickly a child can pick up on something if they are interested in it. Using baby sign language allows parents to open the doors of communication for their child, who otherwise would be limited in expressing things they enjoy at such an early age in life.