Brandon is starting to get pretty good at doing things by himself, well that’s what he thinks.  Kids are the best!

Andrea Burton Ploehn

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

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!

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

To receive the entire series of Signing Time at discount it costs over $600.00.  For the same amount of signs you can purchase the “Signing 4 Baby” collection for only $29.97!  Signing 4 Baby is a unique product that focuses on parent child interaction.  Research shows that to receive the amazing benefits of using sign language with your child, there are specific things that need to be done during the learning process as a parent.  Don’t just let your children sit alone in front of a T.V. for their education. Find out now how to take an active roll in giving them a jump start in life.  Visit www.signing4baby.com today!”

I’ll be seeing you soon,

Andrea Ploehn

There is a lot of confusion on when it is a good time to start using sign language with your baby.  Some of the studies say that you shouldn’t start until they are at least 6 months old, others say that you can start when ever you want, and many of them say you need to look for developmental stages to know if they are ready.  As a baby sign language teacher, I have noticed that it is different for every parent.

For instance, if you are already familiar with using sign language, and it’s not something that you have to learn, then it may be very natural for you to use sign language in every day situations.  This parent would be less likely to stop using the signs consistently or to stop using the signs if they haven’t noticed results quickly enough.

On the other hand, if the parent is just learning the signs and it doesn’t feel as natural to use the signs in every day situations, then it becomes more difficult to maintain continuous use of the signs.  Many of the parents I’ve taught get so excited to start using the signs with their children that they begin when the baby is really young.  After a few weeks or maybe a months of signing with their baby, they tend to forget about how important it is to use the signs on a consistent basis.  Most of these parents end up not using the sign language for a few months and then pick it back up when they notice that their child is a lot more interactive… and at this point, the baby usually starts signing very quickly with them.

So with this information in mind, I believe that it is okay to start using sign language with your baby as soon as the parent is ready to use it consistently.  I think what happens is a lot of parents start using sign language with their children early on, months before the baby will actually be able to produce a sign.  Then when the child hasn’t started signing back to them, they don’t see the results and they tend to give up, or just forget to use the sign language.

I tell parents that if they are ready to use the signs everyday (and for those who are just learning it only has to be 1 to 3 signs, it’s very simple), then they can start signing any time they like.  The truth is, if you are watching your child closely, there are many others indicators to let you know that your baby is picking up on the signs and comprehending this visual form of communication.  I’ve mentioned before that my daughter didn’t start actually producing the signs back to me until she was almost 11 months old, but she was most definitely comprehending the signs before she was 6 months old.

I hope that this information has cleared up any confusion about when to start using baby sign language.  If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Andrea Ploehn, Founder Signing 4 Baby