Signing 4 Baby - Baby Sign Language » signing for babies http://www.signing4baby.com/blog Teaching Parents how to teach their Babies Sign Language Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:34:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Why you should teach your babies more signs. http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/why-you-should-teach-your-babies-more-signs/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/why-you-should-teach-your-babies-more-signs/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:40:20 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=148 I was at a restaurant the other day and I saw a mom using sign language with her baby.  I asked the mom if her daughter knew many signs.  She told me she knew three: more, all done, and milk.  I asked her if she had taught her older kids sign language when they were babies and if she’d taught them more signs.  She said she had taught them sign language, but just the same three signs.  Then she said, but I don’t know why I do it, because it’s not like I can’t tell that they want more food when they try and grab it, and I know they’re all done when they push the food away.

My reply to her was, oh that’s too bad… maybe you should teach her more signs.  I was able to teach my children other food signs and when they woke up in the morning they’d tell me they wanted some bread, or a banana.  They could also tell me they were thirsty, but they wanted milk, not water.

This is just one example of how using sign language made it easier to know exactly what my children wanted.  A lot of parents I’ve talked to that haven’t gone on to teach their babies more signs just don’t see the benefit, but once they realize how much more their babies understand and are able to do with sign language, they are blown away!

Why not use sign language with your baby, it’s easy, has incredible lasting benefits, and it’s fun!

Andrea Ploehn

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/why-you-should-teach-your-babies-more-signs/feed/ 1 My 13 month old using sign language! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-13-month-old-using-sign-language/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-13-month-old-using-sign-language/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:22:32 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=147 I love this stage of baby signing. My son is in the signing burst stage of baby signing… he can’t get enough. He’s at the point now that when I introduce a sign he can almost immediately reproduce it. He understands that I am teaching him a gesture that will represent something, so when I start signing, he watches and waits to see what I’m saying. Watch this video of Ben signing, he just turned 13 months this week.

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-13-month-old-using-sign-language/feed/ 1 My 11 month old knows 8 signs! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-11-month-old-knows-8-signs/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-11-month-old-knows-8-signs/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:20:28 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=145 My 11 month old already signs back to me.  So far Ben can sign: mom, dad, eat, more, up, all done, dog, and bed.  When he starts to get a little fussy and I’m not sure if he’s hungry or tired I just ask him while signing, ” do you want to eat”, or ” are you tired, do you want to go to bed?”  And it’s amazing at 11 months old he’ll tell me.  Sometimes when I didn’t even know he was tired he’ll sign bed to me… and what do you know I put him in bed and he’s happy.  It always surprises me at how smart babies are, and most of the time the parents have no idea how much their child understands. 

I love baby sign language!!!  I hope parents with little ones don’t miss out on this, because it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done as a parent by far.

Andrea Ploehn

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-11-month-old-knows-8-signs/feed/ 0 My 9 month old signing “all done”! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-9-month-old-signing-all-done/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-9-month-old-signing-all-done/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:27:09 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=143 Here is a video of Ben my 9 month old signing up.  A lot of the time when babies start signing back the parents don’t recognize that the baby is trying to produce a sign.  If you pay attention and notice that they are attempting to copy you or tend to do the same thing over and over when you say or sign a word, then give them positive reinforcement by acknowledging their attempt and then help them by taking their hands and help them do the sign again.

 

Andrea Ploehn

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/my-9-month-old-signing-all-done/feed/ 0 An Eventful Week! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/an-eventful-week/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/an-eventful-week/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:25:58 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=135 Brandon is finally Potty trained!!!  He’ll be three in April, so I was ready for him to be done.  Ben got 4 teeth and started walking.  He’s 8 1/2 months old… and I know it doesn’t sound real, but he took 20 steps this week, I caught it on video so I’ll post it later.  I’ve started to retake pictures for a new quick reference book to go along with a new Signing 4 Baby DVD… I don’t want to be pregnant in this one!  What a great week.

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/an-eventful-week/feed/ 0 New Videos with Signing 4 Baby! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/new-videos-with-signing-4-baby/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/new-videos-with-signing-4-baby/#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:18:50 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=139 I’m so excited about some new videos  we just finished filming… they’re being edited right now.  I’ve developed an amazing program that has 13 lessons in it.  I decided to put this program together so that parents don’t get overwhelmed and they know exactly what to do and when to do it.  I’ve been teaching baby sign language classes for years now and I tend to get the same questions from parents over and over.  So I took the most common questions and I’ve given you straight forward answers. 

Each lesson contains new signs to work on,  research about baby sign language, skill development tips, personal stories on how the signs worked for me, video clips of babies in the stages of signing, how to implement the new signs, and much more!

I haven’t seen anything else like this anywhere.  This is the ultimate parents guide!  I feel it’s so important for the parents to learn how to use sign language so that they are the primary influence on the babies learning experience.  If the parent isn’t giving their child added attention and interaction, then many of the benefits that are connected with baby signing don’t tend to happen.  The key is the added involvement and connection that the parent has with the child.

I know you guys are going to love this, I’ll let you know when we have everything together!

Andrea Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/new-videos-with-signing-4-baby/feed/ 0 Great tips on Baby Sign Language http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/great-tips-on-baby-sign-language/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/great-tips-on-baby-sign-language/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:15:40 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=138 Ben started signing up at 8 months and more at 9 months old.  Here are some great video clips so that you can see some examples of the very first attempts of a baby using sign language.

 

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/great-tips-on-baby-sign-language/feed/ 0 Bouncing off the Walls! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/bouncing-off-the-walls/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/bouncing-off-the-walls/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:26:30 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=140 A few weeks ago we were in Salt Lake City, UT and we visited a place called bouncing off the walls. It has huge inflatable toys. My kids had a blast, we were there for over two hours and they still didn’t want to leave. It was nice because I just had to watch them have a good time! Here are some fun video clips. This is just one of the rooms they have available.


Andrea Ploehn

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/bouncing-off-the-walls/feed/ 0 Happy Thanksgiving…Sumo Suits?! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/happy-thanksgivingsumo-suits/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/happy-thanksgivingsumo-suits/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:03:29 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=131 Okay, I know I’m a little late getting this post together, well ridiculously late… but I forgot I had these videos… so here you go.  We had such a great time over Thanksgiving.  We spend time each year with my dads family and it’s pretty much turned into our family reunion.  This year we had over 90 people!  It was my parents turn to host… so we had to do something fun.  My brother came up with the idea to rent sumo suits, if you’ve never done it, you should.  I couldn’t stop laughing.  I know it’s not really a traditional Thanksgiving type thing to do, but I think people will at least remember this one.  Have fun watching some of my family members fumble around in fat suits!

This is my husband and brother-in-law.

This is me and my sister.


Andrea Burton Ploehn

]]> http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/happy-thanksgivingsumo-suits/feed/ 0 Ben my 7 month old is signing up! http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/ben-my-7-month-old-is-signing-up/ http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/ben-my-7-month-old-is-signing-up/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:29:44 +0000 Andrea http://www.signing4baby.com/blog/?p=133 Most infants starting as early as 5 months give their parents sure signs of communication.  Some of them grunt for things they want or hit the table to get attention.  They look at you like you should understand exactly what is going on in their head.  That’s why it’s such an awesome feeling to see your infant sign for the first time, because you know what is going on in their head.   My little Ben has become quite a mommas boy… probably because if he’s left on the ground he’ll get wrestled by his two year old brother.  Every time I pick him up I say up and sign up.

Just this last week when he’d crawl over to me I’d say “up” and he would raise one of his arms up, attempting to mimic my signing.  Of course he didn’t do the sign perfectly, but I knew what he was trying to say.  When your child begins signing, 9 out of 10 times they wont do it perfectly.  Many parents don’t even pick up on the fact that their child is attempting to signs.  You really have to watch for it.

My cousin for instance said she’d been signing to her son for a few months, but he didn’t seem interested.  I was spending the day with her so I tried to watch for any signs he might be trying and sure enough, he was definitely signing “more”.  He would sort of clap his hands together, so she didn’t really recognize that he was using this as his way of saying more.  We experimented with him a little and again and again, he used the same clapping motion to sign more.

It’s important that once you realize your baby is attempting to sign, you praise them and acknowledge their communication.  Also remember that each time they attempt a sign, it;s helpful to take their hands and put them in the correct positions so they can feel how to do the sign correctly.  It wont take long before they are little communicating machines!

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