I was at a restaurant the other day and I saw a mom using sign language with her baby.  I asked the more 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

My little 11 month old got a few of his signs mixed up… which happens, you just have to connect the reasons why this happens sometimes.  I used to nurse my son to sleep right before bed, so a lot of the time when I was about to put him in bed I would say “time to go night night” and I’d sign bed.  Without realizing it though I would go to feed him first.  Then after awhile when I would ask Ben if he was hungry he would start signing bed or night night.  At first I thought he was tired so I’d go to lay him down and he would cry and look at me like I was making a mistake.  After a few time of this happening I quickly put the pieces together and realized how I had confused him.  After that I started differentiating eat and bed and correcting his signing if he used the wrong one.  It only took a couple days and he understood the difference, and that was at 11 months old.  I can’t believe how observant they are!

So if you’ve noticed your little one has gotten a sign mixed up make sure to differentiate between your signs and then correct your little one by showing them the correct sign.  If they still aren’t getting it, try to be more consistent and even take there hands and physically show them the sign you want them to do.  When I’m teaching my son signs for the first time for a few days I while take his hands and help him mimic the sign correctly, it helps them to feel what they are visually seeing.

Good luck and have fun!

Andrea Ploehn

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.

Andrea Ploehn

Using signs to teach colors is very useful. With my daughter we introduced colors very early. Your child can typically identify colors long before they can speak. Just like when you’re signing, you should always mention the color of the object you are describing or using.When my little girl could already use words and we would play color games, if she ever forgot I would simply sign the color and she would be able to figure it out. Having a visual symbol along with a verbal symbol to represent something will often help with memory and organization.

Andrea Burton Ploehn, Signing 4 Baby

American Sign Language is a foreign language. The signs you are teaching your baby are concepts used in this foreign language. Clayton Valli is a leading researcher and linguist and defines American Sign Language. “American Sign Language is an autonomous linguistic system whose elements are visual rather than aural. It is a fully formed language….” Teaching your child American Sign Language gives them the chance to become bilingual. Many Universities accept American Sign Language as a foreign language and have courses for it.

Deborah Parrish, M.S., Signing 4 Baby Founder

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”.

For more benefits and research visit our site at www.signing4baby.com

Andrea Burton Ploehn

The other day I was in the store and Brandon was signing, “Sad baby”. I looked around and there was a baby in the other line crying. I hadn’t even noticed him crying, but Brandon was really concerned. I thought it was amazing that at his young age he connected a baby crying with the baby being sad. Insights like this have let me know that I can teach even more advanced things and give him a jump-start.

Researchers Acredola and Goodwyn show in a study that “signing babies scored higher in intelligence tests, understood more words, had larger vocabularies and engaged in more sophisticated play. Signing Babies were followed until they were eight years old and on average scored 12 points higher on intelligence tests”.

Using baby sign language is such a great tool for parents, it really does help you tap into your children’s emotions.

Andrea Burton Ploehn