What You'll Read In This Article:
How to Teach Baby Sign Language
When Can Babies Learn Sign Language
Why Do Parents Use Baby Sign Language
How And When to Teach Baby Sign Language
How to Teach Baby Sign Language
First of all, I do not recommend “Teaching” anything to your baby. My research has shown me that it is best to take a different approach when introducing any information to babies who are learning things for the first time. Learning for young babies is all based on experience...especially during the first three years of the cultural imprinting. My programs are designed to include the signs in your daily life and parents and caregivers should MODEL the signs in context as you go through your day so that your child can attach the signs to the meaning intended to the activity or object being acknowledged. How you introduce and deliver signs to your baby–how you model and present the signs–is as important if not more important than the idea of signing itself.
As I mentioned you should not TEACH your baby…my system is based on MODELING. You want your child to discover the signs and draw on their internal resources to communicate and express themselves. That process is where much of their confidence will originate not to mention it will also enhance the bonding experience through improved communication.
When Can Babies Learn Sign Language
We as parents provide care to our babies knowing their basic needs. At first, that's just nourishment, keeping them clean and warm, and providing them contact and love. Eventually, at around four months, they're going to start looking around and their eyes will begin to explore the world around them. At around four months old your baby begins to focus, to be attracted to movement, and is able to recall objects and sounds.
During the next few months her scope expands. She starts making sense of the noise and activity around her. She is drawn to objects that interest her, especially anything that is brightly colored, that has sound, that has an interesting shape, or that moves. She begins to recognize routine patterns that emerge in daily events and to notice the signs and words that accompany those events.
Your baby begins to understand the connection between the events and the language, whether that language is expressed in words or signs. She begins to register that certain events tend to happen together, such as her laughter and Mommy’s smiles, or when Mommy approaches and feeding time begins. Her ability to recognize a link between two events, or a sign/word and an event, is a milestone in her language development.
As this begins, it is a clue that babies are ready to begin noticing the connection between words and objects and/or signs and objects. Consider the process your child goes through when she learns to say ‘milk’. The sound ‘milk’ has no inherent meaning, but your baby quickly learns to associate that sound/word with the warm liquid substance she gets when she is hungry. In this way, the sound of the word ‘milk’ becomes a reference for food, and as you say it to her over and over again, in context, she finally connects the sound to the object.
Learning to sign is the same process. If you repeatedly model the sign for MILK in context, your baby will eventually understand its reference to milk. Her first revelation arises when she discovers the connection between her making the sign and your reaction to her sign. As she gets results, her sign usage is reinforced, and her communication journey begins. Her ability to connect signs to their meaning develops step by step. Initial attempts to form signs may be a bit crude, but she will persist until she gains an acceptable level of accuracy. The more signs she sees, the more she will use. The more signs she uses, the more resourceful she will become as she uses signs to navigate her way through life. These are her first steps to empowerment through language.
Why Do Parents Use Baby Sign Language
From my experience and speaking with thousands of families, the most referenced reason why parents use baby sign language is because they want clear communication with their babies. However, what parents find is that when their babies begin to sign, they also begin to take command of their environment. They do this by affecting their environment through their own personal resources. That process develops an attitude within babies that they can affect their environment through their communication. I believe that is the biggest reason why parents continue to use signs once they see the child clearly expressing themselves through signs until the babies begin to speak. Also, once babies begin to speak, they have difficulty articulating some words and signs helps bridge the gap between difficult word pronunciation and clarity.
How and When to Teach Baby Sign Language
We as parents provide care to our babies knowing their basic needs. At first, that's just nourishment, keeping them clean and warm, and providing them contact and love. Eventually, at around four months, they're going to start looking around and their eyes will begin to explore the world around them. At around four months old your baby begins to focus, to be attracted to movement, and is able to recall objects and sounds.
During the next few months her scope expands. She starts making sense of the noise and activity around her. She is drawn to objects that interest her, especially anything that is brightly colored, that has sound, that has an interesting shape, or that moves. She begins to recognize routine patterns that emerge in daily events and to notice the signs and words that accompany those events.
Your baby begins to understand the connection between the events and the language, whether that language is expressed in words or signs. She begins to register that certain events tend to happen together, such as her laughter and Mommy’s smiles, or when Mommy approaches and feeding time begins. Her ability to recognize a link between two events, or a sign/word and an event, is a milestone in her language development.
As this begins, it is a clue that babies are ready to begin noticing the connection between words and objects and/or signs and objects. Consider the process your child goes through when she learns to say ‘milk’. The sound ‘milk’ has no inherent meaning, but your baby quickly learns to associate that sound/word with the warm liquid substance she gets when she is hungry. In this way, the sound of the word ‘milk’ becomes a reference for food, and as you say it to her over and over again, in context, she finally connects the sound to the object.
Learning to sign is the same process. If you repeatedly model the sign for MILK in context, your baby will eventually understand its reference to milk. Her first revelation arises when she discovers the connection between her making the sign and your reaction to her sign. As she gets results, her sign usage is reinforced, and her communication journey begins. Her ability to connect signs to their meaning develops step by step. Initial attempts to form signs may be a bit crude, but she will persist until she gains an acceptable level of accuracy. The more signs she sees, the more she will use. The more signs she uses, the more resourceful she will become as she uses signs to navigate her way through life. These are her first steps to empowerment through language.
