Table of Contents:
Lots of Benefits - No Disadvantages
Does Early Communication Reduce Frustration?
Early Childhood Communication Results in Enhanced Bonding
Baby Signing Improves Cognitive Skills
Toddler Sign Language Improved Motor Skills
Lots of Benefits - No Disadvantages
Since my initial research and publication into early communication, people have offered programs and materials calling them baby sign language, infant sign language, or toddler sign language. No matter the name, they are all from the same root of communication with pre-speech babies that is this beautiful gift borrowed from the Deaf Community.
The benefit list of using baby sign language is long and extensive and many benefits are evident. There aren’t any disadvantages of baby sign language that I have encountered in my 34+ years at the center of the baby signing revolution.
Of all the benefits that come from having sign language as a communication mode between a parent and a child I think the biggest benefit is the fact that babies learn to draw on their internal resources to communicate with the world and affect their environment.
There are many benefits of baby sign language that have to do with basic communication. However, the most important aspect is that babies develop an attitude that allows them to begin to control their environment through their actions. That's an important attitude to develop early in life.
Your baby understands language long before he can talk. Somewhere between birth and the onset of spoken language, he is beginning to recognize what is going on around him, and his eagerness to communicate constantly grows. Without an effective way to express himself, he coos, babbles, smiles, whines, and cries in an attempt to communicate.
However, using sign language, your baby can have more control over his environment. With signs literally at his fingertips, he can bridge the gap between comprehension and spoken language. He learns to communicate clearly and accurately. He can be understood and gets a response from his caregiver, and that gives him some control over his environment. He attains the power to initiate real conversations and convey his delights, qualms, and fears, without the tears.
Does Early Communication Reduce Frustration?
A baby’s unfulfilled expectations can result in frustration. No matter how good a parent you are, you will never anticipate your baby’s every need. The reactionary behavior displayed during the “Terrible Twos” is partly a result of his frustration. Much of this frustration may come from restricted communication and being unable to get what he wants through his communication.
From the time that your baby recognizes that he wants something to the time it takes for you to understand his wanting can be a long, frustrating time. However, frustration levels drop dramatically when he signs. Using signs, he can convey his needs swiftly and calmly, replacing frustration with communication.
Early Childhood Communication Results in Enhanced Bonding
Obviously, where you have open lines of communication between people, you create deeper relationships. It is only natural, therefore, that when your baby is able to share his thoughts, feelings, desires, and observations with you, your relationship with him is transformed.
Your baby will quickly learn that using sign language achieves far more than he achieves
crying. Using signs helps you meet his needs more effectively, and it will delight you when he describes something that interests him. Your child will be overjoyed when he initiates conversations—and you and other caregivers will be attentive when he is able to express specific thoughts and feelings.
Understandably, being with your baby is more fun and rewarding when you can communicate with him. Interacting through sign lessens the number of stressful exchanges and increases the opportunity for constructive ones, resulting in more quality time. With language comes a stronger bond between you and your baby. As signs take hold, your child will also begin to look to you for information about the world. He learns that he can rely on you to give him that information—in a format that he can use.
But this stronger bond is not restricted to the relationship between you and your child. Closer ties are also formed with siblings, the extended family, and those outside the immediate family, such as friends and professional caregivers. When a baby learns to communicate, he becomes an active and integral community member, rather than a passive observer until he has learned to speak.
Baby Signing Improves Cognitive Skills
Baby signing encourages intellectual development because signing babies learn to link objects or actions with words and gestures. Their brains are a hive of activity as they become skilled at differentiating between a bird and a butterfly, or a hippo and an elephant, because anything less would not satisfy them.
I feel it is important to say that acquiring a higher IQ is not the reason to start signing with your baby. I am sure that in this age of cut-throat preschool entrance exams, giving your baby an edge over others could seem an attractive incentive. However, the purpose of signing at a young age is not to create ‘superior’ babies. The emphasis is on nurturing the parent–child bond by bridging the communication gap during a short window in the developmental process. That alone is remarkable. With the communication foundation in place, all other development seems to come much more easily.
Improved Motor Skills
Any activity that offers the child an opportunity to used focused hand movements will help in motor skill development. Babies will naturally develop dexterity as they reach out and grasp at objects and curiosity and play provides many opportunities to practice hand coordination. Signing is just one more activity that adds to that process. Most baby signs are easy to make and some require both hands to come together and coordinate movement. The more times that this type of movement comes into play the more time the child will have to develop that skill. Signing provides plenty opportunity to develop hand coordination.
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