This week, after waiting out a terrible hail storm in our van, the kids and I were tired, hungry and weary of being cooped up. We made an impromptu stop at a diner style restaurant and ordered whole wheat grilled cheese. Our dinner together was very calm, relaxed and enjoyable. But I started getting funny glaces as I signed: Jonathan, would you like “more” “crackers?” Say “thank you” “Mama.” I wondered if the people in the surrounding booths were thinking that one or both of my kids were hearing impaired, or if they were just amazed, as I am, that my 13 month kiddos can communicate via sign language.
My fascination with baby sign language began when my sister-in-law taught my niece to sign. It was amazing! The only problem was, the rest of us had NO IDEA what she was saying! So without Tonya to interpret, we were clueless about what Natalie was talking about!
Signing seemed like a good idea, a possible way to cut down on tantrums and communication frustrations. Plus it was something I thought I could teach the kids for fun, without getting caught up in the whole “baby genius” thing. I am leery of anything that puts unrealistic expectations on babies, but signing seemed like more fun than work. I borrowed my niece’s signing video’s http://mybabycantalk.com/ and started trying to watch them with the kids around the age of 9 months. Their attention span was about 30 seconds, so I ended up watching the video by myself. I learned several signs, and practiced them with the kids often. We tried the video again at 10 months with slightly more success. Faith was entranced for about 5 minutes, and Jonathan could have cared less. At 10 1/2 months, Faith signed “more” for the first time. Jonathan didn’t start signing until after their first birthday. At the time, I thought he was never going to sign, that it just wasn’t his thing. And then, one day, he signed “more” like he had always been doing it. “Dog” and “eat” quickly followed suit.
At 13 months of age, we are all on the signing bandwagon. The kids grandparents think it is cool, as do the aunts and uncles. My normally stoic husband cheers when the kids use a new sign. The kids themselves are so proud when they clearly communicate something to us by sign.
The other day, I did have a moment where I regretted teaching the kids sign language… I was quickly trying to get dinner ready, and Jonathan and Faith were standing at the gate, upset. Faith pounded on the gate, and when I turned to look at her, she frantically signed “EAT! EAT! EAT!” I said “Sweetheart, I know you are hungry. Mom is fixing dinner as fast as I can! “EAT! EAT! EAT!” More banging. I don’t think I have ever cooked with that much pressure before!
The key to our signing fun, has been for me and my husband to learn the signs and use them in normal conversation. We don’t have lesson time, but when the neighbor’s dog barks, we all four turn to eachother and sign “Dog.” The words that I have found easy to integrate into normal conversation are: Eat, More, Milk, Drink, All Done, Mama, Daddy, Dog, Cat, Car, Up, Down, Please, Thank You, No, Share, Baby, Sleep, Crackers and Hat.
Another helpful tool has been the flashcard pack Sign Language for Babies by Parents Magazine which you can buy here: http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=1401900410
I keep this pack on my coffee table and practice my words while watching Jon and Kate Plus 8! The flashcards are also great for our babysitters to refrence, so they know what the kids are saying.
The last point I would like to make, is about baby signing vs. American Sign Language. The signs we teach our kids are a combo, but if you have a choice, I would go for a tool/book/product that is based on ASL. What we teach ourselves and our kids may come in handy someday! I know the little bit of spanish I learned in 2nd grade has stuck with me, but the three years I took in high school are long gone!
Edited to add: at 24 months of age, my kids have learned 75 signs plus a few letters in the alphabet. However, the amount of signing they do has been reduced drastically due to their ability to chatter incessantly!
What are your thoughts on baby signing?
I started signing with my twins when they were about 10 months old. My daughter started signing back at 12 months, but my son still has not signed anything at 15 months. I must admit, I probably don’t practice the signs enough. Does anyone have any tips for getting it into the routine of things?
we use some ASL at home, started when they were 8 months, but using words selectively. at 13 months, they’ll sign “more”, “up”, “milk”, “eat”, “all done”, “hurt”. And they understand “no”, “please”, “thank you”, “bath”, and “change” (which we use to signify diaper change). They can also sign “twinkle”, “little”, and “sky” because we taught them Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in sign language. We enjoy it and are amazed. We two moms need to study up some so as to introduce more words. We bought flash cards, and our nanny is a huge help in reinforcing ASL.
I taught my daughters the signs for “more,” “milk” and “hungry.” This really cut down on tantrums and meltdowns. If realized the biggest meltdowns were caused by them being hungry or thirsty and not being able to tell me. My husband and I had an advantage in some ways because we both know ASL (although our signing is rusty because we don’t use it as often as we once did) so we didn’t have to learn the signs first ourselves. Interestingly enough when I mentioned something about signing in our Christmas letter that year I had several people ask if the girls had hearing issues. In this day and age so many people teach their children signs that the thought never occurred to me.
I’m jotting down the links you mentioned here. We have the Baby Einstein “Baby’s First Signs” DVD, and one of my 7-month-old girls seems pretty interested and watches my hands when I sign. But this DVD doesn’t teach the most important word in our household: “dog”!
Ellen: the sign for “dog” is to gently pat your thigh a few times with your palm, like telling a dog to “come here.”
Renae: we only knew very basic signs like “diaper,” “milk,” “more,” “tree,” “flower”…stuff that was easy to incorporate into our daily interactions with the world. And when I would read them their books, I would sign the words that I knew, like “red + bird.” And I signed in the car, which prompted me to wonder how the heck hearing impaired folks talk in the car?! It is hard to sign one handed, while the other is on the steering wheel.
I have lots of friends who tried signing with their kids, and they learned maybe 2 or 3 signs. I am fairly certain that it was my interest in signing that kept us going, as I really do find it facinating. Some day I would like to take the signing class they offer at my church.
I started teaching my girls to sign at around 9 months. They started speaking not long after that. They mostly thought the signing was a funny go-around to just saying the word.
I was the one who was really into learning the signs and they were pretty much like “ok, mom, whatever, more cookies please” I wonder if all the talking while signing helped because they won’t stop speaking now. even in their sleep 