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Benefits of Signing
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First Signs
Sharng Signs
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Parenting
Awards:
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Baby Signing for Hearing Babies/Toddlers
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Know more about baby
signing
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Benefits
of signing
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Benefits of Signing with Your Baby
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Reduce Frustration For
You and Your Baby
Any parent that has ever attempted to console their crying
baby understands the frustration if they are unable to help
their baby.
For example, suppose your baby wants her favorite
teddy bear but is unable to tell you this with words and is
unable to point to her bear because it is not in sight. Because
she has no other means to tell you what she wants, she begins
to cry. So you begin to guess. Perhaps she is hungry, thirsty,
has wet diapers, too cold, too warm, etc. If you finally guess
that she wants her bear then you are both happy. If you never
guess what she wants, you are both left extremely frustrated.
But what if your baby could make the sign
for bear? You would simply go and get the bear. You and your
baby would then be satisfied and a great deal of wasted time
and frustration would be avoided.
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Strengthen
the Bond Between You and Your Baby
The ability to communicate is one of the most important bonds
between any two people. You are likely to feel closer to your
baby once she begins to speak because
she can now communicate with you. If she can communicate with
you earlier, then the bond between the two of you will be
strengthen earlier. Each time your baby uses a sign and you
respond, you share a common world of perceptions and experiences
and the connection between you and your baby becomes stronger.
Signing allows you to share your baby's world without waiting
for her to speak. You are likely to be surprised by what your
baby sees, hears and feel. She is looking at the world for
the first time.
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Help
Your Baby to Speak Sooner with a Larger Vocabulary
Research has shown that, those babies who are taught to use
signs to communicate before they can speak actually begin speaking
sooner. In addition, these babies are likely to have a larger
vocabulary once they begin to speak. This is not surprising
since babies that sign have been able to successfully communicate
from a very young age. Babies who learn to sign have already
forged the link between abstract symbols (signs and words) and
experiences in their world. Success with signing is likely to
encourage your baby to attempt the next form of communication
when her ability to verbalize matures.
When your baby is able to communicate with
you by signing, you are more likely to speak with your baby
since you will be interacting more with her. If you respond
to your baby's signs and repeat the word and sign many times
then you are teaching your baby the symbols (signs and words)
precisely at the time that your baby is most interested in
learning that word. You are also more likely to clearly mark
a specific word that you are teaching her by offering a sign
and repeating the word. This allows your baby to identify
a single word out of an endless stream of sounds that your
baby hears when you speak in sentences. To understand what
your baby hears when you speak in full sentences, simply listen
to someone who speaks a language that is foreign to you.
By the time your baby begins to speak she has already passed
an important milestone thanks to her ability to sign. A baby
who signs has made the connection between symbols that she
can create and objects and events in her world. She knows
that a movement of her hand can represent an object in her
world such as an animal. She has already received confirmation
of her ability to correctly label objects and events as well
as being able to place these objects and events in the correct
category. For example, a signing baby has already learned
through trial and error that the word cat can represent a
real cat, a picture of a cat in her favorite book or a stuffed
animal cat that she sleeps with. Basically, a signing baby
hits the ground running when she is developmentally ready
to speak because she now only needs to replace the sign with
the word or simply add the word to the sign. Your baby is
already a sophisticated manipulator of abstract symbols.
When your baby can sign you are better able
to encourage and reward her first attempts at speaking. If
your baby says "at" and also signs the word for
cat then you can recognize the word she is trying to say and
her first attempt is a success. Without the sign for cat you
may wonder whether she is saying "hat" or "cat"
or "bat" - and the list goes on. It is also sometimes
difficult for parents to understand the words of a much older
toddler and signing provides an additional clue to what your
child is trying to say, ensuring the effectiveness of that
specific communication and the continuing accelerated development
of speaking.
Remember that your baby will prefer speech
over signing as soon as she is able to speak. This is because
as your baby matures she will use her hands more to play and
will not want to put down objects to communicate with you.
Speech also allows your baby to still communicate with you
when you are unable to see her and as she grows she will naturally
tend to wander further away from you. Your baby also lives
in a speaking world and will want to be able to communicate
in this manner.
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Boost Your Baby's
Self-Esteem and Confidence
Success builds upon success. Your baby can communicate wants
and needs sooner using signs, speak sooner with the help of
signing, and learn more at an earlier age. The more you and
your baby communicate, the greater the opportunity for positive
interactions and this leads to higher self esteem and self confidence
for your baby. Your baby is able to influence her world from
a very young age by initiating and participating in conversations
while her non-signing peers are limited to grunting, pointing
and crying. Your baby is also likely to be more stable emotionally
since she feels understood and validated long before she is
able to speak. Using signs to express emotions such as happy,
sad, mad and scared also helps your baby to recognize and label
emotions in a constructive way.
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Help
Your Baby Attain a Higher IQ
Research has also shown that babies who use signs to communicate
pre-verbally score higher on IQ tests. In fact, studies have
shown long term benefits as well. Children at the age of 8 who
signed when they were babies scored, on average, 12 points higher
on IQ tests when compared to their non-signing peers. Perhaps
this is because signing allows babies to learn more about the
world at an earlier age by getting feedback from their primary
teachers - their parents. If your baby signs the word "cat"
while looking at a "dog" you can easily explain the
difference. Your baby has now been presented with a real world
distinction and thereby given the opportunity to learn. A baby
who cannot communicate what she is thinking cannot be offered
such distinctions and consequently simply cannot learn at the
same level as a baby who can.
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Enhance
Your Baby's Memory
Parents and teachers have been using tactile and movement activities
(kinesthetic anchors) with children of all ages for many years
to enhance a child's ability to retain and recall information.
Put simply, adding a touch and a movement to a word or song
helps children remember the word or song. This is why almost
every child in the US can recite the "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
or "I'm a Little Teapot." This is also why most preschool
performances add physical movement to the songs that they present.
Movement is simply another way for a child to remember and later
access information that they learn. The same advantages can
be given to your baby by teaching your baby to sign.
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What next ...
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