When I was first starting out in college and not exactly sure of what I wanted to do with myself, I decided to take a course in American Sign Language (ASL). The instructor had become a mom for the first time about 8 months before the class started, and was super excited about the discoveries her baby was making every day. One evening during a class discussion, the instructor told us about how she was driving with her daughter, and happened to glance in the rearview mirror to see her 5-month-old baby signing “Love You.” Everyone in the class was at once gaga and shocked over the fact that her baby was signing at so early an age.

That story may be a shock for some of you now, learning that babies as young as 5 and 6 months are capable of signing when they can’t even talk. However, it’s true. Infants develop and learn to control their motor skills long before they develop and are able to control the vocal muscles needed for speech, so it seems only logical that communication would first come in the form of a physical language. Utilizing the signing communication method doesn’t mean you will stunt your baby’s speech development like parents and educators once believed. In fact, researchers have found that using sign language with your baby can actually help to improve her/his language learning. Plus, understanding what your baby cannot tell you with words further helps to form and cement the bond of trust between you.

So, after researching on the topic, Signing with Baby offered the following steps to help get you started with teaching your baby to sign.

First, choose one or several signs to fit your comfort level.

Second, show your child the sign (or signs) during an activity (for example, during nursing, if you choose to begin with the sign for milk). Use the sign(s) before or during the activity, and show your baby the sign every time you do the activity. Consistency is the key. Use your chosen sign(s) until your baby begins to sign back to you.

Third, choose another sign and start the process over again – but don’t drop the sign(s) your baby already knows. Once you begin adding signs like this you will find your sign vocabulary really grows with your baby’s.

Just keep in mind that babies can take weeks or even months before making their first sign, so don’t loose hope if weeks of signing bear no fruit. Your little bundle is just setting her own pace.

For more great tips and signing resources, we found the following sites also helpful: Sign 2 Me and Baby Signs

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Baby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.