I have a 7 month old. My husband and I have talked about teaching him sign language. We have read the benefits of this. We bought the Baby Einstein’s My First Signs DVD this weekend. We do not know where to start.
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My parents would just say the words and do the motions that went with the words and I picked it up that way.
My grandparents are deaf so it was pretty easy for my parents to teach us since they already knew it. If you don’t know sign language, I would suggest learning some (through books, dvds.. online) and then doing the motions for your baby.
Learn the signs yourself and whenever you say something to her that you know the sign for, do the sign as well as say the word. If you’re sitting with her talking or something, point to something, say the word and do the sign.
When she’s old enough to sit in a high chair and eat finger foods, learn the signs for “more” and “all done” and ask her if she wants more food or if she’s all done.
Learn the signs for colors as well. That will be really cute when she gets older. Hearing her say colors and watching her do the signs. I intend to teach my future children sign language as well. It gives me an excuse to learn it. And a few of the kids in my daycare know a little bit.
I started about a month ago. Still waiting for my 8.5 month old to make a sign, LOL! But it’s all about patience (plus, 7 – 8 months is a good time to start signing but don’t expect results right away). Here’s what I did / do:
I bought the DVD and book from Joseph Garcia. Check out Amazon.com. He’s a recognized “expert” in teaching babies sign language based on American Sign Language (I’m sure the Baby Einstein is based on the same sign language so probably no need to buy another DVD).
First, I chose the 3 signs (as he suggested) I wanted to start with. I did this for 2 reasons:
1. To keep it simple for the baby: too many signs and they will get confused.
2. To keep it simple for me! LOL! In the beginning I found I forgot to make the signs.
Since consistency is key start with just a few. The signs I chose were “eat,” “milk” and “cat” (because we have one and I thought I would be cute for her to sign it!). After they start making these signs you can start to add more.
Then, each time we go to eat I make the sign at her eye level and say the word (making sure she sees me do it). I also make the sign/say the word while she is eating. I do the same each time she has a bottle and each time the cat comes around.
Again, consistency and patience are key. Think of it as something fun to do and not a must-have.
Good luck!
my son was 27 months old when he learned ASL to deal with his speech delay. We borrowed a great set of DVDs from the library called “signing time”. the first DVD is meant for babies. My son just watched it as much as he wanted (like 3-4 hours a day some days) and soaked it up like a sponge. It greatly reduced his tantrums and made it so much easier for him to communicate with us. This particular set starts with basic signs and each 30 minute DVD builds on the previous DVDs.