Just curious…..I thought about teaching Emma sign language and my mother mentioned something about it interferring with her ability to speak. I really just never got around to teaching her. Anyways now she 11 months old and communicates with about a dozen words and by pointing. I just wonder if she would be so vocal if we had done sign language. What is your experience?
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I taught my son sign language and it helped us so much with tantrums. Teach Emma the signs but also make sure you teach the words too so when she signs to you have her use both and you use both too! Good Luck!
It’s not something I would do, but apparently it’s quite popular right now.
I don’t think signing with your baby helps them to communicate their wants any sooner than if you don’t.
My almost 12 month old is quite the yapper, and know words for lots of different things – and actions that she made up by herself.
I didn’t need to spend hours teaching her these things – she simply picked up on them herself.
I personally see no benefit to teaching a baby signs for simple words.
I did a little bit of research and everything I read said that it only helps with language. One article used the analogy of learning one word will not make you less likely to learn another word. (Not sure if Im explaining that right) Anyway, I am working on it right now w my 10 month old but I cant say its going very well!
Actually the opposite happens… I read a study that shows it promotes early language and increased their communication skill through out their life… as soon as soph has control of her hand we will be teaching her to sign.
I had two friends that did this and one of her sons now will not talk and he’s 3. So my advice is no, I will not be using it. I think its great when there older.
We taught our first son a few signs. He turned out to be very vocal, but this helped!
Quick story: we were entertaining guests and someone else was holding our little guy (I’m guessing he was about 11-12 months) and he started fussing. They tried rocking him and I figured it was time for a nap. Then he started with the milk signs, and oops, I had forgotten to feed him! But he told us what he needed!
They say that language (speaking) develops later than understanding. It must be so frustrating for a toddler to not be able to communicate verbally and that’s why they have their tantrums. If we can empower them with a few simple everyday signs (milk, more, water, Mommy), I figure the tantrums won’t be as common or painful!
Also, it’s not like teaching a dog to rollover. To teach “milk” you simply do the sign and say the word when you give the milk. You don’t practice it out of context. It’s suggested you start early but don’t expect your child to remember until they’re 11+ months old.
i dont see anything positive from baby sign at all. my 14 month old uses over 20 words at this point, never taught her to sign instead i taught her to talk.
My now 5 year old hardly babbled, hardly spoke as a toddler. Didn’t even say mama or dada. It use to frustrate me and him so often that he couldn’t communicate. He’d whine and fuss and I’d sit there playing the guessing game about what he wanted. Then I taught him signs. What a difference. He was able to communicate. He was less fussy and much more happy. He was speaking full sentences by his 2nd birthday.
My twins, who are 14 months. I’ve been signing with them since about 9 months. By 10 months, my one twin was signing “more” AND saying it at the same time. They have several signs they use to communicate to me. It doesn’t hinder their speech at all.. in fact it influences it, because you always say the word with the sign. It’s not like you have to take time out of your day to teach it. You just use the signs with every day life. Right now they are learning the sign for “change” and I make the sign AND say the word every time I change their diaper. I can’t see a young 14 month old toddler being able to say the word change… but with in a few days, my boys were signing “change”… now they can tell me when they need a diaper change.
I’d recommend baby signing to anyone. Start around 9-10 months with simple “survival” signs like milk, eat, drink, sleep. If they can communicate those needs to you, then they don’t have to cry to communicate them.
Sorry so long.
We’ve taught Grace (now 13 months) some sign language.
It’s helped her a lot in my opinion.
She’s very talkative and knows how to ‘sign’ a variety of words.
I think that teaching them to sign from an early age helps a lot with speech. It can also help in later life.