I have an a 6 month old baby. I want to start teaching him baby sign language. I was just wondering if any of you out there have taught your baby how to sign and how it went. Is it an easy process for them to learn? Please give me all the details you have available like how long it took , how often you practice it, etc….. Thanks . Any additional info is greatly appreciated.
Just for the record, because I don’t know if it makes a difference or not, my baby is a hearing baby, I just thought I’d point that out.
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They actually teach a class here at the hospital. Maybe try calling around and see if someone is having one.
They start teaching classes at 6 months here.
Good luck!
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You can start now. There are lots of web sites that have books and DVDs to help you with the process and it is very rewarding….I can’t tell you when to stop practicing it but it does come in handy when your out in public in a place where you should respect being quiet (church, library etc)
Go for it, you can start now. 🙂
My daughter was born with a cleft lip/palate, and when she first began speech therapy, the speech path used sign language as well as verbal speech. My little one was a lot older than 6 months, of course, at that time, but I do know of moms starting rather early.
It’s a great way to communicate! My daughter is now almost 5, is speaking rather well, and still remembers a lot of the signs. (about 60?)
Start signing now! You can sign “milk” to your newborn when it’s time to nurse or time for a bottle. Sign “sleep” at nap and bedtimes. Take your baby’s hands and help them sign “more” in-between each spoonful. This will help integrate signs into your daily routine. Soon the repetition and reinforcement will occur naturally as your infant grows. It will also help your infant realize that crying is not the only way of communicating. Most children adapt signs to whatever they are physically able to do. As their fine motor skills develop further, their signs will also develop. This is very similar to the pattern in speech development; “Da-da” suddenly becomes “Daddy” or “Dad” or in Leah’s case, “Aaron!” (LOL)
Also, f you start signing with your newborn, they may not reciprocate until 8-14 months old. Good Luck
Start using sign right away. get a book from a local store and invent signs for your own family.
I did not do this my self but in families I know that did, it almost eliminated crying and whining later because the child could communicate with her hands before her verbal skills developed. He or she could ask for what was wanted. Tell parent how they felt. It was amazing. The children I know actually developed language skills sooner than other children.
Start with signs like “more” “mom” “dad” “milk”
I highly recommend it.
my fiances niece was taught to sign and shes now 1 1/2 and the poor child barely talks i think all she says is mommy and daddy she points to everything and makes a noise or signs….i dont think its a good idea at all it delays speech big time….just think if all you had to do was communicate with your hands would you talk??? unless their mom or dad was deaf then the whole teach your baby to sign is not a good thing….teach them to talk instead….and at 6 months old my nephew is already saying mama dada ba ba so if you talk to your child all the time he will learn to speak at an early age….its def too late to start now he will be delayed
edit** i know everyone gonna give me the thumbs down which is fine but my daughter will be speaking when your children are signing and still not talking….so thats fine with me!!!
HI! I am teaching my daughter sign language now…she’s 16 months but I tried it as early as I think 12 months.
Start doing the signs with her now…do a sign for eat and ask her if that’s what she’d like to do, repeat yourself everytime you say the word.
I found this so AMAZINGLY helpful, especially when she’d cry and I didn’t know what she needed.
I would teach her these words first:
More
Hungry
Thirsty
Owwie / Hurt
Sleepy
This is the book we started with. It has cute illustrations and simple words. My daughter is doing really well with it.
“Sign Language for Babies and Toddlers. Christopher Brown & John Clements”
Also, here is a website if you need to know more words.
http://www.lifeprint.com/
And yes, it’s easy…make the signs simple…don’t start off with “zebra” or signs that are too complicated. Do the signs while you speak and she’ll catch on. As time goes on she’ll want to learn more words.
Good luck and have fun!!!
I started to sign to my son when he was 2 months old my then 2 and 4 year olds picked up on it and did it to. Anytime I’d sit to nurse him I’d sign milk and eat anytime I drank water I would sign drink and water when I change breast with him I’d sign more all while saying it. When he was 10 months old he started to sign back to us his first sign was more then came milk and eat by the time he was 15 months old he had over 200 signs he would use on a daily basis. It was great I wish I had known about it with my other two BUT on that note my girls both have picked up on signing and both can hold a full conversation in signs and do often when it’s quiet time. It helped out tons with him being able to say what he wanted or needed. When we went to the states to visit family ( we lived in Germany at the time) my family was so amazed and in just the 3 weeks we were home my nephew who is 3 months older then my son picked up on about 20 signs. I don’t think you can start too soon really so I would suggest starting now. As for speaking my son was a non stop blabber mouth by the time he was 18 months old.
I started whem my son was 6 months. Around 9 months he started signing for milk and more. He isn’t consistent, but he’s getting the idea. We try to practice whenever possible, when he would nurse or take a bottle we would sign and say milk a few times, the same for eat and more. We got a picture book with various signs to look at. Just don’t give up, eventually they’ll get it, it’ll make life alot easier!!! Good Luck
I started with my son (who is now 4) when he was 6 months old. I started with signs like More, Please, Thank you, All done, Ball…by 10 months old he knew about 10 signs consistently, although he didn’t start signing them back to me til around his first birthday. By 18 months he was saying and signing at the same time and had a huge vocabulary.
Here’s how to do it:
When he is eating sign the sign for Eat each time he takes a bite, it gets old doing it over and over but repetition is the key. Do the same for all of the signs, when playing with a ball say Ball and do the sign over and over every time you play with it.
My daughter just turned 9 months old and recognizes the signs for eat, drink, ball, and no. She doesn’t sign them back yet but clearly knows what they mean and responds appropriately to them. She claps and waves so hopefully she’ll pick up on doing the signs soon 🙂
I have to agree with Casi’s Momma…..It’s not a good idea to teach a perectly capable child of signing when they can speak,. You need to focus on teaching the child to develope their speech skills and not sign launguage. A higher percent of the population speaks and does not sign…and most people who can hear, do not know sign language….so what is the point? If you are interested in teaching a child something new and helpful, why not start with a second language. Children are much more able to comprehend a second language at a younger age. Like start with English and intermix spanish or something.
We bought Baby Einstein “First Signs” and my son is 20 months. He picked up on it really fast, mainly because he already knew how to say those words: milk, mommy, daddy, more, please….
I would wait till your baby can speak so they aren’t depending on the signs and they can properly develop their speech since you do have a hearing child.
We are going to try to continue to sign, but never let that take place of him actually saying the words that he knows.
I read a book that said if you start teaching a baby sign language at six months and older it takes a couple months for the baby to catch on. If you start before six months it can take longer because they don’t have the motor skills. We went ahead and started using the “milk” “more” and “change” signs when ours was three months, more for us to get used to than anything else. When she was 4 months if you watched real close you could see her making the “milk” sign. She’s almost 5 months and the sign is getting better. The other two signs are still too amiguous for us to tell if she’s using them. When we see what we think is a sign we ask her (if she moves her hand similar to “milk” we say “Do you want milk?”) and if she is making the sign she smiles. This week I’ve added a new sign “sleep.” I don’t expect results any time soon. It just takes me awhile to learn new signs. You have to remember to use them every time… Every time we change her diaper we say “We’re changing you’re diaper” and make the “change” sign. I ask her if she needs a diaper change, and then I change it. We do the same with milk. Milk refers to both bottle feeding and breast feeding. Yesterday, she made the sign for milk and I asked her if she wanted milk. She grabbed my boob and smiled at me. I think she’s too smart for her own good =)
(She’s a hearing baby too and babbles at us alot. Sometimes her crying sounds like “momom” What’s weird is it only sounds like that when she wants me, not when she’s hungry or tired or needs changed… My friend is a preschool teacher and they use signs there.)