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Teaching Sign Language to Babies
By Barbara Desmarais
I’ll never forget the party to celebrate our daughter’s first birthday
when she had eaten the entire piece of cake we gave her and wanted
another piece. How did we know she wanted another piece? She gave us the
sign for “more”. My husband’s twin deaf sons lived with us so American
Sign Language was our second language. My daughter had been exposed to
it since birth and by the time she was a year old, she knew about thirty
signs. Through American Sign Language (ASL) she could tell us she wanted
to go into the bath or wanted us to read her a book or wanted milk. It
was wonderful. When my son came along he picked up a few signs as well.
I remember whenever we placed him in his car seat he would give us the
sign for “milk” to tell us he wanted his bottle.
For the last five years I’ve been teaching parents American Sign
Language so they too can sign with their babies. The classes are
advertised for parents and babies seven to eighteen months. At seven or
eight months they’re generally not able to pick up the signs yet but we
can see how they’re attentively watching. Usually they start to sign
around their first birthday and parents can’t say enough about how
empowering it is for their baby and how wonderful it is for them to
communicate long before they have verbal language.
How likely is it that babies will pick up signs? If parents and
caregivers are using signs regularly at home, I can almost guarantee
they’ll start to see signs emerging as I mentioned, close to their
baby’s first birthday. Often it’s only one parent using the signs but if
both are signing there is that more much exposure and a greater
likelihood the baby is going to pick it up and use it. It’s even better
if other family members get into it as well.
If babies learn to sign will it delay their speech? I get asked that
question a lot. The truth is, babies that sign tend to talk sooner than
babies who have never been exposed to Sign Language. The research
supports this fact and I’ve had many parents tell me their toddlers are
saying the words they also have signs for. When you’re signing and
speaking at the same time, there is a tendency to be very deliberate and
clear with your speech.
One of the easiest ways to learn signs is through songs. I teach a lot
of songs in my classes and because we know infants and toddlers love
repetition, we will often sing the same song two or three times in a
row. I try and stick to songs that are easy to learn and nursery rhymes
that most people already know. I will usually just incorporate a few
signs into the songs. Babies love “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and
we’ll often see a fussy baby calm down almost instantly when we start to
sing.
The first class of ASL for Babies that I taught was attended by two moms
who brought their Downs Syndrome babies. They knew their children will
likely have delays in speech so they wanted to give them a head start.
Both of them told me they don’t know what they would do without it.
Signing with your baby is fun, easy and something everyone can share and
learn. I’ve never met anyone who has regretted their decision to teach
their baby Sign Language.
For over 18 years, Barbara has
been working with parents providing powerful and effective discipline
tools that do not include yelling, nagging or spanking. Since 2002, she
has been coaching parents privately both in person and over the phone.
She has been featured several times in CanadaR17’s national parenting
magazine “Today’s Parent” and has articles published on many family
related websites. She also has an extensive background in American Sign
Language so her services are provided to deaf and hearing parents as
well as to parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Aside from her
work as a parenting coach, she teaches Sign Language to babies.
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