Baby Sign Language Origins
Baby Sign Language was invented by a company called Baby Sign. The company
has published a best selling book on the topic teaching your baby sign language
called The Baby Sign Dictionary. It also runs and franchises programs and
classes out of Baby Sign Institutes.
The mission of this company was to help mothers raise healthier and happier
babies by relieving them the frustration of trying to communicate before their
tongues, lips and vocal cords have developed the coordination to allow them to
speak.
Baby signing is based on traditional American Sign Language (also known as ASL.)
that is used to communicate with individuals who are deaf. The company
interviewed a focus group of parents and asked them to come up with the 100 most
popular things that their babies try to communicate to them and then designed
sign language to fit those requests.
Baby Signing and communication skills
Since hand-eye coordination is possible in advance of the acquisition of
verbal skills, infants can learn to express their needs using simple signs for
common words such as "eat", "sleep", "more", "hug", "play", "cookie", and
“milk", etc., before they are able to produce understandable speech.
When to start baby signing
The advantage of baby sign language is that you can start teaching it to your
baby quite soon after they are born. Most children are able to begin signing
between seven and nine months. That is the age at which most infants have the
eye and hand coordination to be able to sign a request to their parents.
Benefits of baby signing
Research has indicated that
children who have been taught baby sign language from a young age have shown a higher intelligence
quotient and a greater ability to learn a second language later in life. Yet
another benefit of Baby Sign Language is that it can help expand the vocabulary of a
toddler. Once they have learned this simplified form of ASL most children
continue to use it up until the ages of four and even five years old.
Studies done by Baby Sign also show that teaching your child sign language at an
early age also stimulates brain development and gives your child of a head start
when it comes to developing language and social skills.
Even though the company Baby Signs is claiming to be the founder of this novel
way of communicating with your child, there are many sites online and hundreds
of books
by other authors that can be used to effectively teach how to sign to your baby
- simply by following
a series of pictorial examples that show a mother signing with her baby.
Critics of Baby Sign Language say that it creates a reliance on non-verbal communication
and therefore gives the baby less motivation to learn how to speak. On the
contrary, there have been studies done that show that children possess a wider
vocabulary range at a younger age when they have learnt Baby Sign Language.
The pros far outweigh the cons when it comes to babies signing with the biggest
bonus for a parent being a higher level of communication from your child.In summary, teaching your child baby sign language can see the following
benefits:
- Higher levels of communication between parents and babies
- Well adjusted babies who are able to communicate effectively with lower
frustration levels
- A faster uptake of verbal communication skills and increased comprehension
levels.
Good luck and happy signing!
|
