Comments on: Signs of Intelligence

By: Baby Sign Language - Scott Hanselman

Baby Sign Language - Scott Hanselman — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:46:23 +0000

[...] He looked at me like I was from Mars. "My wife knows what the baby needs. There's no need for sign language." The 'that's stupid' was implied, if not expressed. I respect his opinion, but I beg to differ. It really is a joy, and others agree. [...]

By: Yvonne K. Lavelle

Yvonne K. Lavelle — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:02:02 +0000

I have read through all the comments and it is great to see the positive outweigh the concerns. I taught babysigning from 2004 and, in that time, I have seen countless babies and toddlers signing away happily and now I meet them in the street – their speech is just brilliant!! There is always going to be a child who will develop at a slower rate of speech but for the majority, it’s a win-win situation. The youngest child I saw signing in my class was 11 weeks old signing for milk. The mum had just concentrated on that sign alone since birth but the evidence was there – everyone was gasping when they saw it. For most parents though, they will start seeing physical signs from their baby around 5 months after repetative teaching of a few signs. Eventually, I decided to put my classes in a workbook so that parents could practise at home too. I use adapted nursery rhymes so you can learn the signs as you sing them throughout the day.

By: Sara Bingham, WeeHands

Sara Bingham, WeeHands — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:51:40 +0000

Using sign language with babies and toddlers is a wonderful thing to do! My son signed when he was 9 months old and my daughter first signed when she was 11 months old. At 18 months of age they both had over 80 words (20 verbal words and 60+ signs).

As preschoolers and school-aged children we’ve continued to sign. It’s fun and I know that it”s helped their reading skills!

Cheers,

Sara Bingham, WeeHands Founder
Author of The Baby Signing Book
W: http://www.weehands.com
T: 1-866-746-SIGN
E: info@weehands.com

“There are no hands so small that they cannot make a difference in the world.” – Author Unknown

By: Kat

Kat — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:12:44 +0000

Cute!
My 12 month old can do 15 signs, and recognizes 10 others. I started from the day he came home from the hospital. I felt like such and idiot most of the time when he just laid there staring at me. I knew I HAD TO MAKE IT ROUTINE. My biggest advice to anyone:) Great to hear other peoples success stories, Baby Signs are truly a boost to any child’s language skills.

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:39:08 +0000

I’ve had a very similar experience, baby signing is fantastic. My 17 month son signs about 25 words, super-smart too! He also has Down Syndrome

By: à la maison de Ryan La Riviere :: Blog : Random Thoughts » Baby Signs

à la maison de Ryan La Riviere :: Blog : Random Thoughts » Baby Signs — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:30:11 +0000

[...] had read that Eric Meyer had used baby signs with his daughter and they are now able to communicate with and from her before [...]

By: Michelle Todd

Michelle Todd — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:08:05 +0000

I thought you story was adorable… I, too, have many stories of my daughter signing the words she thinks are the correct terms… We did not use sign language with our older three children. We began after our third child suffered a stroke that left him with a condition called Receptive Aphasia. He was 2 years old. By the time our 4th child was born, we were fluent in ASL and became shocked when she began making simple signs at 10 months. She signed as fluently as anyone by the time she was 16 months. She is now 3 years old and has the verbal skills of an average 6 year old. I tend to believe there is a direct corralation- Nto to mention the simple benefit of a child be raised to feel that they have a voice from such an early age! Best Wishes to you!

By: Angel

Angel — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:10:29 +0000

This conversation is so interesting. I have a 13 month old daughter and I had intended to teach her to sign. However, I never seemed to have time to learn them myself, so I just sang, talked and read to her a lot. Anyway, she now has a huge spoken vocabulary. Her speech is also clear enough that people can understand about 90% of what she says. Her only real speech problems are that she substitutes an ‘n’ sound for ‘l’. (‘light’ is pronounced ”night’, for instance.) All other phonemes are clear. She can say 1-, and 2-, syllable words and is now moving on to 3- syllables. She says all everyday words, not just in imitation, but she’ll notice things herself and talk about them. For instance if she looks at a watch, she’ll say, ‘watch’, then ‘clock’ and ‘tick tock’. She is just beginning to say short phrases, like, ‘Oh well’, ‘Here you are’, ‘Oh my’ and ‘good girl’. So while I know that baby sign language is popular, it is definitely not necessary! Babies can speak and express themselves without learning sign language. However, I can see that sign language can help babies to understand that things have a name, and receive positive feedback so that their attempts at communication can be understood, since once they make these connections they will quickly begin to experience their ‘language explosion’.

By: Nancy Hanauer

Nancy Hanauer — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:30:17 +0000

Hi Ann,

You asked for research addressing concerns about the use of sign language delaying speech. There has been no evidence indicating that the use of American Sign Language with hearing babies slows down their speech. Actually, there has been research supporting the fact that the use of signs increases overall language and speech development. Please check out this link on my website, which features four articles supporting and detailing this research.
http://www.hoptosignaroo.com/research.htm

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am a former Special Ed. teacher too and have taught the parents of nearly 1,400 Seattle-area babies in my Hop to Signaroo classes. This weekend marks the seven year anniversary of my classes and I certainly would not be teaching these classes (or would have stayed in this full-time business) if the use of signs in anyway delays speech. When a little one stops vocalizing (cooing and babbling), the family’s pediatrician should be looking at other possible causes of this. Has a hearing test been conducted? Speech is a natural reflex in all of us. Even deaf babies babble until it’s no longer self- stimulating. Has the baby been tested for Apraxia or other physical concerns in the mouth or throat, which could be impeding continued speech development? We all come to the planet with the desire and ability to speak, so a normally developing baby will not “choose” signing over speech. I would recommend that your grandchild’s hearing be tested and that the pediatrician look into other possible causes for the sudden decline in typical speech development. There hasn’t been a single documented case of the use of American Sign Language prompting a normally developing hearing child to stop talking, so I highly suspect something else is at play here. Best of luck, and I hope this info helps.

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:48:26 +0000

As a special education teacher and grandmother of an 18 month old child whose parents are teaching sign language, I definitely have concerns about delayed spoken language. At 12 months,the baby was cooing, making speech approximations and sounds, but has since preferred using sign language to communicate his wants/needs and does not even attempt to verbalize. I think that up to 16 months it was helpful to parents to reduce frustrations, but am concerned about the long term speech delays at this point. I would like to see a web site with research about the subject. Thanks

By: Lindsey Kowalski

Lindsey Kowalski — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:06:51 +0000

We started signing with our daughter when she was about 6 months old and her first sign was and approximation of “more” when she was about 9 months old. She used about one new sign each month until she was about a year old, then she exploded with signs. One day last week she used 3 new signs that she never used before. And today she signed “please” for the first time. I also like that not only is she learning to communicate, but she’s learning manners as well. She is now 17 months old and has a signing vocabulary of about 25-30 words. She verbalizes about 5-10 words, but tends to use the sign first. I encourage all of my friends that are having babies to get an ASL dictionary and just start using it. I felt a little silly at first, especially in public. But now I am proud to use it and have her show off her wonderful signing talent. Although some people assume that she is hearing impaired so I explain to them the benefits of using sign with babies. It is wonderful!

By: Nancy Hanauer

Nancy Hanauer — Sat, 19 May 2007 00:44:17 +0000

What a lively discussion on the topic of infant sign language! I’m based out of Seattle, WA and run a business I created called Hop to Signaroo. I teach American Sign Language to hearing families who use it w/their hearing babies to aid early communication and reduce frustration. I’m glad to see so many astute parents shared their experiences here, dispelling the myth that the use of signs will slow down speech. There has been no proof to that claim and research proving just the opposite. There are links on my website with some of the research studies. Feel free to visit http://www.hoptosignaroo.com and check out my FAQ page, as well as the page with current research links.

One thing I did want to address, however, is Eric’s comment that the Baby Sign book/program is a simplified version of American Sign Language (ASL). Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Baby Sign program and philosphy began with made-up gestures that were not/are not related to ASL, which by the way is the third most commonly used language in our country after English and Spanish. With the last printing of the Baby Signs book, some ASL signs were added to their system of made-up gestures but as someone who has signed for nearly twenty years, some of the signs labeled as ASL are not ASL signs I have ever seen. (Granted there are sometimes slight regional differences in ASL and this does not account for the discrepencies I’ve noticed.) The authors of the Baby Signs book did amazing research and were two of the pioneers in the use of sign language (or in this case, made-up gestures) with babies, but have no background in American Sign Language. Joseph Garcia (affiliated with the Sign2Me link noted above) self-published his book on baby sign language about the same time as the Baby Sign authors but did not initially get the press or recognition for also being a leader in the field. He certainly has now and almost every other baby sign language book on the market is purely ASL-based. I did run across a book published here in the U.S. that uses New Zealand Sign Language, so it’s wise to educate yourself on your book choices. Sign language is not universal, as many people believe. As a former Special Education Teacher and someone who has been signing within the Deaf community and for nearly twenty years, you can likely guess where my loyalties are. Therefore, I will simply that say if parents decide to teach their babies sign language, do your homework on the materials and classes you choose. A legitamite second language like ASL is the most logical choice for most parents (again see my FAQ page on my website) more many reasons and an amazing gift of early communication for your hearing baby who will indeed speak normally and on schedule once their vocal chords are fully formed. Happy signing, all!

By: richwklein.com » Blog Archive » Baby signing

richwklein.com » Blog Archive » Baby signing — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:45:50 +0000

[...] Myer has a great story over on his blog about baby sign language. Maybe this is something Rachel and I should [...]

By: trinity

trinity — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:16:17 +0000

If you’re teaching your child sign language but are worried they may learn words more slowly – just be sure you ALWAYS say the word at the same time you are signing it as you’re teaching and reinforcing. If your child does the sign but does not say the word (or something that sounds like it), you should show him/her the sign back and say the word. My son is 17 months and has been signing since he was 10 months (just did ‘nurse’ back then) and now knows about a dozen or more signs and SAYS over 200 words. These are not just words he repeats, he truly knows what they mean. I think the sign language has helped him develop even better language skills.
It has been really nice because although my son is talking a lot – he changes up the way he says things sometimes and some words sound the same…so to have a fall back is nice – - for example….he said ‘Meesa’ the other day – which is how he usually says ‘medicine’…but he meant ‘music’ and I knew that because he did the sign for music.
It’s also common for a 2nd or 3rd child to talk less – they don’t have to as their older sibling does the talking for them often.

By: MJ

MJ — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:42:21 +0000

Melissa – all babies do their own thing at their own age. Some babies don’t walk until 20 months, but it hasn’t impeded their development. All babies do their own thing at their own pace. Aren’t you happy that you were still able to know that your baby wanted? Suppose she is simply one of those babies that take their time? What would you have done in the mean time?

Sign language does not hurt babies. Please see the benefits of baby sign language here: http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/baby-sign-benefits.html – has lots of information on how it also benefits your babies emotional, pschological, and intellectual being.

I think your daughter is very lucky. :-)