It will change your world.
Have you noticed that the new trendy mom thing is teaching sign language to babies? This wasn’t so huge when Kayley was small. That’s all changed, though. I was stunned to see just how many books and flashcards and DVDs there were at the bookstore all about kids and sign language. Even the most recent couple of Baby Einstein DVDs include lots of sign language.
I want to share my feelings on the topic. I always thought it was kind of a waste of time. I mean, how long is the time period where kids can’t talk? Only a few months. Usually by the time they’re mobile, they’re talking, too. USUALLY. Well, if you’ve been a longtime reader here, you know that “usually” does not apply to my children. My older twins, Pablo and Mallory, were not speaking AT ALL by their second birthday. That’s a wee bit late. It was right around that time that they started speech therapy and I started teaching them to sign (and learning it myself!) After a few months, we got the diagnosis that our son had autism, and we were told it was very possible that he would NEVER learn to talk. So we REALLY started pushing the sign language thing.
Well, they picked it up quickly. Kids really do. And it was nice for them to be able to tell me “more” and “all done” and “cookie” with their hands, since they weren’t using any words. What I didn’t realize was how quickly my two non-speech delayed babies would pick up on it. It’s almost funny, really. I was making a little mpeg of Mallory showing off her mad signing skills to share with my online friends, and when I played it back on my computer, I cracked up – Lexi was standing way off in the background, perfectly mimicking Mallory, and doing every sign I asked her to do. I didn’t even realize she knew any signs, and here she was, barely a year and a half old, knowing probably 30 or more signs. And we didn’t even teach her! She just picked it up from the DVDs and from watching us sign to Pablo.
Now, the little girls are a week away from their 2nd birthday, and they talk really well. So does Mallory – she’s completely caught up as far as speech is concerned. (Well – mostly.) So we aren’t doing a ton of sign anymore; mostly just with Pablo. There was a good 6 to 8 months, though, where we signed all day long in our house – and it was FANTASTIC knowing EXACTLY what my children were feeling and what they needed from me, LONG before they were old enough to tell me verbally. It was so cool to see one of the girls do the sign for “night night” when she was cranky and tired, or “tree” when we passed a bunch of trees by the side of the road, or “dog” when we would see a dog on TV. It’s just…really pretty dang cool.
Now, Pablo is actually using a few words here and there. We anticipate that he’s going to have a huge language explosion here pretty soon. And he’s in a special needs preschool 4 days a week. His teacher has told me how nice it is having a brand new 3-year-old in her class who already knows exactly what to do when she signs “Sit down.” 
I really just can’t say enough about how awesome baby sign language is. It’s SO easy to learn, for the big people and for the little ones too. We all picked it up in just a few DAYS. My kids’ absolute favorite DVDs are the My Baby Can Talk series. In fact, the cutest part is when the two cowboy dolls go “How-DEE!” to each other, and my girls go, “Hooooooowdeeee!” right back. Hehe! If you have toddlers – especially if they love watching stuff like Baby Einstein – you need to pick up a couple of these DVDs. You won’t regret it! If you can’t find any in your local stores, you can Get Signing Time products here. They have lots of different DVDs and books available. Check ‘em out!
Man, I have been so lazy. I haven’t tried teaching L ANYTHING in that regard. Maybe I should!
Another benefit to a person’s children learning sign, is that if your child happens to go to school with a “Pablo”, they can instantly communicate with them, and interact with them. We use sign with all our little ones at school, just so that they can all communicate with our non-verbal and hearing impaired little ones.
I started teaching Zachary some signs and found a lady in my MOPS groups that actually teaches ASL…and she’s teaching anyone from our group for free! It’s definately the way to go for a baby that can’t tell you he’s tired or hungry or whatever!
I wish I did that with Breanna. Now the only sign she knows is rolling her eyes!! LOL!
Brilliant idea!!! I had learned ASL in high school & for whatever reason I would use it while talking with our oldest son – he had a pretty extensive vocabualry until he was 18 months, then one day just stopped speaking, he was later diagnosed with autism … you are ALL your kiddos a great service with sign language!
{{{{{{ BIG HUGS }}}}}}
I started teaching it to my twins when they were seven months old (the recommended age). It was wonderful and got us through the tough times because we could communicate. Now they are nearly seven and all my kids, even the teenagers, still sign to each other in a little game we created (even though we don’t need to sign anymore). One will do the “I love you” and the next will do “I love you more”. After that comes “No, I love you more”. And on and on until someone messes up their sign and we all curl up in a fit of giggles.
I work with infants and toddlers, and we teach them to sign the basics, like, “more”, “all done”, “eat”….it is truly amazing how fast they pick it up and how it really makes you feel you are communicating with them so easily.
We did signing in a half-ass way with Little Bear. She really did catch on to some of them though. She still uses “all done” and “drink” a lot which is great.