Using Sign Language with Your Baby

The idea of signing with a baby appeals to me professionally in my role as a developmental psychologist. It completely blows Piaget's theory out of the water that says that babies can't mentally represent symbols until they are almost two and therefore can't learn to talk until then. Ha! It's the fine motor skills that are lacking in young infants, not the conceptual ability to understand and use language.

We casually taught our daughter to sign "More", not really expecting much from it. Much to our surprise, she started to sign "More" around 10 months of age and did it appropriately and consistently in many different contexts (more food, more tickles, more swinging, etc.). The spoken word "More" soon followed - it was one of her first spoken words, in fact. Now we are working on teaching our infant son the first three signs that Garcia recommends. We started using these signs with him around 7 months old. Right before he turned 8 months he started to spontaneously use the "Milk" sign when he wanted to nurse. Our baby is talking to us!! We are VERY excited about teaching him more signs.

I know that some people are concerned that they need to learn an entirely new language to use this method. Actually, all they need to learn is a few simple signs. If they want to learn more, they can. If they don't, they still have the benefit of the basic initial signs. Others are concerned that teaching a baby to sign will slow down their acquisition of spoken language. All the evidence suggests that the opposite is true - kids start speaking earlier, especially on the words they have learned to sign. Of course, we always say the spoken word when we sign it so that helps the child make the connection.

Review van: Signing with your Baby, By Joseph Garcia.