There are several reasons why young parents choose to use Babysigns in the communication with their kids. Scientific research shows that a baby can understand and express much more than was previously thought. Babies acquire the ability to understand language long before their muscles enable them to actually speak. You can begin parent/infant communication starting at six months old by using signs, rather than waiting for comprehensible speech to develop at sixteen to eighteen months. The gap between children's ability to understand language and speech production (much later) can be easily bridged with sign language.

Research has shown that using Babysigns has the following benefits:

• Signing babies speak earlier since they have already established the communication process. They have learned how to identify objects, feelings and needs through signs. They realize at a very young age that signs are coupled with objects or activities. They also learn that the same sign can be used in different situations (e.g. "more" to want to eat more or if you want to play more; "bear" is not only a teddy bear but can also be a bear at the zoo or in a book). Babies can now skip this phase once they are physically ready to speak.
• Greatly reduces frustration levels of the baby and parents/caregivers because your baby can express what she wants and feels.
• Babies often express more than basic needs and wants. Signing enables them to tell the family what they're interested in. That means they can initiate conversations. After returning from a walk around the neighborhood, Isabel looked at her mom and signed "airplane." "Yes," her mom said, "we saw a big airplane up in the sky today. It was flying to a place far away." In this exchange, the child expressed a topic on her mind and the parent was able to elaborate on it, modeling language on a topic the child initiated.
• One of the causes for tantrums and other negative behaviour during the "terrible two's" is a child's inability to communicate. Since your child will have been communicating for over a year, your child will be less frustrated as they have the skills to express themselves. Furthermore, when spoken words fail your child, he can revert to sign language.
• Signing children are usually more interested in books and develop literacy at an earlier age. Research by Dr. Michelle Anthony, one of the founders of Signing Smart, has found that children who can systematically integrate language and gesture systems together display higher literacy rates than do other children. Research by Dr. Marilyn Daniels shows that even those hearing children who are not exposed to signs until the preschool years go on to display enhanced vocabulary, spelling, and reading skills over non-signing children. Therefore, it is never too late to introduce signs to young children. Even preschoolers can benefit from learning basic signs.
• Your child will be able to communicate with deaf or hard of hearing children!