Top Ten {Tuesday}: Sign Language Tips for Babies
Posted by oh amanda on September 15th, 2009 . Filed under: me, top ten tuesday .
Asa has been signing up a storm this week! He’s got “Lydia”, “clothes”, “more”, “milk” (which doubles for “mommy”) down pat. Plus he thrown in a few others (“dog”, “all done”, “Daddy”, “berry”, etc.) but not exactly where anyone else could recognize it and I’m not sure he exactly knows what he’s doing BUT I can tell he’s trying to communicate with us! It’s adorable. And even though he’s still using shrieking as his main form of communication, I can tell he’s going to be a good little signer!
Asa signing “Lydia”. (We made this sign up. It’s just an “L” circled by your chin.)
Anyway, for those of you who might be interested in learning about baby signing…or those of you who wonder why I’m doing it, here are my Top Ten Tips For Teaching Your Baby Sign Language (and Maybe Some Whys and Wherefores, too).
1. Signing Time DVD Sets.
These are a MUST. I repeat: THESE ARE A MUST. (More of my love for them here.) These videos are fun creative songs not ABOUT the signs, but WITH the signs. You will learn the signs just by enjoying the songs on the videos. Here’s a clip from Baby Signing Time so you can see what I mean…
2. Start with food.
I did start signing “milk” when I was nursing but when your baby is 3 months old there is literally no response. I think the best time to start is when you introduce solids. You are sitting face to face with your child three times a day. They are learning a new skill and it’s the perfect opportunity to do two things at once. We started with “eat”, “more” and “all done”. We did “eat” when we first showed the food. “More” when we were between bites and “all done”…well, when we were all done. Easy, right?
3. Favorite words.
Once you get the hang of signing and get a few words down, figure out the signs for some of your child’s favorite words. Lydia’s favorite stuffed animal is a bunny named Flopsy. Once we found the sign for bunny she did it nonstop! I still need to find the sign for “waffle” because we eat them practically everyday. I’ve found a few good online sign language video dictionaries. Plus, there are lots of sign language forums online or you could get a book from the library.
4. Use books.
Most baby/board books are basic words and concepts. So, as you are reading about a bear, sign “bear”. When you read a book about a ball, sign “ball”. It’s an easy way to connect the concepts. It’s fun to sign and read.
5. Sign Language makes your kid cuter.
Asa signing “more”.
6. Sing songs.
You already do this with The Itsy Bitsy Spider and other fingerplays. So, just add signs to the songs your kids sing. Of course, Signing Time is full of songs and you’ll find yourself singing them all the time. You can even buy the CDs…which seems odd to LISTEN to a SIGN LANGUAGE CD but I cannot tell you how often we listen to the Signing Time CDs. (I’ll sing one for you if you’d like…)
7. Don’t stress!
Teaching your kid to sign is easy! I didn’t teach Lydia how to talk, she just started doing it. And at first she said “DUCK” for everything. Pretty soon we could differentiate between “duck” and “dog”. Then we heard “Daddy” in there. The same is true with signing. They might sign “dog” for everything but soon they’ll get the hang of it. Just praise them when they sign and show them the correct one, just like you do with they’re speaking.
8. Keep it going!
Once they start signing and then talking, keep it up. Lydia was a big talker but still signed. It helped so much to eliminate confusion. Was she saying ball, bear or blanket? Well, she just signed it for me! Here’s a video of Lydia a few months before she turned 2. You can see how much she talks and then also how she incorporates signs, too. You should be able to see her sign “baby”, “bear” and “read”. I think she could sign about 100 words at this point.
9. Use ASL.
Some sign language programs use “baby signs” as opposed to American Sign Language (ASL). ASL is the “official” sign language for the deaf community. And if you’re going to teach your child a second language—which is what you’re doing with signing—might as well teach them the correct one, you know? The signs are just as easy and normal as made up baby signs.
10. Signing Time.
I really could have just made numbers 1-10 be SIGNING TIME. Using these DVDs have been one of my favorite things I’ve done with my kids. If you’re interested in buying them, I’d recommend the Baby Signing Time first. Then our next favorites are: Leah’s Farm DVD, Time to Eat DVD, and My Favorite Things DVD.
(Yes, I’m an affiliate for Signing Time which means if you bought something from their website clicking a link on my site, I’d make a few pennies. But I’m only an affiliate because I ADORE them so much. I think I blogged about them 10 times before I even found out about the affiliate program. And I follow Signing Time’s founder, Rachel Coleman on twitter and read her blog. Because I’m nothing if not a stalker.)
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September 15th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I use eat, more, all done, please and thank you with the babies that I watch. Some of the older kids still use the sign language.
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September 15th, 2009 at 9:05 am
So great! We still use signing with Elias when we need to remind him about something in public (saying please, Thank you, etc), and signing works wonders in church!!!
I completely forgot it was Tuesday! It’s a;ready been one of those weeks! I’ll save up for next week, unless people want to read top 10 ways to remove poop from ___________ (you name it, I did it yesterday).
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Twitter: sillyeaglebooks
September 15th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I’m a big fan of signing time too–we watched those videos every day for a long time. Juliet’s first sign was “ball”–everything was ball! She never learned the official “mommy” sign–just invented her own which was to point at me–that way there was no confusion….
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September 15th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Amanda,
We didn’t do signing with Junior when he was a baby, but he loves learning the things now at the age of 3 and is incorporating them. He told me his teacher said thank you to him and instead of saying “thank you” he signed it. I’m hoping to do some basic with Ben and can only hope that Junior continues to want to learn them.
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September 15th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Too cute! We babysat recently for our friends’ 11 month-old who signs some. His mom told me when she dropped him off that his sign for thirsty usually means he wants milk. This was so helpful to me, especially because I don’t spend a ton of time with him to know why he was upset.
Mary-Carolyn´s last blog ..Top Ten Tuesday — Musicals
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September 15th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I have one Signing Time DVD. Sadly, Olivia never got into it, but Emily liked it. I think signlanguage is beautiful. I love to see little ones doing it.
AmyG´s last blog ..Top Ten Tuesday – Recipe Sites
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September 15th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Tell me more about the Signing Time stuff. I’ve heard of it before and heard it’s great, but I really don’t know much more about it other than it exists!
Rachel@IdahoCheneys´s last blog ..You Might Be Married to a Handyman If… (Part II)
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Twitter: theothermama
September 15th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I’m totally with you on the signing! We used it with O because his vocabulary was very limited and it worked wonders! When he did finally start to talk, it was an onslaught of words all together. {He has some hearing issues, as well, and as soon as we figured that out it all came together- and signing the whole time had been HUGE!}
With our second, though, H, he talked SO EARLY that he hardly used signs. I wished we would have done more of it and we still incorporate them in, but he’s just a big ole talker who doesn’t stop moving long enough to sign. We’re working on thank you, but he just looks at me and says “thank you” clear as day. I think he’ll be teaching ME signs soon! ha!
And thanks for the diaper dance. I’m have that in my head ALL DAY!!
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Twitter: notdiyheather
September 15th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I can’t believe that I forgot to stop by and put my link in MckLinky! Wondered why I didn’t have many comments! Anywho….
Great list! I totally agree on all accounts. Ladybug is up to about 175 signs now at 27 months old. We definitely want this to the beginning of a 2nd language for her.
Heather @ Not a DIY Life´s last blog ..Ten Things that My Daughter Says
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September 17th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I love, LOVE Signing Time. Love. My kids adore all the ones we have, too. I have a college friend who had a Deaf child and before he was born, it never really crossed my mind to teach my kids (real) sign language. We did some baby signs, yes, but these videos really help get a base of the language to begin to build on. And I feel good about my kids watching “TV” when it’s so useful.
Moriah @ Please Pass the Salt´s last blog ..Lest you think it’s always roses around here
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November 25th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
[...] Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Things I Love About My Hubby (Challenge) So, a couple weeks ago I was “talking” to someone on Facebook and learned that she was getting divorced. It made me very sad. What’s even sadder is that I know several couples my age that are going through this horrible thing. As a child of divorced parents, divorce breaks my heart. It so upsets a child’s balance and understanding of unconditional love. Not to mention what it does to the adults who are going through it. And, I know that wanting to get divorced doesn’t happen over night. It’s a decision you slide into. As I was “talking” to my friend I realized that we all need to remember (often) why we married our spouse in the first place. Even when we are angry with them, there are things we love about them. And, we need to tell them those things. How often do you look at your spouse and think, “Oh, I love that he…” and keep that thought in your head. They need to hear you say it. You need to hear them say it – right? That day I sent an email to all the folks in my small group and challenged them to stop what they were doing immediately and write down/type out five things they loved about their spouse. Then, when they were together that evening, they were supposed to share their list with their spouse. The stories that came back were great!! Everybody did it, and everybody benefited from it. So here is what I wrote for my hubby plus five more… The Top Ten Things I love About My Hubby: 1. He loves me no matter what – the greatest gift I could ever get. 2. He loves our daughter. 3. He will play endlessly with said daughter and make her giggle with delight. 4. He works hard at his job – both for us and for the people he serves there. 5. He listens to me – REALLY listens to me. 6. He challenges me when I’m wrong. 7. He can make me laugh in just about any situation. 8. I fit just right in his arms for a hug. 9. He is the best in-home IT department I could ask for. 10. He mows the lawn. What are the top ten things you love about your spouse? I challenge you to stop what you’re doing, write them down, and share them. Who knows, it might make a huge difference today. For more Top Ten lists visit ohamanda.com. [...]
February 11th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Thanks so much for the tips! I’m looking forward to teaching Isabel. I took level 1 ASL a few years ago and just love the beauty of the language.
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April 6th, 2010 at 5:54 am
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
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