Top Ten {Tuesday}: Sign Language Tips for Babies

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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