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…
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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.
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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 myย 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
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Let’s see what you got! Write a Top Ten list on your blog. Then enter the link to your post (not your blog) in the MckLinky below. If you believe in sowing and reaping, link back to me & feel free to use my cute Top Ten {Tuesday} button. Then, spread some comment love around the blogosphere!
Rebekah says
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.
Leigh says
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).
vanessa says
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…. ๐
.-= vanessa´s last blog ..top 10 things that entertained my two year old on a plane =-.
Karen Owens says
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.
Mary-Carolyn says
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 โ Musicals =-.
AmyG says
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 โ Recipe Sites =-.
Rachel@IdahoCheneys says
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! ๐
.-= Rachel@IdahoCheneys´s last blog ..You Might Be Married to a Handyman If… (Part II) =-.
Hillary @ The Other Mama says
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!!
.-= Hillary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Tips from the Consignment Sale Guru- Part Two =-.
Heather @ Not a DIY Life says
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 =-.
Moriah @ Please Pass the Salt says
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 itโs always roses around here =-.
Naomi says
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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