Using Baby Sign Language
My 11 month old baby girl is totally wonderful in so many ways but recently we are all marvelling at how she is able to communicate her thoughts and needs by using some of the signs we have shown her.
If she spots a cat outside the window or in a book she strokes her left hand with her right (and gets very excited too). We say ‘Have you seen a cat?’ and most often she has spotted it way before we would have done. Similarly with horses (her big sister’s toys, a picture in a book or perhaps one of the many that pass the house each day) she makes the horse sign (a clip clop noise and a vague reigns holding sign). She asks for milk when she is thirsty (or tired but that’s a whole seperate post topic) and nods furiously when we say ‘Would you like some milk?’.She also requests to go and look out the front window at the birds (many including pheasants, birds of prey and huge flocks of more common garden birds) by waving and then making the gesture which means ‘bird’ (finger and thumb make a beak open and closing sign). When asked ‘Shall we look for birds in the garden?’ after seeing these actions we again get much leg wiggling and excitable noises. She is a blessed little thing who clearly enjoys chatting.
Now that she has understood that most things have a label and a sign she is able to make despite not having the power of vocal speech she is able to make little sentences (’Hello eating horse/bird/cat’) and is able to pick up new signs almost daily.
We used sign language with our twins 5 years ago when they were the same age. It was so awesome to have actual conversations with babies who couldn’t yet walk let alone talk and I find it sad that not more parents don’t encourage this very primative form of communication with their little babes.
We have had no training, have not attended any classes (although I am aware that such classes exist), we have simply got two picture board books from the library and have repeated the signs (just five to begin with ‘yes’, ‘milk’, ‘food’, ‘all finished’ and ‘more’) as nauseum until one day she started doing them back to us.
Here are the books. It is so much fun having a baby who instead of crying can politely tug your leg and make the sign for ‘milk’ and tells her Daddy about the interesting animals she has seen during her day when he comes home from work…
‘My First Signs‘ by Annie Kubler
and
‘My First Animal Signs‘ by Anthony Lewis
January 12th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Yep. We actually had some issues with our first child where his speech didn’t come until he was 2 so we used a lot of sign language when he was little. It’s amazing when that communication barrier finally dissolves.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
We’ve done a term of SIng and sign (6-9 months) and had the DVD for a while (I also bought the booke above before she was born). From the age of about 10/11 months Kitty just started signing at everything, and I;m amazed at how comunicative she is now (we had our first 4-word sentence last week, at the age of just baout 18 months).
The one TV program she is obsessed with is Something Special on cbeebies. She stands against the sofa absolutely transfixed, copying the signs Justin makes. I know you’ve been weaning your older ones off TV, but I can HEARTILY recommend 15 minutes of the lovely Justin every day
January 14th, 2009 at 10:54 am
We went to signing lessons, but seem to be lazy – and haven’t really kept it up. At the moment we try and just repeat consistently e.g. ‘drink’ before drinking and so forth.
Suffice to say we’ve also forgotten most of the sign language we learnt (and ‘mouse’, ‘bird’, ’snake’, ‘lion’ etc aren’t of much use in day-to-day situations).
January 15th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
@cowgirlinwellies: I couldn’t agree more – it is amazing watching someone so small communicate effectively using non-verbal language
@raker: I LOVE Justin & do miss that one show from times when we used to let the children watch tv. Very interesting that your signing baby responds to his simple signing show.
@DG: The books I have listed in the orig post give you more than enough signs and how to do them. I often make up a sign if I see something whilst out and about (eg. helicopter) I I don’t know the ‘official’ sign for it. The babes don’t know.
February 10th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
we use it with or daughter whos 15 months, its also helping the gap between the two languages shes learning… its just fab!
i love how she sees things before we do too!
loving your blog!
xxx
March 27th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Thnaks for the post once more, it’s amazing how oyu can communicate with a little baby so effectively! Have you tried out gurgle – a resource for parents and soon to be parents – it’s a great resource with some good videos on techniques not dissimilar to this. Thanks again!