This may be a trendy thing...i'm not sure (I'm pregnant with my first) but I have been seeing a lot of books and videos about teaching and using "baby sign language" and that babies can communicate using the signs before they can speak...I'm not saying that I would rather my baby sign instead of speak...but why not encourage both?
What are your thoughts on this? To people that have tried, does it work? Which video/book did you use (Baby Einstein is coming out with one March 13 I believe). Does anyone really dislike the baby sign idea? Or found that it did NOT work with their child?
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My daughter is 5 months old and I am going to start this month teaching her to sign. My older sister is a speech pathologist and she taught it to both of her kids. Its was awesome. She only taught them simple words/signs like up, down, more, please, thank you, hurt. etc. It was amazing. My nephew will be 5 in April and talks but still sometimes uses sign language to say thank you. Some people say it delays speech but it did not with my niece of my nephew. I think its a great idea. It will be so nice for my daughter to tell me she wants more, or that something hurts, before she can actually say the words. Congrats!
It is simple to learn and remember because it seems like you are putting food in your mouth! One of the ( many ) cool things about sign language is that one sign can make a complete English sentence! Just signing ‘eat’ while announcing / vocalizing, ‘Want to eat?’ Occasionally in this world of bustle, the shorter, is the sweeter. Try these links first to pick up one or two basic American Sign Language ( ASL ) signs.