Baby sign language was especially trendy a few years back. I've known a few people who used it with their babies and they *swear* it helped ease their non-verbal babies frustration when they had a need or want.
Has anyone had experience with baby signing?
I would be interested in checking out a DVD on the subject that is geared for adults (I'm completely not interested in any of the Baby Einstein-type videos that are supposedly made for babies, though). If I were to start baby signing, at what age (my baby's age, that is) should I begin doing it? My LO is now 11 weeks old.
Any thoughts, advice or recommendations appreciated. Thanks.
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Ok… I guess I should expect thumbs down since everyone else that answered got one… obviously someone out there doesn’t agree with baby sign language
I have used key word signing (signing the main word in the sentence such as “more” or “finished”) with my daughter since she was born. It is certainly not necessary to start this early but I am a speech pathologist and before I went on maternity leave I used it every day at work so it is almost second nature to me (I even get in trouble from hubby for signing to him LOL).
You are right don’t need any fancy pants stuff like baby einstein. Learn a few basic signs. good ones to start with are:
More
finished
food
drink
mum
dad
anything you think will benifit your child to be able to communicate and use the sign everytime that it is appropriate. The more regularly you use it the more likely it is to be effective.
Some people will argue that it will delay your child’s learning to talk. While it MAY mean that your child MIGHT use spoken words a bit (but not much) later, langauge development is much more than spoken words and the child wil learn to communicate with sign before words which can help ease frustration in the child.
THe most important thing to remember is that you should ALWAYS use the spoken word with the sign so the child also knows how the word sounds
I hope all that helps and good luck