I want to teach my 8 1/2 year old some sign language, but I've her a lot of people say that it delays speech. If you have taught your kids sign language do you feel that it made them talk later? I would deffinatly rather hava a baby that talks early or about the right time, then one that can sign but wont speak until their 3. Also my daughter is already 81/2 months old do you think its too late or a waste of time to start now, should I be concentrating more on actual speech rather then starting her on signing this late? I would just like her to be able to communicate what she wants from me in a better way then crying, but again am not willing to sacrifice her speaking at an average age for it. Also do you know of any good websites that will explain in detail how to really go about teaching signs to your baby?
Sign Language, Is It Too Late; Will It Delay Her Speech?
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I assume you mean 8 1/2 month old not year old.
I can't speak long term but my 12 month old knows some sign language.
She learned
Milk @ about 5 months
Done @ about 9 months
More @ about 11 months
Eat @ about 11 months
Book @ 12 months
In my experience it hasn't slowed down her speech.. she now says "done" while signing done. She also tries to say "more" (which never sounds anything like it but its always the same word) when she signs for more.
Also.. 8 1/2 months is a good age to start.. my daughter did well at about 9 months and now it seems she is just picking these things up.
We have no intentions on teaching her more then basics at this point and it seems to be working well. We NEVER use just the sign.. we always speak as we do it. We want her to learn the words as we do things.