5
Reasons Why Parents Love Signing With Babies
In the past decade, a growing number
of parents worldwide have discovered the joys of using simple sign language
with their preverbal babies. Why sign language? Babies can gain
control of their hands long before they develop the oral motor skills necessary
for speech, so signs allow little ones to express their thoughts without crying
or whining, a bonus for both babies and parents. But reducing frustration
is just one reason parents love using Baby sign language.
Here's what researchers Linda
Acredcolo, PhD and Susan Goodwyn, PhD, the authors of Baby Signs: How to
Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk (Contemporary Books, 2002),
have found in their 20 years of research on the effects of Baby sign language
on babies' development.
1.
Baby sign language help babies talk sooner
One concern that parents have is the
effect of sign language on speech development. Acredolo and Goodwyn have
found that Baby Signers actually talk sooner than non-signers. The reason
being that they are using expressive language from an earlier age, playing with
words, ideas and pairing them up before they have even developed the oral motor
skills necessary for speech. In addition, they have found that by age 8,
children who signed had stronger reading skills than those who did not.
2.
Baby sign language Empower Babies to Initiate Conversation
Most babies will show signs of
wanting to communicate by coming up with their own simple gestures: they
will raise their arms to say 'Pick me up,' reach for things they want, pat the
couch to say 'up', or open their mouth wide when they want more food.
Signs expand on this idea and offer children an opportunity to communicate
about specific ideas or concepts.
After returning from a walk around
the neighborhood, Isabel looked at her mom and signed 'airplane. 'Yes,'
her mom said, 'we saw a big airplane up in the sky today. It was flying
to a place far away.'
In this exchange, the child
expressed a topic on her mind and the parent was able to elaborate on it,
modeling language on a topic the child initiated.
3.
Baby sign language Reduce Frustration
Parents and researchers agree that
after learning Baby sign language as a communication tool, both child and
parent have fewer moments of frustration that stem from a lack of communication.
Tantrums decrease, and parents have found that they can discipline or redirect
their child in public without using their voice, therefore avoiding
embarrassing moments for the child.
The most frustrating age for a
toddler is 17-22 months because although he is mobile and he understands what
you're saying, he may not be able to communicate about what he
wants. Sign language can help clarify communication between
parent and child, replacing grunts and whining with clear expressions of
thoughts. Children as young as 6 to 8 months old can understand the signs
for 'milk,' 'more,' and 'all done.' Between 8 and 12 months,
children often begin signing 'more' when they are out of Cheerios or would like
another push on a swing, or they will sign 'all done' when they have had enough
to eat or want to leave the mall. Once children start speaking,
parents have found that signs help fill in the gaps until the child is able to
intelligibly communicate all the thoughts he wants to share.
4.
Baby sign language Provide a Strong Foundation for Early Literacy
Signs make books more meaningful to
babies. Your child can be an active participant in story time, labeling
pictures and predicting what comes next in their favorite books. This
kind of participation and interaction helps children understand the
similarities and differences between concepts. When they first learn the
sign for 'dog,' they may generalize it and label all mammals in a book
'dog.' Once the parent has helped them learn to see the distinguishing
features of a dog, a horse and a bear, they can then learn to generalize the
sign for 'dog' to the family pet, a stuffed animal and the star of Blue's
Clues, given appropriate feedback from adults.
5.
Baby sign language Stimulate Intellectual Development
Participation in reading activities,
along with the vocabulary boost inherent in early communication, lead to
stronger early reading skills. Marilyn Daniels, author of Dancing With
Words: Signing for Hearing Children's Literacy (Bergin & Garvey, 2001),
found in her research that hearing students in pre-kindergarten who had the
benefit of adding the visual and kinesthetic (movement) elements of sign
language to verbal and written language scored significantly higher on
standardized vocabulary tests than hearing students with no sign
instruction. Adding sign language to verbal communication has been found
to help enhance a preschool child's vocabulary, spelling and early reading
skills.
Photo Credit : Flickr.com
Post a Comment