Baby Sign Language: Ten Tips for Learning and Teaching Baby Sign Language

Baby Sign Language

Teaching even hearing babies sign language seems to be the rage in recent years and for good reason. Communicating in sign language is fun and natural as babies instinctively use body gestures in early communication.

A quick search at Google reveals that there are many tools available to support you in learning and teaching sign language. What I want to share today are ten tips to keep in mind as you move through this journey of 'talking' with your baby. Ideally, these tips will encourage and remind you that learning a new language is an ongoing process and one well worth enjoying!

1. Start signing to your baby as early as possible. Sometime around six months of age your baby will start holding your gaze for several seconds or more. This is prime time to introduce simple signs. Your child will be enchanted and you will find it really adds to bonding with your baby.
2. Be simple and intuitive in your signing. 'First signs' correlate very well to 'first words'. It only makes sense that these signs demonstrate things meaningful to your baby. Signs for milk, more, eat, done/finished and sleepy are all one action signs that are used frequently and learned quickly.
3. Remember, just like verbal words, your baby will understand signs correctly before she begins to make signs. Applaud approximations, physical coordination is an ongoing process too, so watch for subtleties in movement and ask your baby for confirmation that they are signing.
4. Spend a little time each day practicing signs yourself. You do not have to be a fluent signer to start teaching your baby to communicate effectively. The beauty of this language is that you can effectively both learn it at the same time... one sign and one day at a time.
5. Use picture books. It's never too early to introduce books into your baby's life. Get simple books about objects, animals, colors, feelings, etc. and learn the signs so you can demonstrate them as you say and show them. Another great idea in addition to picture books is to get a set of flashcards.
6. Smile LOTS! One thing I have noticed with parents who are new at using sign language is that sometimes they focus more on getting the sign right than on the joy of communicating with their baby. Sometimes when confronted with our own learning curve we feel awkward and maybe a bit foolish. I advise you here to take your cues from your baby. You will notice he is totally in the joy of the experience no matter how closely he approximates the action. Follow his lead!
7. Talk, laugh or sing as you sign and be sure to make eye contact. Have fun with this and remember to emphasize the word you're signing, "Do you want more applesauce?"
8. Add signs quickly. Don't worry about going too fast for your baby. It's likely that her pace may in fact be quicker than yours so commit yourself to learning new signs daily and easing them immediately into your conversation. As you begin to recognize how many signs mimic their meaning you will find learning them comes quickly and easily. For instance, the sign for baby is simply the motion of rocking an imaginary baby in your arms.
9. Sign often. Don't make signing an event that you save for your child just at certain times. The easiest way to learn a second language is to simply incorporate it in to your daily activities. Sign language is a language, let it live!
10. Prepare for the unexpected. Your child will surprise and delight you with their awareness and creativity. Whether it's expressing a sign so dramatically that you almost missed recognizing that they were signing or as in the case of my friend-- His 14 month old was furiously signing 'ball' when they were out for a walk at the park. Dad and Mom only saw the dog and kept trying to correct their little guy by showing him the sign for 'dog'. Finally the dog moved so that they could see what their son saw all along, the dog was hiding a ball.
    

Keeping these ten tips in mind will ensure that you and your baby easily succeed in learning to effectively communicate with sign language. You will know what's on their mind up to a year earlier than you would have waiting for verbal words to occur. Now you just have the challenge of the 18 month old remembering a sign they were shown once two weeks earlier when you read the book about the 'pig' and now they're begging you to read that book... only problem is, you were not the parent that showed them that sign and you have no clue. I promise... if you're not careful they will leave you in the dust!

Article Source: Mary K Weinhagen