Babies Can Use Sign Language

Originally Posted At: http://www.teach-nology.com/Articles/teaching/sign/

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Did you know that children as young as seven months can learn sign language and start to communicate with you, even though they are not ready to talk at that stage?

An amazing set of research by a man called Joseph Garcia has found that babies can indeed conceptualise and communicate - they just need to do it through signs rather than words! Joseph Garcia noticed when he was visiting a friend with a ten month child who could not hear that the child was communicating in a far more sophisticated way than the equivalent hearing child. The child was using American Sign Language. He began to research this and then completed a masters degree with this topic as his thesis.

Replicating

Some children can begin replicating signs as young as 6 months and he advises people who want to help their children learn to communicate that they begin making simple signs from about this age. This means that each time you are about to eat you should make the sign for this (fingers together and tapping the mouth) several times. This way the child will build up an association between an action and an activity.

Child Development

For many years child development experts have followed the theories of Piaget who suggested that babies are not able to carry concepts in their mind until they are about 2yrs old. In fact we now think that children can carry concepts in their minds, they don't speak because their physical development isn't ready and their motor skills for producing speech are too undeveloped. However physically they can manage signs easily.

This means that you can begin a two way communication with your baby much earlier than you imagined - all you need is the patience to keep at it and the knowledge of British Sign Language (or American Sign Language). This significantly reduces the frustration between you and your child as you try to understand what they are feeling and needing. With sign language 'at their fingertips' they can tell you.

For instance a 10 month old child was able to communicate to her mother that she was missing her father. He was working late at the office and had phoned home to speak to his wife. The little girl began to make the signs for 'please daddy more' when she heard who her mother was speaking to. Stories such as this are becoming common amongst the families who have decided to teach themselves and their children how to do this. It is an amazing sight to see such a young child communicating and interacting so easily rather than just being an attractive, appealing baby we can look at and coo over.

Additional Research

The research is also showing some interesting indications that children who are taught how to communicate through sign language are quicker to learn language and use it, some claim that it even increases IQ. World renown experts in child communication are looking at this phenomenon and starting to consider the implications. They say that parents who are interested to teach their babies sign language need not worry about delaying the child's use of spoken language. Children like and want to communicate and will use whatever means they have to do it, quickly moving on to a new way once they have the ability.

Parents who have used this method report that their signing child is less frustrated than their older siblings. This may be something to do with temperament or birth order but it is likely to be linked to their ability to communicate their needs and feelings whenever they want to. Mothers and fathers using the system say that it is helping them develop a special bond with their child. They think that they probably are spending more time 'talking' with the child than they would otherwise have done just because the interaction is possible and enjoyable. This is bound to create a good bond.

In the States this 'SIGN with your BABY' system is growing in popularity and in Britain it is being taken on by one of the big nursery chains, Kids Unlimited, web communities are growing and information is beginning to be spread. More research will be carried out in this field giving us more information about the benefits, advantages and disadvantages to the signing system.

Our Aim

We aim to keep you informed as this field develops and are currently researching it for ourselves here at the Self esteem Advisory Service. We believe that this method of early communication will significantly enhance a child's self esteem. They are being listened to, attended to, accepted and interacted with in a very active way. Their sense of self, sense of belonging and sense of personal power are likely to be far more developed at an earlier stage than children who have less of this mutual interaction. Their experience of being understood and being effective as they communicate is very powerful learning for a young child. We will begin teaching parents how to use this technique in the New Year as part of our on-going programme at the University of Bristol and are looking forward to this.

If you would like to know more about Signing with your Baby please log your interest by emailing the webmaster with 'Signing for your Baby' in the subject line and we will send you information as we continue our research.

Elizabeth Morris is an author of books, factsheets, special reports and a regularly contributor. Recent publication "The Pillars of Successful Management" - Elizabeth Morris