Another reason to use standard American Sign Language for babies is to keep consistency in your signing. If you make up signs you may forget what you have made up – or you and your spouse may make up different signs and this may confuse your child.

Believe it or not, many people know at least a little sign language. Independant research has shown that there are nearly 15 million people in North America able to communicate to some degree in sign language, making it the third most commonly used language in the county. Even your child’s baby-sitter or teacher may know many signs and can also communicate with your child as well as you can. Your child will find it even more exciting to realize that not only do his mom and dad understand him, but so do other people!

Dr. Acredolo and Dr. Goodwyn did extensive research on babies and toddlers who learned signs from their parents. They list some of the benefits they learned during their research:
“With these signs literally at your baby’s fingertips, communication between you can flourish during that difficult time from about nine to thirty months, when your baby’s desire to communicate outstrips her capacity to say words….Our ten years of scholarly research on Baby Signs have proved conclusively that adding these gestures to a baby’s repertoire not only leads to better communication; it also speeds up the process of learning to talk, stimulates intellectual development, enhances self-esteem, and strengthens the bond between parent and infant.”

In 1987, an American scientist, Joseph Garcia, began researching babies’ sign language at the Alaska Pacific University. He suggests that babies can begin learning baby sign language as early as six months when they are introduced to basic symbols such as ‘eat’, ‘drink’, ‘milk’, ‘more’, and ‘no’. In this research he used American Sign Language to teach hearing babies of hearing parents.

Research has shown that children who learn two languages at the same time – including ASL and English – can go back and forth between languages at ease. For instance – a hearing baby with a deaf father and hearing mother will be able to sign with her father and speak with her mother and will use the appropriate attention getters with each one.

In essence, baby sign language research has shown no negative effects on a baby’s speech development, despite some parents worrying that learning sign language will delay speech. In fact, all research indicates the opposite is true, that teaching babies sign language will actually promote a richer vocabulary and earlier vocalisation of words. In fact, the most helpful thing parents can probably do for their children between the ages of eight and 12 months is to encourage them to point, since there is very sound research suggesting that the use of pointing is associated with joint attention and the development of object naming and language development.

A ten-year study at the University of California at Davis found that seven-year-olds who signed as babies scored an average of twelve points higher on the standard IQ test than members of a control group who didn’t sign as babies. According to researchers Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, signing babies tend to develop higher IQs than babies who do not sign. Visit signing for babies to discover more benefits to teaching your baby sign language. Baby sign language research and data prove that signing with your baby is a good thing – and it’s fun too!

Here are just a few of the benefits of baby sign language:

Giving your baby the power to communicate can eliminate common frustrations babies have, and reduces many temper tantrums because your child is not so frustrated because they can’t make you understand what they want or what they feel.

Babies who learn to sign tend to talk earlier, have larger vocabularies and higher IQs than non-signing babies. This is due to parents placing increased attention on language – both with signs and with spoken words. They spend more time talking to their babies, labelling things, asking questions, searching for opportunities to sign. All this talking translates into lots and lots of examples of how to say things with words.

Babies who learn to sign have much greater self esteem as children. They get great positive feedback from their parents and people in the community because they are able to communicate with others and show a wide variety of words, much more than children who are still pre-verbal.

Baby sign language is so natural that all parents teach their babies at least three signs-YES, NO, and BYE BYE – without even thinking about it. Once your baby begins signing you’ll see for yourself how the ability to use signs makes daily life with your baby easier and so much more fun. For a simple and easy way to start to get the benefits of baby sign language right away CLICK HERE

Once your baby can start waving or using gestures such as clapping, they are ready to start using baby sign language.
However, you can start using signs with them from a much earlier age, because babies are absorbing information even when they can’t physically make the signs to you. By the time they are old enough to start using sign to communicate with you, they will already have a large vocabulary of baby signs if you have been signing with them regularly and consistently.

1. Start signing when your baby is between 6 and 8 months and your baby holds your gaze for a few seconds. Start with one or two signs. Pick them from the most popular words, such as more, milk, eat, drink. These are signs you can model to your baby several times a day and they are need based signs where your baby can express something they require.

2. Sign to your baby on a regular basis. Just as babies learn words and speech through repetition, it is the same with learning baby sign language.

3. Use the sign before, during and after the activity. For example, as your baby is about to finish her food, as if she would like some “more”. You can also use the word “more” for activities and objects such as more kisses, more stories, more milk and anything else you can think of.

4. Make sure you sign when your baby is looking at you. Making eye contact with your baby is important. If you baby can’t see you, they can’t learn the sign!

5. Model the sign and say the word at the same time. When you sign and say the word at the same time, your child can connect with the word on two different levels. This incorporates two of the ways we learn new things –seeing and hearing.

Do you want more information on teaching your baby sign language? Studies have shown that babies who learned baby sign language as infants had a higher IQ overall than babies who didn’t, and children who can communicate through sign are often much happier babies and toddlers which translates into a happier YOU! CLICK HERE to find out how to start teaching babies sign language today!

When you can communicate with your baby using sign language, it opens up a whole new world for you and your baby. As soon as your baby is able to use gestures such as waving goodbye,or playing peek-a-boo they are able to start using baby sign language symbols to “talk” to you.

Babies learn to sign through repetition, encouragement and fun, just as they learn to speak and make sounds. If you start using baby sign language with your baby as soon as you start talking to them, by the time they are six months old they will already have a great deal of words they will be able to start using to sign with. Even though they can’t sign back to you until they are around seven months old, they can understand a lot of what you teach them from a much earlier age. Imagine the first time your baby uses sign to tell you she wants more food, or that she need a diaper change – it is just as exciting as the first time she talks, except she will use sign a lot earlier than she will speak!

Teaching baby sign lanuguage is a great way to create a strong personal bond between baby and parents. Studies indicates that babies who have learned baby sign language symbols tend to do a lot better later on when they are in second grade, both linguistically and in comprehension tests.

Learn how to teach your baby sign language in a natural environment. There are videos demonstrating over 250 signs you can use with your baby, plus a reference guide that will show you pictures of the signs. These pictures help to “jump start” your memory so that the signs you learn from the video will come back to you quickly. CLICK HERE