The Big Questions About Baby Sign

~ By Shannon Salverda, M.S., CCC-SLP, Chatterbox Learning

Are you interested in introducing sign language to your baby? Many parents choose to sign with their babies to offer communication support until baby begins to communicate verbally. Parents share a few common questions about signing with their baby. Here are some answers:

1. When can I begin to sign with my baby?
You can begin signing with your baby as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. Exposing them to sign can only support their language learning. However, remember your purpose for introducing sign. If your purpose is ASL as a second language, then start right away. If you are using sign to promote pre-verbal communication, then wait until your baby can focus his eyes and attention, sit upright, and organize his hands for movement. For most babies, these skills emerge between four and six months.

2. What are the best baby signs to introduce first?
A very natural time to model signs to your baby is during meal time. Many pediatrician’s recommend introducing solids around six months, which is also a great time to start signing. During meals, your baby is sitting in a high chair, facing you, and in natural position for conversation. Your baby relies on you to feed him, so I recommend starting with the signs for “more” and “all done.”

3. Will signing with my baby delay her desire or need to speak?
This is a question and concern shared by many parents and I am happy to say that just the opposite is true. Sign offers your baby an opportunity to communicate with you clearly before being able to speak clearly. Your baby will enjoy the positive reinforcement of successful communication as people respond to her needs, engage with her in communication and play, and pay attention to her ideas. This will actually encourage her to speak because she will have experienced positive communication and she will want more!

4. What if my baby makes up her own signs?
This is great!!! But again, think about the purpose for introducing sign. If your purpose is ASL as a second language, then you should continue to model true ASL signs with the knowledge that your baby may not be able to manage some of the more complex signs until he is older. But if you are using sign to promote pre-verbal communication, then go ahead and use your baby’s invented signs. Perhaps he has assigned a particular movement to a word because it is what he is physically capable of in that moment. Some parents choose to respond to their baby’s “invented” sign, but model the true sign, while others just use the invented sign, knowing that speech is on the way and the sign is just a temporary bridge.

5. When will my baby begin to use signs to communicate with me?
We have all heard the metaphor that babies are like sponges. They quietly and observantly spend their first months viewing the world and taking in all of the sensory information around them. This is the “receiving” time for babies, when they are building their receptive language and starting to figure out how to move, roll over, sit, crawl and all of the other amazing movements they learn to organize in those first months. They must also learn to suck, swallow, bite, chew, blow, screech, and scream – these are all part of the oral motor planning which will help them to eventually speak. This is complex stuff, so just remember that your baby is working hard!
Every baby arrives at expression in their own unique way. Every baby uses their own timetable. Babies who are more physically inclined may sign earlier than those who are more verbal by nature. Babies who seem reluctant to sign may suddenly use multiple signs within a brief period. Others will more systematically use one new sign at a time and include other new signs every now and again. It is natural for babies to sign as early as nine months and as late as 14 months. My daughter could say some words before she used the sign but then used both speech and sign simultaneously. All babies have their own rhythm to learning language. Your challenge is to recognize your own child’s rhythm and support him in making the most of it.

When you focus on your strengths as a parent and on the strengths of your child, you have the core of what you need to learn and communicate with them. Using baby sign language is a perfect opportunity to practice and have fun with communication.

Happy Learning!

About the Author

Shannon Salverda, M.S., CCC-SLP has a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Hearing Science and a Master's of Science in Communicative Disorders with an emphasis in pediatric neurology. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech and Hearing Association and is trained in a variety of teaching methods. Perhaps most importantly, Shannon is the mother of two glorious young ones. She founded Chatterbox Learning to meld her passion for teaching and communication with the desire to spend more time with her own chattering children as they grow. To learn more about Shannon and chatterbox learning check out her website at www.chatterboxlearning.com.

Shannon is also a guest speaker at PEPS Groups and at the PEPS Parent Talk Lecture Series. Click here to learn more about Parent Talk.