Signing is to Talking as Crawling is to Walking!
Often, parents fear that if they teach their child to sign, he/she will not learn to talk. In fact, studies have shown that children who learn to sign develop better language skills than those who do not. Dr. Acredolo and Dr. Goodwyn (2000) found that by the age of three, children who signed as babies were talking with the skills of a four-year-old. At age 8, those same kids scored 12 points higher on intelligence tests than those kids who did not sign. To read more about what research says about sign language, open the hand out 187 Baby Sign from the Super Duper company.
It is helpful to start with a few signs and build from there. Some of the most common signs to begin with are: “more”, “done”, “eat”, “play”, and some favorite foods and toys. A “fridge sheet” with the signs can be helpful for the whole family and any caregivers who may come to your house. Here is the one I created signlanguagefridgesheet(1), but you could create your own by drawing pictures or printing images of your go-to signs from this baby sign language dictionary.
Keeping track of your child’s signs is helpful. You can keep a running written list of signs and words your child uses or use my vocabulary tracking sheet (Vocabulary parent tracking form.docx). Having a list helps you and your child’s therapist know what kinds of words your child has mastered and what kinds of words is working on so you can expand his/her language skills appropriately.
Signing Dictionary
I like the dictionary at the site Baby Sign Language.com because it gives a video, an illustration of the sign, and a printable flashcard for each word. They also give ideas for how to use the sign. Below is their illustration for signing “airplane”.
Songs
While the best way to learn a sign is to pair the sign with the actual object, using songs is a fun way to reinforce signs a child has learned. Here are few songs I like for that purpose:
* I Like to Eat, Eat, Eat Apples and Bananas (Insert any verb and any two nouns here. For example, you could sing “I like to play, play, play, bubble and ball” Look in my “songs” tab for a youtube link to the song.
*Bubble Bubble Pop – A great song for the sign “bubble”