![]() ![]() How to teach baby sign language to your child To succeed with baby sign language, use it when baby is alert and happy, repeat the signs along with the spoken word as often as possible, and give baby plenty of positive feedback.You can begin signing to your baby at any time, but most babies begin to sign back around 6-9 months, when they are able to make intentional gestures and controlled hand movements.Baby sign language can boost language development throughout early childhood, including helping toddlers put signs and words together and bridging the gap between words in bilingual households.Baby sign language can ease frustration and lead to fewer meltdowns by giving babies a way to communicate their wants and needs.Baby sign language is based on American Sign Language, but modified to be easier for little hands.As its title suggests, it includes detailed information about the what, why, and how of using baby sign language, including: Our recent article, Baby Sign Language: What It Is, What the Benefits Are, & When to Start, provides a great overview of all things baby sign language. ![]() When should you start and which signs should you teach first? Let’s review the fundamentals of baby sign language, then learn eleven signs that you can use to introduce baby sign language to your family. Answering that question requires a complex assessment of whether Buddy is crying or grunting with effort, whether he’s actively eating, and whether he’s looking at toys or the half a banana still on the table, and it keeps her engaged in the family meal.Baby sign language can be a fun and effective way to communicate with babies before they learn to speak verbally. ![]() It’s also working on her social-emotional skills as we ask her “Is Buddy all done with the bananas, or does he want more?” while signing all done banana, more. This is reinforcing the signs just as Belle becomes intelligible enough to drop them. In the dining room, we’re starting to sign with Belle’s brother Buddy. Much like with more, creating an opportunity to use a reliably produced and understood sign can distract Belle from communication impasses/breakdowns. I can also elicit all done by creating questions with it as a possible answer – “are we done with the sugar? Are the cookies fully baked?” Functionally, it’s the stop/enough/no option in most “A or B” choices that have a positive/negative cast. ![]() If it’s a recipe that holds well, or can freeze, maybe it’s time to make that call. In the kitchen, spontaneously produced all done lets me know we need to move quickly to the next task or to distraction methods like water play. No matter – we catch it out of the corner of our eyes, understand, and model the full sign all done with a verbal “You’re all done?” ASL signers use a repeated motion Belle kind of starts the rotation as she brings her hands into position and ends it as she drops her hands, so there ends up being only one clear iteration. It’s still an approximation – while the adult sign is clearly five spread fingers on each hand, palm out, with rotating wrists, Belle’s version could be fists, splayed hands, or a single hand, often at different levels, and with the only common feature being the rotating wrists. Done or all done makes a frequent appearance when she’s just over something. Belle’s signing helps us understand her when she’s tired, pronouncing things oddly, or just saying something unexpected. ![]()
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