Baby Sign Language

[IheartOman]

Hi All,

Me and DP will be trying to implement sign language as a form of communication with our bub when he arrives.

Im just wondering if anyone can tell me their experiences of it? When did you start using it? Was it hard? And any other tips or advice you might have?

And if any of you think it's a bad idea and why?

Thanks.

:p

[jessgray]

we tried to teach ds1 some but he has the attention span of a goldfish lol and this wasnt too long ago. he was about 15 months then.e is now 18.5months and we are looking at learning auslan as he has hearing loss in both ears. he doesnt talk he points as a way to communicate and we know what he means but no1 else does.
baby sign has mixed reviews.but i think if a child can communicate thier needs before they can talk by signing then its good:)

[IheartOman]

Hi Jess

It must be very hard to implement it if the child is deaf. We were thinking of starting with the baby sign language earlier than 15 months. Can I ask if there was a reason why you started at that age?

[RoarsomeMum]

Hi shanilee,

My sister has used signing with both her children, she started from day one. Her and hubby looked through the Auslan books and decided on the signs they would use for certain things (like toilet, food, hugs lots more I cant remember now, I'll ring my sis tonight) they would use the word and sign together. The girl seemed to obviously recognise the signs by 7/8 months. The boy was quicker, at about 4/6 months.

[amandaw]

We were looking at it, but a teacher a DH's school strongly recommended AGAINSt it...she has a 2.5 year old who REFUSES to speak...will only communicate via sign, and was told that if her DD didn't at least start to speak before no 2 came along, then there may be a fairly serious issue.......I'm sure that lots of people use it with great success, and this may be one of 'those' cases.....enough to make us think twice though

[IheartOman]

Hi shanilee,

My sister has used signing with both her children, she started from day one. Her and hubby looked through the Auslan books and decided on the signs they would use for certain things (like toilet, food, hugs lots more I cant remember now, I'll ring my sis tonight) they would use the word and sign together. The girl seemed to obviously recognise the signs by 7/8 months. The boy was quicker, at about 4/6 months.

Wow that sounds great! I was stoked when I went home with the idea and DP was on board straight away. Obviously you need both parents when it comes to this sort of thing.

amandaw- I knew there would have to be a bad side, as there is with EVERYTHING! That is a bit concerning. Mabye to get her to talk they could ignore her when she is signing? I dunno, that was just a idea.

[SassyMummy]

I was looking into it for DD when she was about 12 months... I now it's suggested to start a bit younger than that, but I never really thought about it until then.

We didn't end up doing it because I couldn't find ANY books ANYWHERE - I'd have to order them would could take around a month (at least)... and I figured that I'd just left it too late and didn't bother anymore.

As for baby-sign babies not talking as early as other kids... I would have thought so too but there's evidence to suggest otherwise. Some baby-signers won't talk for ages, but I think that's just like any other kid - some talk young, some talk when they're older. Either way, kids talk whenever they're ready to. Baby-sign just lets them communicate more effectively before they actually have the ability to form words. If nothing else, it'll save bub a bit of stress... she'll know that if she wants her food, she just has to ask Mum... not cry and cry and hope that Mum figures it out.

[Mojogal]

We are teaching our DD Auslan as her cousin is deaf. We started at around 7 months (but from birth is best), by 9 months, she could sign milk, tired, bed and mummy. By a year old, she knew around 20 signs. Now at 17 months, she knows over 60 signs.

You don't have to sit down and show the child anything. You simply choose a few signs to start with, then use the sign each time you use the word. That is all it takes, babies pick up the connection very quickly and you will be surprised how much your bubba understands at an early age - we don't give tiny kids enough credit.

The Auslan website is excellent - http://www.auslan.org.au it has a 'sign bank' where you type in the word you want the sign for, and they show you a clip of someone doing the sign, so you know exactly how it should look - it's really hard to grasp from books, because the directions as to how to move your hands can be really confusing. The Sign Bank is awesome and a huge help to us.

If you want any more info or help, feel free to PM me. It's much easier than you think to teach your kids sign language, especially if you start early. Even if your bubba is over a year old, just using the signs EVERY time you say the word will be enough to get them interested. Just don't push the issue - they will copy you when they are ready - but they WILL do it eventually.

Oh and my daughter is an excellent speaker, says heaps more words than many other kids her age and grasps concepts much better also. There was a time when she preferred to sign, so we just stopped teaching NEW signs for about a week (still used the signs she had already learned) and by the end of the week, she got the message that we want her to speak as well as sign. Now she says the word she's signing, and learns a new sign every day - we now only have to show her once.

Sorry to ramble so much, but I LOVE teaching my DD Auslan, it has been a HUGE help. I could go on and on all day. But please anyone, PM me if you'd like to hear more, because it really is very easy and lots of fun too!

Suze

[IheartOman]

Mojogal- That is awesome. That's what I like to hear :)

I can only imagine in most cases it is beneficial. I was thinking how if you make a point of saying the word every time you do the sign they are going to copy you and do the same and if they only sign then all you can do is encourage!

I like the idea of the bub being able to sign to tell me they are hungry instead of crying :)

That is amazing that your bub knew 20 signs by age 1!!! 20 would cover all the important stuff like food, drink, tired etc! Wow, congrats on having a lcever little girl! And a cute one too :)

[MrsMiggins]

The baby signing taught in Australia is closely linked to Auslan from what I know.

Also, it actually helps children speak earlier, rather than the opposite. Obviously it depends on the child, but studies I have read & heard about indicate that when a child uses signs to communicate, they are able to associate the thing they are signing with the word (words are used in conjunction with signing - not instead of).

I was very keen to use signing with our bub, but there were always so many other things going on we never got around to looking properly into it. I may start again with both children when DS is born.

DD does have a few signs, but these are just the basic ones I got from the Australian BabyHands website (www.australianbabyhands.com (http://www.australianbabyhands.com/)) I found the website very useful.

[IheartOman]

DD does have a few signs, but these are just the basic ones I got from the Australian BabyHands website (www.australianbabyhands.com (http://www.australianbabyhands.com/)) I found the website very useful.

Thanks MrsMiggins :) I will check it out

[Mojogal]

Yes, Australian Baby Hands is based on Auslan, only they have modified many of the signs to make them easier for babies to pick up - such as using one-handed signs when the normal sign uses both hands. It makes sense, but I have found that our little one has no trouble with the normal signs, using one or both hands. I guess it just depends how much you actually use the sign.
eg: the regular sign for 'milk' in Auslan is to use both hands and pretend to milk a cow. With the baby version, they just use the one hand, and open and close the hand. It's very similar and a good start. Our bub started doing the sign with one hand anyway, but as we were showing her the two-hand sign, she eventually picked it up and now signs milk with both hands.

Baby Hands is fine if you mainly want to use sign language to bridge the pre-verbal gap with your kids. However, if you really want them to learn sign language as a skill for life, using normal Auslan is the way to go IMO - just so you don't have to teach them new signs for the same things later. To each their own tho - I know a few families using Baby Hands and they love it.

Good luck and PM me if u like :)
Suze

[jessgray]

Hi Jess

It must be very hard to implement it if the child is deaf. We were thinking of starting with the baby sign language earlier than 15 months. Can I ask if there was a reason why you started at that age?
i didnt know about it till around then:thumbsup: i have heard ppl starting as young as 6 months though. i read it somewhere in a baby magazine