Sign language

**aussiemumoftwo** · 02-02-2012 11:45

Just wondering if anyone out there is teaching/taught their child sign language? Would love to hear about your experiences :-).

**Wickedly Happy** · 02-02-2012 13:38

When I worked in Special Ed, I worked on Hearing Impairment classes and taught Auslan (Australian Sign Language) across the school. A number of teachers who had young children at the time were also teaching it tot their babies, plus the younger siblings of Deaf kids would learn it too. Evidence fromm research suggests that babies communicate very effectively with sign language, well before they are able to verbaliz their needs and wants.

My bub is due in July, so I can't speak from experience here, but I had thought that I would give it a go. There is no harm in trying, and in fact, it could be quite fun! There are picture books, charts and other resources that can support sign language, if you want to go that far.

**LivinOnAPrayer** · 02-02-2012 14:12

I taught my daughter Makaton sign, as she was non verbal until over 4 yrs old.

Its brilliant. I still find myself signing even though she verbalises well. I even signed to our dog a few times hahaha. oops.

Deffiantly a great skill to have, and excellent for young kids of all backgrounds to learn.

**Guest1234** · 02-02-2012 14:14

They teach it at DD1s School, from Kindy up.

**Mamma Duck** · 02-02-2012 14:39

My 18month old DD knows about 15-25 signs, and we are slowly working on teaching her more. They were really handy when she was unable to communicate verbally.

My DF and I have both done short courses in Auslan, as our 7 year old niece (who has Downs Syndrome) uses it to communicate. We have a local primary school that offers Auslan as its LOTE subject, and I would love to send her there to continue the learning.

Sent from my iPhone using Bub Hub.

**aussiemumoftwo** · 08-02-2012 06:24

Thanks for the feedback ladies, it's nice to see there are others interested in sign language! The research into the benefits of teaching hearing children sign language comes from evidence of earlier communication and improved verbal skills in hearing children of deaf parents. There is so much fantastic research on this and I'm happy to put up some links if anyone wants more information. We have taught our 20 month old to sign and he has approximately 120 signs although he does verbalise a lot of his needs now but still signs the words he can't yet say. We definitely plan on teaching our 7 week old to sign too. I cannot recommend it highly enough and it's great to see that other mums see the benefits too!!

**Windupbird** · 13-02-2012 19:20

Please share your links, Aussiemum? Am planning on doing this in a few months with DD

**aussiemumoftwo** · 27-02-2012 20:06

Sorry for the delay! Here are two good articles;

http://www.education.com/magazine/ar...Sign_Language/

http://teachmetotalk.com/2008/02/11/...cation-skills/

Let me know what you think! :-)

**Tildy** · 21-04-2012 00:07

I teach it to the toddlers at my daycare and it is fantastic. It gives them a sense of power and control as they are able to communicate their needs and wants earlier than thier verbal skills allow. It increases confidence in shy children as the pressure to talk in busy situations is removed when they realise they can still get thier needs met. Once that pressure it removed they start to let words slip out without focusing on it. If you use the sign in conjunction with the verbal it helps them to talk often earlier than they may have without it.

I started it with the kids and I have never looked back. I love it!