Wonder Kids - Child care resources for parents and caregivers

Would you like to communicate with your child before they can talk? Do you want to increase your child’s reading and language abilities? Baby Sign Language is an exciting activity based on muscles and movement, not just looking and listening. Small children love to learn to sign, just as they love to learn anything by doing, exploring, trying, touching and moving, not just by sitting and staring.

Speaking from personal experience managing a daycare, I find that babies that know sign language are much happier and seem more confident that those that do not. I have cared for a handful of children that knew baby sign language, and I have taught both of my children signing and began teaching children in my care too. Popular signs are things like “water”, “milk”, and “more”. Parents see this as an added value to their daycare experience, and I have an easier time caring for babies that can communicate instead of cry.

This is a must have for anyone that cares for babies and young children.

In the 2004 sequel to “Meet the Parents” Robert DeNiro’s character was teaching his baby grandson “Little Jack” to sign so that he would be smarter. (Little Jack was played by twins Spencer and Bradley Pickren, who actually did learn sign language from Signing Time.)

There is nothing “trendy” about the benefits of signing. It has been carefully studied in clinical and university settings for over 25 years, with the carefully documented research on signing universally positive. Baby Sign Language is an enriching activity that causes parent and child to spend quality time together, to increase ability, curiosity and joy. It also greatly enhances communication and bonding.

According to the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (2000, Vol. 24: 81-103):

the availability of symbolic gestures for at least some of the important things in their child’s life made communication easier and interactions more positive. Request gestures (e.g., MORE, OUT) helped children get their needs met without crying, symbols for specific foods (e.g., GOLDFISH CRACKERS, CHEERIOS) provided important clarification, animal gestures (e.g., MONKEY, ZEBRA, GIRAFFE) helped them become active partners during book-reading, descriptive gestures (e.g., HOT, HAPPY, AFRAID) helped them share important insights about their environment, and all of the gestures helped clarify the children’s initial, crude verbal labels (e.g., “Oh! You’re doing your TURTLE gesture. I guess Tata means ‘turtle!’).

In 2001, Dr. Marilyn Daniels, associate professor of speech communication at Penn State’s Worthington Scranton Campus, published ten years of careful research in Dancing With Words: Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy (Bergin & Garvey). Professor Daniels summarized a myriad of independent research in her book that conclude that while young children need much practice and patience to achieve and improve speaking and reading skills, they use their hands to communicate effortlessly and early.

Consider this fact. All children already do communicate physically from a very young age—through waving “bye, bye,” blowing kisses, grabbing, crying, hugging, pushing and shoving. Since they are gaining physical communication skills anyway, signing expands on that “vocabulary” in a more positive way.

What about hearing children with special needs: Autistic, Down Syndrome, or children with significantly delayed speech or Apraxia? Here too, the research consists of nothing but good news. Signing can have an even more significant impact with these children.

• Improves that child’s ability to learn their spoken language even better and helps them gain language skills earlier and faster than those who did not learn signing.
• Enables that child to grow up “bi-lingual” with abilities to learn communicate with from different sources (one based on hearing and the spoken word; one based on physical movement).
• Increases I.Q. points by between eight and thirteen points—benefits which have remained to the oldest age tested to date.
• Enables a young child to communicate needs, wants and fears earlier and better, thus decreasing misbehavior and temper tantrums.
• Improves cooperation between very young children.
• Is considered a source of fun physical activity, pride and self-esteem  among the children.

To take advantage of the benefits of signing with your child we suggest the following two DVD collections. Both are produced by Rachel Coleman for the Signing Time Series of DVDs.

The Discover Your Baby with Sign Language – Signing Time Full Collection DVD Set is everything Signing Times offers – to give you and your family an excellent foundation for signing.

If you’d like something simpler and geared for a baby that is 3 – 36 months old try the Baby Signing Time DVD Gift Set.

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Tags: baby sign language, early childhood development, infants

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