Communicate with Your Baby using Sign Language

(We used signed language with both of our daughters when they were babies.  I feel it helped us communicate with them,  and helped them develop oral language.  I only wish we had kept it up!  Read the guest post below about using sign language with your young child.)

In our world today the ability to be diverse and versatile are skills that are necessary to have.  The ability to communicate articulately in a variety of ways with the widest possible audience is something that will get you far.  This includes bilingual ability as well as the ability to communicate in non-verbal ways for the benefit of the disabled – primarily the deaf.

At the same time, a growing shortage of qualified interpreters fluent in American Sign Language has led to more career opportunities – and if current trends continue, it's likely that skilled ASL interpreters will have little problem securing lucrative employment in a society where such a commodity is destined to be in short supply.

Signing Before They Can Speak

Research has shown that the best time to educate children in different modes of communication and language is as early as the ages 2 to 5.  This goes beyond the spoken word (though it is an optimal time for children to learn a second language); many young children have an aptitude for signing as well. This can be taught at home or some child care programs incorporate it into their curriculum.

If you feel this may be too advance for your child or that it's an odd concept, it's not as odd as you think!  Many indigenous peoples around the world, including American Indian nations, have used sign language for centuries to facilitate communication with other tribes with whom they do not share a language. Some paleontologists and anthropologists theorize that Neanderthals – who apparently lacked the vocal mechanism to produce many spoken words – depended a great deal upon hand gestures to communicate.

In fact, studies have suggested that sign language is actually something that is innate.  Boulder Daily Camera published an article in 2003 providing strong evidence that babies as young as six months old communicate with their hands:

"...by 6 to 7 months, babies can remember a sign. At eight months, children can begin to imitate gestures and sign single words. By 24 months, children can sign compound words and full sentences. They say sign language reduces frustration in young children by giving them a means to express themselves
before they know how to talk." (Glarion, 2003)

Another study, one funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, demonstrated that young children who are taught sign language at an early age actually develop better verbal skills as they get older. 

The ability to sign has also been shown to help parents in communicating with autistic children; one parent reports that "using sign language allowed her to communicate with her [autistic] son and minimized his frustration...[he now] has an advanced vocabulary and excels in math, spelling and music" (Glarion, 2003).

The Best Time To Start

Parent should not be worried about introducing their children to sign too soon and they should be actively involved when they decide to begin.  Not only does early childhood education in signing give pre-verbal youngsters a way to communicate, it can also strengthen the parent-child bond.  By giving non-verbal children a way to communicate it lowers levels of frustration as well. In addition to giving children a solid foundation for learning a skill that will serve them well in the future. The evidence suggests that the best time to start learning ASL is before a child can even walk – and the implications for facilitating the parent-child relationship are amazing.

Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Atlanta child care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of child care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.