Thanks Marydean. Now, see that, to me, makes sense. I have worked with autistic children where signing became a very important means of communication and along with signing we would always encourage speech which we eventually were able to get out of some. I feel that the speech would have been far more delayed had signing not opened them being able to communicate in the first instance.
signing is fantastic! I am definitely a supporter of teaching baby signing.....it is rather cute too as both my girls have put their own spin on the signs I agree that it actually enhances the vocab when you teach by signing and saying the word together. Its also been very useful when encouraging DD#1 to remember her manners.....mummy or daddy subtly signs "thankyou" and DD#1 pipes up, 'thank you!' hehe And for us, we have always taught "please and thank you" not 'ta' and DD naturally went from signing these words to saying them correctly......rather amusing when family asked for something or gave her something and said to her, "ta" and she'd look at them wondering what they meant! Teehee! - so again, I agree it boosts their vocab
My friend started doing this when her bub was quite young (eg. "all done" at the end of a meal, "more", etc). By the time she was 18 months, she knew 75 words!!!! (either spoken or signed - not 75 signs). Anyway, it has definitely inspired me to do likewise with DS. We have started with "all done" after a meal, but I'm planning to introduce others when he's about 8 months.
I signed with DD from about 6 months onwards. By 15 months she had about 40 (spoken) words. At 26 months she has around 300, learns about 4 a day and speaks in up-to 9 word sentences. It does NOT delay speech!
We did "no" "yes" "hungry" "drink" "more" "mum" "dad" and various things like "teddy" "doll" "baby" "apple" "orange" came later. I used makaton, as i felt it'd have the widest application (she can communicate with deaf kids because makaton is based on BSL and speech-delayed kids because their carers/teachers tend to use makaton now) and we still learn songs with the makaton actions on occasion.
Since about 18 months she hardly uses the signs, but sometimes when she's very ill or tired she'll come and sign to me "ill mama. hug." Breaks my heart when i know she's too tired or ill to talk, but SO great she can still get her needs met
I signed with DS from birth. He looks at my hands for certain words or songs, but won't make them himself. I tried to follow his signs for things too, but he gave them all up when he saw me imitating them. He is really contrary! But he's still a right chatterbox and uses pointing to get what he wants now - especially as he's stopped using words and everything is "goidy goidy goit" right now. He'll use English and German words quite happily and understands both languages (or rather, understands English and simple commands and phrases in German because I'm not fluent in that language). He also understands some French, but doesn't use that language himself yet.
My sister is a speech therapist and cannot tell of one instance where signing delays speech - when speech is delayed, signing encourages the children to try to talk. It is because children realise that "when I say/do this then mummy understands me" and therefore makes the child want to communicate more and in as many ways as possible - look at toddlers, they want to walk as many ways as possible (DS will try to swim in his bath, crawl, wriggle on the ground, walk, cruise, walk backwards and sideways, run...), and the same with communicating. If you can say "cat" and mummy knows you've seen a cat, what about signing "cat" or saying "Katze" - will mummy still understand? Yes! OK, how about calling it a "goidy goidy goit"? OK, that one doesn't work, but worth a try as it is a great sound to make.
We started at about 6 months and had the sign for *finished* given back to us at about 7 months. He knows the signs for drink, boobie, food, gone (really important at one ), biscuit etc but he chooses not to use them (except gone). His verbal language skills have just expanded exponentially in the past few weeks which has been amazing. He is a pointer too and it is driving me mad because I know he knows what the signs are and we would all be a little less frustrated if what he wanted was clearer It has been fun teaching the little person - and DH as well
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I agree that it actually enhances the vocab when you teach by signing and saying the word together. Its also been very useful when encouraging DD#1 to remember her manners.....mummy or daddy subtly signs "thankyou" and DD#1 pipes up, 'thank you!' hehe
), biscuit etc but he chooses not to use them (except gone). His verbal language skills have just expanded exponentially in the past few weeks which has been amazing. He is a pointer too and it is driving me mad because I know he knows what the signs are and we would all be a little less frustrated if what he wanted was clearer
It has been fun teaching the little person - and DH as well
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