Australian Baby Hands..have you used it with your LO?

[Baby14]

Hi, I have been looking into Australian Baby Hands (sign language for babies to help them communicate before they are able to speak). From what I have read it sounds quite interesting and I am thinking of giving it a go with DS but I was hoping to get some feedback from anyone who has tried it?

TIA

[jackrose]

I had great success with baby sign language!

I found a kit on ebay "baby talk" I think, when DD was about 6 months. I never really got around to it much until about 11 months though. At that time I was just using one or two signs for things we did/used often, (milk and bath) at 12 months, out of the blue, DD saw a friends bottle of milk on the table and made the milk signal to me. It was amazing, and from there we just took off! DD was really keen to use it and would often look at my hands as I said something to learn what the sign was.

I did not end up using the baby talk resource much, I ended up using the Auslan website for sign suggestions. I found them better as I could look up the word I wanted and I figured that if I was going to use sign language, better to use the one used by most people rather than a baby version IYKWIM. Plus we have a local deaf family and I thought it would be better if we were speaking the same language! Mostly the signs were the same though. The Auslan website has a whole video vocabulary you can look up and watch the signs being demonstrated.

DD really loved using signs, we loved understanding what she was saying and I found it really helped her language development and decreased frustration as she was easily able to communicate. At the time I took it for granted, but I look back now at some videos we have of her and see how much she used the signals, it is amazing!!!

Go for it! It is helpful and really fun!

[Georgi]

Definately go for it!

My parents are deaf so I am fluent in sign language. I taught my DS sign from around 4 months. It wasn't until 12 months that he finally 'got it' (he was premmie so he was 10mths corrected age). It was fantastic to have him tell you what he wanted. If he wanted more dinner, or if he was finished. He still uses some signs now, although he talks very well for his age. I did find that once he started saying words, he preferred to say rather than sign. My sisters DD however was very different. She was signing from around 7 months and continued to learn sign even after she was saying words. Although at this stage it wasn't necessary for her to sign, she sure was a great party trick!

[Baby14]

Thanks for taking the time to reply It's great to hear your positive experiences, I am really looking forward to starting this with DS now.

I have been looking at the Auslan site tonight, thanks jackrose, it's great!

Georgi, wow, 7 months, that's great when did your sister start signing to her?

I was thinking of starting with a couple of signs...more, finished, bed, bath but was wondering, did you wait til bub started signing before you moved on to more?

[skeetaboat]

Subscribing.. interested to hear peoples experiences. Are you able to post the links? There are a couple of Auslan sites..

[jackrose]

Glad you are inspired Happy Chick! It is exciting!

I would personally start with only one or two signs, something that is really meaningful for your DS. For example if he loves his food, use 'more' to encourage him to ask for it and be motivated to use the sign. Same with if he loves a bath... I used 'milk' for our first sign as DD loved the stuff! Once she had that one sign, she was off and racing and I added more signs as quickly as I could learn them!

Skeetaboat, I am not sure if I can post the link but when I googled auslan, the first link that came up was the one I used. It is the Auslan Signbank. Hope that clarifies! If not I can pm you!

[didispunk]

I started this with DD when she was 15 months.. she now does it all the time.. start with a few words and add to them every week or so..

just basics

MILK
MORE
ALL DONE
BATH
Please
etc

I wish i used this with DS.. bit will with the next bub for sure.

[GabberQueeN]

wow im really interested in this!

[Baby14]

Well, we have started! I am excited and can't wait to see how long it takes for DS to start signing back. I have decided to start with 'more', 'finished' and 'bath' as DS loves bathtime and I'm thinking more and finished will be very helpful.

I loved the Auslan site but got a bit confused where there is a couple of different signs for the same word so I have ordered the Baby Hands pack and will see how we go with that to keep adding to the signs. They use Auslan as well which is great and the pack comes with a poster, book & DVD. I like the idea of the poster so that I have an easy reference point.

Thanks again for your replies

[jackrose]

They use Auslan as well which is great and the pack comes with a poster, book & DVD. I like the idea of the poster so that I have an easy reference point.

Great idea! I made up a poster myself so that people who came into the house and looked after DD could get involved. They loved it!

You are right, the ties with Auslan are great and it means you can add more from Auslan if you want - you can pick and choose when you get more proficient. This is what I did when Auslan had a few variations, I picked the ones that were best for me and simplest for a little babe to do!

Woo Hoo! Off you go!

[didispunk]

go on google. and type in sign language for babies..

[studymum]

We used it with DD1, we started about 10mths but it took till about 12 before she really got it, then she took off, within a month or so she new almost 30. It was wonderful she could tell use she wanted milk, bath, eat, drink, down, up, all done, more, even the names of some animals. Her signs just kept growing, she was always keen to learn more and I personally think it helped her to talk faster, she is now 2 and has been talking broken sentences for almost a few months. As her speech got more fluent though she did start to drop the signs and we found it hard to get her to maintain them, she now no longer uses them as her loves to learn how to say new words, its something we were told would probably happen.

I bought a pack that had little books in it to help the kids learn, and a flip chart to put on the fridge and a book. It is actual baby signs, so they are made simplier than the auslan signs, easier for baby to replicate, they even invent their own though.

Here is the link BABY SIGNS - BABY SIGN LANGUAGE AUSTRALIA | Best Selling DVDs, Books & Classes

[Butterfly Dawn]

We had little sucess with DS1 but great success with DS2, we also had the baby einstien signing dvd and that was really good, DS1 learnt from that to talk to DS2, they both still use it when they are feeling shy around new people and want to ask for something

[Georgi]

Happy Chick, I think she started at around 4 months. I would start off with as many words as you can, but just focus mainly on about 4. We started with milk, more, finished & bath, thought taught lots of other words at the same time. Repetition is the key.

With the Auslan site there are different signs as before Auslan came in, the different states used different signs. Auslan was meant to uniform that, though the old sign is still very commonly used. It's not important as to what sign is the right one, what's important is that you stick with one sign for a word. The chances of your LO continuing to sign into childhood is very, very slim so it wouldn't matter if you made up your own sign. HTH