Baby Signs 101

"help"

1.  It is never too late to begin signing. Most online signing resources recommend consistent signing by 6 months, but, in my experience, babies don't quickly catch on to new signs until about 12 months.  Signs are just as helpful and developmentally appropriate for a verbal 18 month old as for a non-verbal 12 month old.  Even big toddlers and children can benefit from signing!

2.  Don't give up.  The older your baby is, the easier it is to grasp the signing concept and pick up new signs.  But, even older toddlers need time to understand the correlation between the sign, the word and the object or action described.  Once the concept clicks, new signs are easily acquired.

"please"

3.  Consistency is key.  The more often your baby sees the sign and hears the corresponding word, the easier is to learn a new sign.  You might feel silly signing and repeating yourself to a baby who has not conceptualized singing but rest assured, every baby can sign!

4. Start with fun signs.  As parents, we view signs as a way to teach our very young children communication skills.  Therefore, we tend to teach helpful words as first signs -- milk, please, thank you, more, etc.  But, think about your child's interests in choosing the first signs to teach. Cat, dog, fish, fan, lights, stars, and moon are all great first signs to get your baby excited about signing.

"pig"

5.  Don't be afraid to make up your own signs.  There is no rule saying you must use the official Baby Signs sign language with your child.  Go with the flow, follow your child's lead and experiment with different signs as your baby broadens her signing vocabulary.

6.  Signing helps all babies.  Do not fear your baby will be a late talker if she learns signs.  Research states that signing helps baby's brain develop the capacity for spoken language in a way that simply talking to baby does not promote, amongst other benefits.  As previously mentioned, children of all ages can benefit from signs as a way to promote verbal development.  And of course, the emotional benefit of signing is invaluable  to a non-verbal child who can finally express herself in a positive and easily understood manner.

Online Resources:
www.babysigns.com
www.babysignlanguage.com
www.signingbaby.com
www.babies-and-sign-language.com
www.lifeprint.com

a signing fool.

At 19 months, Henry has a smattering of "words". They are definitely not clear to non-parental ears and usually, not very clear to me. He is within normal range but just not a traditional talker....yet.

He blabbers complete nonsense all day long and he signs. I first tried out signs when he was around 9 months old but he didn't pick them up and I got bored and felt silly using signs to a baby that had no idea what I was talking about.

Fast forward to around 14 months old and we have a little signing fool!!! He picks up new signs immediately and he makes them his own by tweaking them to his little needs.

A sample:

"help"

"please"

"cow"

"pig"

"cat"

We were at a Mexican restaraunt and he loved the salsa...

Can you tell?

"thank you"

"more"

I didn't have pictures of : bird, cereal, I don't know, bee, up, light, fan, sun, star....maybe later!

5/6 of a year....

Henry is 10 months old today. He has grown and developed so much in just the past week. Sometimes it makes me sad that he will never be my little baby again but a while back Taylor told me that as long as he is our son, he will always be our baby. awwwwww. sweet.....

• He started officially crawling about 4 days ago. Visiting Lizbeth and David, he practiced on his hands and knees but he is officially independently mobile now. And, into everything....




• But, he still prefers to stand and cruise on the furniture. He can pull up on anything and everything. Just yesterday, he started taking steps on his own once I pushed the coffee table farther away from the couch. He took steps between Taylor and me and on the way to his toys. It won't be long till he walks. And, I have a feeling that running won't be long to follow. He already seems to be in such a hurry.




• Henry loves being around other little children. At the Tiny Tots library program, he kissed (leans into your face with his mouth wide open) another little boy on the cheek. It was precious!!!




• Eating is going well. His favorites are bananas, processed cheese, and cooked apple pieces with cinnamon. We are finger fooding it all the way. He has gotten quite good at the pincer grasp.




• He is still going to OT twice a week. This is definitely one of the highlights of Henry's days. He loves Jamie and he even loves the spoon when it is in her hand. She has been a miracle worker for our family!!!




• Speaking of miracle workers, we are working on baby signs. All day long, I sign 'more (Henry's sign for more is banging on the table with his hand, not so polite if you ask me...), outside, fan, please, thank you, and all done.' We've been signing for a few weeks now and I really feel that once the first sign clicks he will be a little signing sponge.




• He is finally babbling. Yesterday, Taylor woke me up with the news that Henry is speaking French. Apparently 'a ba, a ba, a ba' is French. ha! He said ba, ba, ba all day long -- happily when he was happy and angrily when he was angry. His little voice is so sweet. So, of course I am saying 'mama' even more to him now. To which he responds, "ba?"




• Henry is becoming a daddy's boy more and more by the day. This is no surprise because Taylor is a pretty fun baby's daddy. He plays nonstop with Henry. Apparently, Henry LOVES it when Taylor tracks down roaches (thankfully, I wasn't there for that event) so now Taylor crawls around 'hunting things.'



• My mother was so relieved to hear that he is finally playing peek-a-boo with blankets. Apparently, her children were far more advanced than her grandson in the peek-a-boo department.

10 months? wow.