What Parents say about Baby Signs

NiaSadeMomma · #1 (**permalink**) 01-22-2005, 09:44 PM

WHAT PARENTS SAY

Making Family Life Easier.
• Our whole family delight in signs!
I want to thank you for Baby Signs. My baby is 15 months. She signs me when she wants to eat, sleep and play. She can ask for music, a telephone (constantly!), more, a bath, her favorite songs; she knows about 20 signs and says about 10 words.
Most of all, she is confident in her ability to communicate with us. She makes up signs when she needs something new. I encourage her, though I have no idea what she's talking about. I think the baby signs have not only helped her fine motor coordination, but more importantly, her body awareness, and her awareness of others.
Our whole family (Me, Father, and big sister and also her grandmother) delight in signs. It has even saved us giving our 5 year old a verbal no!
A story: Bracha makes a splashing motion for bath. At around 13 months, I held her as I put clothes into the washing machine. She took one look at it, then at me, and signed for bath. I was amazed at how she made the connection. I have so many stories where it has been so rewarding to use signs. Just tonight, Bracha asked me to go to bed. Suprised, I checked the clock. Sure enough, it was bedtime. Thank you so much. I tell anyone I can to use signs with their baby. Please feel free to use my letter, or any parts within it. You have enriched all of our lives!

Mom of 15-month-old Bracha

Will signs "help"

• We started early!
As for my baby learning how to sign, I used the given ideas and made some signs of my own, and yes, before I knew it, baby was teaching me her own signs.
As young as 5 months, my baby was picking up signing and using it to communicate with me. Ex: putting her hand to her mouth as if holding a bottle to let me know she wanted one and putting a fist to her mouth when hungry to indicate she wanted to eat, as well as pointing to her palm when she wanted more.

Vanessa from Chicago, Illinois

• VERY COOL!
We started signing to our son at about 7 months. It took him a while to start signing back (just like the book said it would), but when he did start, you could see that he loved being able to communicate with us.
He's now almost two and most of his signs have been replaced with words, but he still uses the "more/I want" and "hungry" signs daily. We encourage him to "sign, not whine" whenever possible.
Teaching him to sign really cut down on MY frustration because I could tell what he wanted, and I'm sure it did the same for him.
BTW, last week I caught him trying to get his two month old sister to sign "moon" - a sign he hasn't used in ages now that he can say the word. VERY COOL!

Parent from Seattle, Washington

• Eliminated Tantrums!
I found this to be a fascinating and educational book for both me and my daughter. She is now two 1/2 and has been speaking in full sentences since she was 22 months old, in part I think, because I had encouraged her to sign to me from the age of 10 months. It was wonderful for me to be able to understand what she was trying to tell me before she could speak and it really cut down on her frustration level, thus eliminating a few tantrums!
At first I taught her some of the signs that are presented in this book, but after awhile, she started making up her own...some of our most frequently used were "drink," "hungry," "tubbies," and "book." The author states in the book that having these early communication skills can help infants learn to use words and understand them at an earlier age and with this I must agree.
Because my daughter is very tall and is precociously verbal, most people don't believe me when I tell them that she's not yet three! It takes some time at first to get your child to understand what these symbols are used for, but with patience and work, you'll be communicating with your baby in a whole new way.

Parent from South Bend, Indiana

• Rhymes make him laugh and smile.
This book is informative and worth the money! I especially liked the rhymes at the end that can be used with the signs. My youngest son is 7months old and anytime I do some of the rhymes he laughs and smiles. My four year old has also gotten in on teaching his younger brother the signs. Even though my seven month old hasn't produced any signs yet (the book says he is too young) I can tell that he has started to recognize some of them. I look forward to communicating with him in the near future using the baby signs! I highly recommend this book!

Parent from Fairbanks, Alaska

Will signs "book"

• Parents, in-laws, we all enjoyed it!

Baby Signs is clearly designed to be a first introduction to the concept of signing with young children. The book has 162 pages.
The first 109 pages are a conceptual introduction to signing with infants. In this conceptual introduction, the authors: (1) describe through examples how babies naturally use familiar gestures to communicate (e.g. waving "bye-bye" or using the motion from the Itsy Bitsy Spider when they see a spider), (2) provide anecdotes about how they observed their own children using "signs" before actually trying to sign with them, and (3) thoroughly describe the results of their research program on the use of sign language with children.
The basic results of their studies were that signing speeded up the ability to communicate by 6 to 18 months, that signing increased the rate of subsequent verbal communication, and that signing had long-term positive impact on IQ and language ability. This is done with many examples of children and families in their study, so it is very engaging.
The final 53 pages include (1) responses to specific questions many parents have asked about the process of signing with children, (2) illustrations of 53 signs, and (3) Rhymes that can be used to teach children signs. I read this book when my daughter was 3 months old, and I knew very little about the topic except that signing with babies was a new trend. As I read the touching examples of other parents using signs with their children, I often found myself with tears in my eyes as I imagined being able to have meaningful communication with my daughter far before I'd ever imagined. This book created a vivid and personal picture of how signing could create a better relationship with my daughter.
The research results it described also allowed me to respond confidently to questions from my parents and others about how signing would impact the acquisition of verbal communication. In fact, we purchased this book for my parents and my in-laws and all enjoyed it. We began signing with our daughter when she was about 9 months old.
... If you know very little about the concept of signing with children, buy Baby Signs. If you are looking for a great baby gift, buy Baby Signs. If you are signing with your child and want the grandparents to buy into the concept, buy Baby Signs.

Parent from Ames, Iowa

[center]Will signs "shoes"[/CENTER]