Babies are born ready to communicate with us. A baby’s motor skills are developed during months 6 – 12, while vocal cords are not developed until months 9 – 15. A baby is able to push, pull and grab months before intelligible, intentional words are spoken.
These early motor skills enable your baby to learn to sign months before he is able to speak.
Why would you want your baby to sign? Babies get frustrated by wanting something but not being able to communicate his needs, resulting in fussiness. Wouldn’t it be great if your baby could sign when he is hungry, thirsty or needs a diaper change? Research confirms that signing babies have fewer temper tantrums.
Baby Sign Language
Top Ten Starter Signs
Mommy
Daddy
Friends/Family (brother, sister)
Pets (dog, cat)
Milk
More
Diaper
Happy
Book
There are four steps to getting started with baby sign language: have fun, repeat, encourage all effort, and expand your vocabulary.
If you are interested in learning more about baby sign language, I encourage you to visit the web site Baby Sign Language for a complete sign dictionary, wall chart and flash cards to get you started.
I would suggest “eat” for your top ten list. Signing is an awesome way to communicate with your baby before he/she can talk. We signed with our son back in 2005 and he did great. Once he started talking more, we slowed down with the signing because we had to learn the sign in order to teach it to him. When our daughter was born, we signed with her too and it was a great refresher for him. Our son seemed to talk sooner but our daughter seemed to sign more.
I always thought this was a great idea. I have a friend who taught her 2 children these basics. It is truly amazing how they can sign even before they can talk.
Watch my free video on how to start to teach your baby to sign. You can also see developmental speech/ language milestones and watch over 20 free videos on how to promote speech, language and learning
I wish I had known about baby sign language when my kids were babies. I’ve been hearing about it a lot lately and how helpful it is for both children and parents.