Recently my friend Erin emailed me feeling a little restless and frustrated with the learning progress of her youngest a sweet little boy named Timothy. Erin is a mom of three, her youngest a darling little boy about to turn 15 months old. With her girls Erin had great success using baby sign language at home and having the girls sign at daycare where they had adopted the babysignlanguage.com curriculum. Jenna her oldest signed milk one day before turning six months old. As for Miranda, she was signing over 25 signs by the time she turned 14 months old.

Learn How Boys & Girls Learn Differently

Timothy attends the same daycare as his sisters and in addition to mom & dad signing at home he receives a ton of reinforcement from his sisters. With everything in place Erin expected to see a similar timeline in pre-verbal communication development to the one she experienced with the girls. Timothy, at 15 months old only signs sporadically and mainly for things like milk and dog. Erin, I am writing this for you but also for the thousands of moms who are working hard to give their babies an edge when it comes to communication. Here are some indicators that your baby is about to start signing:

Smiles are Signs Too-Read a Post Full of Hope

Eye Contact

Your little one is looking at you and is engaged as you sign. Baby follows your hands with his or her eyes. Keep in mind that younger ones struggle with focus and it is up to you as a parent to identify if they are following your hands.

Smiles

When you are signing to baby he smiles and appears to enjoy the learning process. A smile is a response and evidence of engagement.

Body Language

Particularly for a toddler that is already standing look for signs of engagement with the activity. Your baby stretches their hands trying to touch the model, prop or flashcard. Your baby seems relaxed and attentive.

Hand Movement

It is extra important to remember that babies have limited fine motor skills. Take a close look at their hand movements. It is entirely possible that your little one is already signing and you have not acknowledged the sign because their movements are not exactly accurate.

Babbling

If you are reinforcing the word in tandem with the sign your little one might just attempt to mimic sounds at the same time that they process the sign. If your baby is responding with sound you may just be around the corner from a baby sign language explosion.

If you are feeling discouraged and need a sense of community please join us on our Facebook page and let’s keep the conversation going!

One of the main benefits of baby sign language is the gift of interaction in learning. If you are the parent of several little ones chances are your ability to have longer intentional learning sessions is limited by your responsibilities. If a busy schedule is making you feel discouraged in your baby sign language journey, consider involving the whole family specifically siblings. Aside from the direct benefit of early childhood communication there are many things to be gained by allowing and even encouraging older siblings to help you teach the little one basic signs relevant to their daily routines.

Baby Sign Language Facilitates Togetherness

When you have kids of various ages it can be challenging to find activities that are equally enjoyed by all involved. By letting older siblings take initiative in the teaching process you can create an outlet for their imagination and give them a task that will elicit a sense of personal achievement. Older children can help select props or work with flashcard kits while the little ones get the opportunity to imitate and interact. Their imagination is the limit when it comes to creating games that include signing. From guessing the sign to a team scavenger hunt that includes signed clues.

Baby Sign Language Teaches Responsibility

If you are looking for a simple but fun chore for an older sibling consider a rewards-based program. For example, you could give the older child a quarter or a dollar for every sign they successfully teach baby. If instead you need the older sibling to help you with baby while you complete other responsibilities around the house consider rewarding the older sibling for a one-hour session of baby sign language.

Baby Sign Language is Best Learned in The Context of Play

Children learn best when working with other children in an environment that encourages constructivism and discovery. By letting siblings embrace baby sign language as a game and challenge you are likely to witness accelerated and natural learning as the little one seeks to engage socially with their siblings. Consider setting aside special toys or sets to be used during learning time. This could include farm animals, fruits or vegetables or handmade colored illustrations of things your children like best.

Baby Sign Language Fosters Camaraderie

By equipping your little ones to learn baby sign language together you give them common ground and a secret language to be used at home or in social contexts. I am always touched when I see little ones in the playground or at church signing a short message to their siblings instead of screaming loudly across the distance. A sense of esprit de Corp is also conveyed when little ones sing songs together and sign to the lyrics of the song during long family road trips.

If you are lucky enough to have more than one kid do consider involving them in the process of learning and teaching baby sign language.

When it comes to raising and educating little ones there is no better encouragement than community. At babysignlanguage.com we have found that we can help you in your own baby sign language learning process by giving you an insider’s view of the learning progress of babies growing up in families just like yours.

Ancsi (Janina’s mom) is a great friend of the baby sign language community and you can often find her on Facebook giving encouragement and tips to other moms and caregivers. Ancsi lives in California and hosts baby sign language group learning sessions using the baby sign language flashcards.

Ancsi began signing to Janina when Janina was 2 months old. Janina signed for the first time at seven months old. Baby sign language has proved to be very useful as a transitional tool for multilingualism as Janina learns to navigate back and forth from Hungarian to English. At 18 months Janina can sign almost 100 baby signs. In her video update you will be able to see how Janina transitions from baby sign language into verbal expressions.

You can read their baby sign language story here

By creating her own signs and combining signs to convey concepts Janina is showing great cognitive development. Ancsi, thank you again for sharing your journey with us.

Learn more on how you can get the deluxe baby sign language kit 100% free from June 21st 2014 to July 21st 2014 by visiting the Summer of Signing Challenge Here

We can’t wait to receive and share your videos. Send them to [email protected]

As a parent you are tasked with the precious task of shaping the mind of a little person. Your mission is to help your babies discover the world that surrounds them and learn to effectively interact by communicating their needs and expressing their likes and interests. Watching a baby progress and achieve new heights in terms of communication and interaction is truly delightful.

We wanted to share with you a really special video that goes beyond watching the final results of baby sign language. In this sweet video, Ashleigh, mom to Ava gives us her testimony and shares useful tips and reminders of what is working for her as she walks alongside Ava in a journey of joyful learning.

If you are just starting in your baby sign language journey you will find Ashleigh’s interview highly encouraging and full of great ideas.

Thank you Ava & Ashleigh for your friendship we are truly enjoying watching Ava grow. She is a smart and beautiful little gir!

We love holidays and we are particularly enthusiastic about summer holidays and all the outdoor family fun that comes about with these celebrations. This weekend we are looking forward to many adventures and we hope you are too. A few years ago my husband and I witnessed a tragic accident that took the life of a little one no older than 20 months. Because life is precious and we feel your babies are part of our family we wanted to put together a list for you to share as this holiday approaches.

Fireworks are a No No

Fireworks and toddlers don’t go together. Not even sparklers or hanging out around older siblings with the maturity and motor skills to handle age-appropriate fireworks. Sparklers heat up to 1,800 degrees. That is hot enough to melt gold. The sparks can cause severe retina damage that can lead to blindness. If you must enjoy the fireworks head to a location with a firework display handled by professionals are sit far away where you can contemplate the beauty of the display. Each year a little over 6,000 children are injured by fireworks. Don’t let your little one become an statistic.

Grills, BBQs, Firepits & Babies

Babies are curious and love to explore the great outdoors. If grilling is not part of the regular household routine where you already have measures in place to keep little fingers away don’t let the inaugural grilling turn into a family tragedy.  Not only should you keep baby away from the grill you also need to be aware of poisoning with lighter fluid. If you are in charge of grilling let someone else be in charge of baby. As a general rule of thumb all grills must have a 3 feet kid-free buffer zone even when the grill is not lighted. Not long ago a little toddler in our community topped the grill by grabbing to it while it was not in use and suffered serious injuries when the grill partially fell on him. As a final note, if you are unsure about your baby’s allergy profile or sensitivity to smoke please keep a careful eye. A family get-together is no time to discover your little one suffers from smoke-induced asthma.

Protect Their Skin & Eyes

Sunburns at an early age have long term consequences as it relates to skin cancer. By using solar protection for the skin and eyes not only are you avoiding immediate problems you are also providing your baby with a long term benefit. Make sure you are using a water and sweat resistant sunscreen that is baby-friendly and none-irritant. In addition to sunscreen please try to keep babies in the shade heat stroke in babies can be deadly.

Water Safety for Babies & Toddlers

About one of five people who die from drowning are children. Even if your little one has taken water safety and early childhood floating classes he is still at risk. Do everything in your power to keep baby away from the water even if you feel the water is shallow. Little ones should not play in baby pools without supervision. For larger pools, lakes and the beach make sure baby always has an approved floating device on. Slip & slides and splash pads are not for little ones under three. Even if their siblings are allowed to use them and offer to supervise or assist with baby think about it twice. The risk of head injury is very high. If you are having a beach vacation don’t allow babies and toddlers to play where the tide can still reach. You never know when the tide patterns will change presenting tremendous risk to your little one.

Events, Crowds & Outdoor Risks

Babies are prone to wonder. If you are joining an event with great traffic consider their safety. If you don’t have your baby in a body carrier and you are not opposed to “baby in a leash” by all means do it. Nothing more anxiety-inducing than a misplaced pre-verbal child. Use a band with their basic contact information. Dress baby in a noticeable color. If you are going camping always be baby-aware. There are endless stories of babies wondering in the woods and suffering severe dehydration and in some situation even death. Your little one is precious do whatever it takes to always know there whereabouts.

Happy Independence Day!