How Many Words Should My Baby Know How to Sign?

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Yesterday we had a really informal survey on our Facebook page to try to pinpoint the average number of words that babies can sign at each stage in their development. The sample is really small and i will update it as more members of the community contribute. For now, here is the chart:

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Key findings so far are as follows:

  • Many babies will have up to 5 signs between 6-12 months.
  • Between 12-18 months you are likely to see their vocabulary increase as high as 30 signs.
  • So far we have not received any reports of little signers younger than 6 months old. If you have one please share with us.

Baby Sign language Sing-Along Favorites

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musicbaby

Depending on the age of your baby or toddler you may want to incorporate music and movement as an integral part of their learning curriculum. By including music the goal is generally to improve their motor skills and introduce them to rhythms. Depending on the age and learning stage of your baby you can opt for signing the majority of the lyrics or simply selecting concrete concepts and simple abstracts that match baby’s developmental stage.

The number of age-appropriate songs for babies and toddlers is endless.  As a parent or caregiver, you often have the opportunity to introduce baby to new concepts and even world culture if your home happens to be multilingual and multicultural. For us, these songs have proved to be our favorites.  We are including links to some of the signs you can incorporate as you work together and have fun learning these songs.

 

 

Itsy Bitsy Spider Lyrics

The itsy-bitsy spider
Climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain
And washed the spider out
Out came the sun
And dried up all the rain
And the itsy-bitsy spider
Climbed up the spout again

Six Little Ducks Lyrics

Six little ducks that I once knew
Big ones, skinny ones, fair ones too.
But the one little duck with the feather on his back
He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.
Quack, quack, quack-quack, quack, quack
He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.
Down to the river they would go.
Wibble wobble, wibble wobble to and fro.
But the one little duck with the feather on his back
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack.
Quack, quack, quack-quack, quack, quack
He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.
Home from the river they would come.
Wibble wobble, wibble wobble, ho-hum-hum.
But the one little duck with the feather on his back
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack.
Quack, quack, quack-quack, quack, quack
He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.
Six little ducks that I once knew
Fat ones, skinny ones, fair ones too.
But the one little duck with the feather on his back
He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.
Quack, quack, quack-quack, quack, quack
He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.

Girls and Boys Come Out to Play

Girls and boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,
And come with your playfellows into the street.
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny roll will serve us all.
You find milk, and I’ll find flour,
And we’ll have a pudding in half an hour

 

These are just a few of our favorite songs. We don’t require our little ones to sign every single word; Instead, we focus on play, movement and expression.

Do you have a favorite song or rhyme for baby?

Baby Sign Language is About Communication-The Story of Persephone & Her Sippy

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If you have been a friend of www.babysignlanguage.com you probably know that we are community-oriented and pretty frequently rely in the support of our social media fans and friends to encourage each other and try to understand the progress of our own babies in light of the experiences of other families. Knowing what other parents are doing gives us comfort and confidence but we need to always remember the uniqueness of our babies and allow each one to develop at their own pace.

There is a particular type of progress report we find especially charming because it goes beyond repetition or baby finding a way to meet specific needs. We are particularly fond of receiving reports of babies making connections, creating their own word associations and applying creativity in the way they use baby sign language. When we designed our baby sign language flash card collection we opted for images of real objects and people in an effort to help baby make a direct connection and many parents report the system does work. Our favorite type of report is when baby associates the image with a real-life object that may not necessarily be a replica of the image used during the learning process.

Perhaps your baby has done it. It comes in many forms. We love to hear stories of babies signing trees to get their share of broccoli florets, or when they sign blender to persuade you to make a smoothie!!

A few days ago we received the most adorable story from our friend Tatha, her experience with her daughter Persephone is both amazing and encouraging.

Here is what Tatha had to say:

“My two-year-old daughter Persephone is still talking very little. We’ve been using sign language since she was about six months old but with the exception of “milk” and “more” she has only used her signs in response to a prompt. “What’s the sign for…?” However, the other day Grammy was making her dinner and asked if she wanted some milk. Sephy shook her head “yes” and then started signing something. It took me a beat to figure out she was signing elephant and I was confused. I wondered, “What does that have to do with milk?” It took me another beat to figure out she was asking to have her milk in the elephant straw cup that Grammy has for her!”

And here is a video of Sephy using baby sign language and showing us her sippy cup:

Idea

 

The main goal of baby sign language is to equip baby with the right tool to help her communicate her needs during the pre-verbal stage. If baby has a preference or liking to an object that is not necessarily simple to sign consider exploring a substitution that makes sense for baby. My friend Isabelle has a little daughter who has become very attached to her cat pillow pal. Instead of Isabelle forcing baby to learn a sign for pillow she is comfortable with using the sign for cat instead. Since they don’t have a kitty at home everyone knows that Chelsea is looking for her pillow when she signs “cat“.

Janina Baby Sign Language Story & Video

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Today we want to share a wonderful timeline story of baby sign language success. The joy reflected in Janina’s smile as she signs animals such as fish, fruits like apple and banana and expresses her needs for more as she enjoys her lunch is something worthy of admiration. Janina’s mom Ancsi made her own flashcards. We have a large collection of free printable baby sign language flashcards to help you create a customized baby sign language program for your baby based on her needs, wants & preferences. If you are extra busy or you just want to enjoy the whole collection of baby sign language resources inclusive of the Signing Time DVD series take a look at the Premium Baby Sign Language Kit.

In this baby sign language video Janina’s mom has compiled a time-lapse showing Janina using baby signs as early as 7 months all the way to 15 months.

As you read her baby sign language story you will love her testimony on how baby sign language has served as a bridge for bilingualism.

Ancsi, Janina’s mom tells us her story:

“I used to work as a sign language interpreter in Hungary. When we moved to California I started to take American Sign Language classes. (A lot of people don’t know that every country has their own sign language but they might share certain ones.) When my baby was a couple months old I started to sign to her. She was amazed by my hand’s movements but did not respond at all. When she was around 7 months old finally she started signing back.
We talk to her only in Hungarian at home. Even so she picks up many English words and expressions so it seemed that baby sign language is a perfect bridge to expand and straighten her vocabulary. She can already differentiate between the two languages and use the same sign. Janina’s first sign was ‘hat‘ and she used that sign to let me know that she wants to go outside for instance. Now she is 16 months old and uses around 50 signs. Her favorites are butterfly, apple, banana, flower, shoes, please, dog, cat, mouse, cheese, book and baby. Sometimes when she does not know the sign for something she can improvise and ‘invent’ a sign for that subject. For example she uses the ‘bath’ sign pointing the sprinkler hose or combines the car and fan signs after each other for a loud vehicle passing by; every tree is a Christmas tree: she signs ‘tree’ but says karácsonyfa (Christmas tree in Hungarian).
Janina is a joyful toddler girl who can always express herself and has no frustration, tantrum at all. I recommend signing with babies to every parent! It is so easy and has lots of benefits!”

Janina and Ancsi we are so thankful you gave us the opportunity to share your story with moms and dads looking for ways to teach baby sign language. It is so sweet and encouraging to see little ones smile when they are able to express their needs during their pre-verbal stage. We can’t wait for the update. We are sure soon Janina will be able to sign over 100 words.

If you have a baby sign language video you want to share with us take a look at our baby sign language video program. We have awarded hundreds of dollars to parents just like you for simply sharing the joy of baby sign language. Go here to learn more about our baby sign language video reward program.

 

Four Fun & Friendly Tools to Facilitate Baby Sign Language

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Everyday we receive hundreds of visitors who have been newly introduced to baby sign language by a friend, relative, news venue or favorite mommy blogger. Many are just stopping by to take advantage of the largest database of free baby sign language resources, others are searching solutions to specific challenges they are encountering as they work with baby to teach her first signs.

If you are a first time mama about to begin your baby sign language adventure you might want to take a look at the F.R.E.E method for Baby Sign Language within five minutes we are confident you are going to have what it takes to get baby started. Once you have reviewed the basics of teaching and learning baby sign language if you want to dig deeper and learn more methods consider taking our free baby sign language online course. After enjoying seven simple baby sign language lessons your confidence level will be way up!

While the majority of learning processes are related to methodology we all want to have tools.  If you are looking for practical tools to teach baby sign language these are our four favorite ones:

Music & Song

music

Studies have shown that even within the womb babies respond to music. Many researchers stand by the “Mozart effect” and credit exposure to classical music as a factor in increased I.Q.  Babies have a natural sense of rhythm and incorporating music in the process of language learning will improve associations as well as provide a model for speech cadence. Pick contextual songs associated to the daily activities in the life of your baby. To give you some examples you might want to include bath songs, eating songs, and diaper-changing songs to name a few. Our premium kit includes all four Signing Time DVDs, which will expose baby to words, and concepts that will facilitate his transition to early childhood education. You can also incorporate signs to the songs and rhymes you already share with baby. Don’t fret if you don’t have a sign for every single word in the song. Pick words that are relevant to baby and are easy to sign for their developmental stage.

Family & Friends

brother

This is the most readily available and most effective tool to teach baby sign language. With proper consistent and contextual reinforcement babies learn much faster. Little ones with older siblings who have used BSL are in luck! Those with grandparents willing to learn and engage baby in this new adventure have an extra advantage. Moms & dads that work together can help baby achieve his first sign much faster.

Feeding their Senses

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A key element of how babies engage with the world is the tactile experience. To that end we often see babies placing things in their mouth to get a sense of texture and shape. As babies develop they begin to use their hands to engage with the world and get to know objects around them. In addition to tactile feedback babies become more and more engaged with visual feedback. As you work with baby in teaching him his first signs incorporate visuals in the form of flashcards, toys and objects of daily use.

Taste Matters Too

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If you ask most moms and dads it is not uncommon for baby to first sign food items. A wonderful and practical tool to teach baby sign language is to reward baby with their favorite snack. For us that often meant frozen blueberries and tasty crackers.  This is the most readily available tool and one that truly meets a basic need. Give it a try!