There are many practical applications for baby sign language and for us the most important continues to be the ability to communicate with your baby and meet their needs as early as six months old.  Other equally important benefits of baby sign language include increased IQ, improved bonding and higher levels of interaction.

Because we have been doing this for a long time we figured we had covered it all, until we received this letter. For the privacy of mother and child I am not including pictures or last names.  We are very thankful to Mary for reaching out to us and sharing how baby sign language made a positive impact during a difficult period in their lives.

Dear BSL,

I have been a fan of your page even before my little Emma was born. During a difficult pregnancy I spent time learning the basic baby sign language signs and becoming familiar with baby sign language teaching methods.

As soon as Emma was born my husband and I began using the sign for milk and more, we also signed mom, dad & dog. Each Monday when other baby sign language parents posted their progress reports on Facebook I got really excited and could not wait until Emma did her first sign. To my surprise Emma’s first sign was not milk, more, mom or dad. Emma’s first sign was “dog.” We have a beautiful black lab named Joy and she has been a second mother to Emma. They nap together on the floor and Joy sleeps by Emma’s crib. Emma started signing at six months old and kept learning new signs very quickly. By her 100^th sign I lost count. Fast forward two years my Emma was a signing super star and she was also super verbal. A chatterbox!

Last month my Emma became suddenly very sick and we had to rush her to the ER. My little princess had a fever and was barely breathing. The doctor decided to perform a tracheostomy to facilitate her breathing. My husband and I were devastated. Thanks to lots of prayers and excellent doctors she improved little by little. The doctors decided it was in good judgment to leave the tracheostomy available for a little while just in case of complication. This meant our little girl could not talk and express her needs and wants. For a parent this is a very scary moment. At age two it was not an option to give Emma pen and paper and she was too weak to even attempt to vocalize without sound.

On a whim my husband had the idea to bring the baby sign language cards from home and use them to help Emma point to items. To our surprise she did not use the cards. Instead, Emma began signing her little heart out expressing things like hungry, thirsty, cold and yucky!! In fact our little girl was so precious and so gracious she would sign thank you each time the nurses came in with a toy or her food.

My little girl is on the mend but I did not want to miss the opportunity to share my story with other parents. It is my wish they never find themselves in a similar situation but if they do they will be forever thankful for having introduced baby to the basics of sign language. Before leaving the hospital my husband and I decided to give the nurses a Baby Sign Language Premium Kit with Signing Time DVD collection knowing that it could make a tremendous difference to parents that find themselves in a similar crisis.

Thank You!

Mary

We are very thankful to Mary and Emma for sending us this letter and giving us permission to share it with parents, educators and caregivers in the baby sign language community. As you work with your babies and toddlers and select words to increase their baby sign language vocabulary be mindful of incorporating signs that can help baby get what they need or want when speaking is not an option. Here are a few words we would like to suggest:

• Hurt
• Thirsty
• Medicine
• Potty
• itch

One of the more common questions we receive in our Facebook Baby Sign Language Page is often a variation of moms, dads, educators or caregivers concerned regarding the speed and which their baby is learning new signs. As parents most of us wish there was a user guide showing us the exact date and time in which our baby will achieve a particular milestone. Because we are anxious to communicate with our baby and most importantly we want our baby to be understood and have his needs met we can’t help it but feel a little anxiety when other moms we meet in the playground celebrate as their baby begins to use his first signs or when a friend shares a video on Facebook of their five-month old baby signing “milk.”

If you are a worried mama who has been diligently working on teaching your baby to use sign language along with other life skills we want to remind you that you are not alone. There are endless factors that influence the timelines in which babies achieve different milestones. Some factors are under our control and some are are not. Today we want to help by providing you some guidance that might help you teach your baby sign language and will provide you encouragement as you wait for him to surprise you with his first sign.

Four Advanced Techniques to You Can Incorporate to Help Baby Sign

Contextual Repetition

This is the logical approach to teaching a sign during the early stages of learning. Using the verbal expression along with the sign outside a practical context or without the object or action associated with the word often leads to confusion. The best way to do contextual repetition is to incorporate it to natural tasks or activities such as eating or drinking. For example: You can say and sign milk while giving baby their bottle.

Modeling the Sign Using Baby’s Hands

Babies have very limited fine motor skills. For this reason we encourage you to guide baby by helping them complete the sign using your own hands to manipulate their fingers and gestures as they complete the sign. This is best achieved when you have another adult or older child as a teaching partner since you might need to sit the child on your lap as the other person helping shows baby an object such as a flower or a ball.

Learning Baby Sign Language with Music & Song

Babies love music! One excellent way to introduce a baby to a signed concept is to contextualize it in song. This is best done using multimedia that provides the child with a visual association to the sign. In addition to helping baby learn a sign music teaches little ones to process information in their brain in a different way that speech does. The area of our brain that processes music is different from the area that processes speech and communication. By connecting both concepts you provide baby with a special advantage as they grow and are faced with more complex mental processes. Incorporate signs to songs you are already using with baby or consider learning new songs with Baby Signing Times which is part of our Premium Baby Sign Language Kit.

Learning-Specific Props & Toys

If you don’t live on a farm teaching farm animals may present a challenge as baby won’t have any concrete examples to make associations. If baby is not yet of an age where reading small books might prove appropriate consider securing small figurines representing objects not naturally available in the baby’s day-to-day context. If you reserve these props and toys exclusively for baby sign language teaching times baby might just be encouraged to sign with the hope of receiving time with these props as a reward.

If you wish to learn additional advanced methods to help you encourage your baby as they discover the joy of pre-verbal communication you may want to read our teaching guide. Chapter 5 in particular includes unique teaching methodologies based on research and proved to help in encouraging early communication. In our home we used the Pepperberg Method with excellent results. You might just want to give it a try! Finally, we encourage you to remain upbeat and positive. Before you know it, your little one will be signing far more than you ever expected. When it finally happens we would love to celebrate with you. Stop by our Facebook page and share a video or photo with us to commemorate this great achievement.

One of the best ways to tackle all the questions and doubts associated with the process of teaching baby to sign is to provide you with real life baby sign language stories that may be similar to your own.

Many household face the challenge and gift of two or more language spoken at home. We hear anecdotes and read stories and reports that bilingualism may delay speech. This may generate some hesitation and concern as we seek to incorporate baby sign language as a means of expression for the pre-verbal child.

On a recent study, Drs. Barbara Lust and Sujin Yang of the Cornell University College of Human Ecology confirm that bilingual children do not experience speech delays, language confusion, or cognitive problems. In fact, the two researchers note that bilingualism has definite cognitive and social advantages.

Learning and speaking two or more languages appears to enhance the development of a student’s executive attention — the ability to focus amid distractions, while providing the multi-language child with easier access to other world cultures.

Last year we found great delight in sharing with you the baby sign language journey of Amelie. To add to our wonderful collection of baby sign language videos we want to introduce you to Xaviera.

signing in french from Baby Sign Language on Vimeo.

Xaviera’s mom tells us:

“We started teaching Xaviera sign language as soon as she was born. We also speak French in the house and wanted to teach her ASL so we just combined the two and she started signing around 4 months with potty and milk and more. She was fully potty trained by 11 months and we owe it to signing. She loves to sign and it was a great way to communicate with her when she was a baby. I believe she was a happier baby because of it. Instead of getting frustrated or crying, she would just sign to us what she wanted. She’s 3 now and speaks French, Spanish, German and Chinese. . . and still signing”

If you are lucky to have a multilingual household begin by using objects to introduce baby to multilingualism. Use toys, food items, animals or any other non-abstract set you feel is suitable to the interests of your little one. Before you know it your baby will impress you and delight you with a rich vocabulary in their primary and secondary language as well as baby sign language!