Teaching my child sign language

Hi there!

Looks like you're doing all the right things. Contrary to what baby books try to tell you (well except the Sears' -- part of why I like 'em), there are very few things that happen right on "schedule". Some are early, some are late, some start late and then go on a super-accelerated schedule so the former late starters are suddenly doing things they weren't "supposed" to be doing for a while yet.

So if it's "supposed" to be right around now, that's nice, but don't worry about it too much. The most important thing is exposure without pressure, and looks like that's what you're doing.

If you do want to encourage it, one method that deaf moms use with their deaf kids that parallels how hearing moms teach hearing babies to talk is to work with the baby's babble. All babies babble both orally and with their hands. If the pup's hand wanders by her chin, you can say, "yes, Mama!" (doing the correct sign.) Note, she doesn't have to do a picture-perfect sign, just a rough approximation. If her hands approach each other, say, "Oh, do you want more?" (doing the correct sign for "more".) Watch her and expand on what she's doing, don't expect it to be recognizable right off.

Same as how a baby will say "ah, ah, ah-ah" before getting to "mama" or "papa" -- the process of parents saying, "ooh, did you just say 'mama'?" is part of what teaches the baby how to eventually really say "mama."

Oh and recognizing is important. If she recognizes, she'll be doing sooner or later (and probably sooner.) Babies LOVE that they can sign "milk" and GET milk! Power!

Oooo.... I never thought of it like that.
That makes perfect sence. And now that I look back on her hand gestures, they DO resemble certain signs.
She will make a small circle with her thumb and forefinger ( not on purpose.. ) and then puts that twords her lips . Never in rapid succession.. but the gesture is there. .Things that make you go HMMM.
Another thing I was trying.. tell me if this sounds like a good step, I try NOT to talk when i am showing her a new sign. I make sure that I have her attention with out words or sounds and use only my hands. When we eat I dont talk alot, I just use signs for what she is eating, more, milk, eat.. etc. I do say the words, but I dont make conversation around it . Kind of reinforcing the hand signal with a word. Later on, she can learn the word easier that way I think.
??

Hmmm... not sure that's necessary, I don't think it would hurt either though.

One thing is that ASL has lots of expressions and mouth movements -- when I'm signing purest ASL, I'm still mouthing say 50% of the words that are being expressed. So it's not even really ASL to not do words at all (if I'm getting the right image, I'm imagining you kinda expressionless and focusing on the hand movement, that might not be what you're doing.)

Anyway, at this point I think the most important things are exposure and reinforcement. Exposure can be really broad, you don't have to worry too much about how you do it when you do it whatever, just do it! :-) Then reinforcement is what I was talking about above, like when she does that gesture say "oh, are you saying 'eat'? That looks like 'eat'" (and make the sign).

Sounds to me like she's well on her way, just relax and go with the flow and see what happens!

(Again, I think it's incredibly cool that you're doing this. Loved DrewDad's story.)

I liked his story too.
He seems like a really neat daddy.

you are right . I dont do much of anything in the way of verbalising when I am trying to show her the hand signs. I usually open dinner with showing her her plate, ( of course side convo is happening with her too ) then saying eat. Then saying & showing, then we eat. When she looks to me for more, I sign more.. then give her more. It isnt until meal is over that I start using word+sign together. That may be a bass-akward way of doing it.
I did find a book that was all about baby sign language. It shows modifications you can teach your baby of ASL that fits thier dexterity levels. It is really neat.

My wife did a huge amount of research on this. Then she just told me what I needed to know.

This is the way we taught Ya-ya (are teaching, actually):

1. Choose a few signs at a time (we started with 5, now working on 10 at a time) that you want to concentrate on. Some suggestions are eat, milk, nurse, water, more, all done, mommy, daddy, bath, baby.
2. Choose signs about things that are of high interest to the baby. Ya-ya's first sign was "milk." Her second was "water" for swimming lessons. Her third was "bubbles" (actually a raspberry, not the ASL sign for bubbles).
2. Be as consistent as possible; as many care givers as possible should use the signs and you should try to always use the sign with the word.
3. Use positive reinforcement when you see a motion that is close to being one of the signs. (If she puts her hands together, ask "more?")
4. DON'T GIVE UP! It takes 'em quite a while to get the idea, then some more time to get the dexterity to actually make the signs. The payoff is great, though.


Some things I've noticed about how Ya-ya signs:

1. Most of the signs she does are approximations of what we are teaching. She also has several signs that have almost exactly the same motion; you have to use context to know what she is talking about.
2. She knows a lot more signs than she uses. She only uses the ones that she has an interest in.
3. She does not use the backs of her hands. If we use a sign that uses the backs of the hand she will mirror it using the palm of her hand.

For more info: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/signingbaby/

I have friends that are doing this as we speak. The little one is 16 months old, a girl named Sybil. I haven't heard this kid cry, ever! She was able to sign her displeasures at a much earlier age. Both her parents have normal hearing. Both had childhood friends who were deaf.

Yep, that's one of the coolest things about it, how the babies/ toddlers can express things long before they can with speech, and how much less frustrated they are. Got that all the time with sozlet.

One of the most startling things was that she not only really wanted to express standard things -- hungry, thirsty, hot, cold -- but thoughts and ideas. I've mentioned the orange gorillas a few times (I don't remember how old she was, now -- between a year and 18 months, I think), where she told elaborate stories about a family of orangutans (orange gorillas) who lived in our oak tree, and had a pet fox. She'd also do all the standard "I'm trying to tell you something!!!" baby things for something like, that kid has a blue swimsuit. All intense and earnest and then, once successfully communicated, happy and smiling.

Great pointers from DrewDad. Only thing I would amend is controlling how many signs you "teach". Exposure is the name of the game, and if it's a matter of the parents learning the signs first, it makes sense (you certainly want to have the signs down yourself before you teach them), but from the kid point of view it doesn't matter. You don't limit the spoken words you use -- if you want the baby to learn how to say "mama", "papa", and "milk", you don't say only those three words.

I was signing away with sozlet from birth, her first sign was at 4 months old, she knew several signs by 6 months old (I want to say 25 but I forget), and I think it was 250 by the time she was 18 months old.

That's exactly why we started with a limited vocabulary.

BTW "Dada (spoken)" is now occasionally referred to as "gorilla (signed)." Thanks, mama.

that is cute.


Thank for the tips.
I am going to start changing how I am introducing these signs to little bean.
I am soooooo excited to hear that it helps other kids.
I cant wait to see the benefits for her.

OK, the downside of teaching your kid to sign:

When I came home today, Mama was talking with me about wrapping presents with "help" from Ya-ya. She asked Ya-ya to tell me about the wrapping on Daddy's present (thinking Ya-ya would sign "Christmas tree" or "snowperson"). Ya-ya then signed "present" and "book!" Needless to say, Mama was aghast.

I guess I still have to unwrap it to see which book it is.

Still, you gotta watch what you say around the little buggers. You never know when they'll repeat it.

<laughing my butt off>

Man have I been there!!!

Too funny...

I think little bean has caught on to sign language:

I was rocking her the other night to sleep. I had introduced 2 signs that day. Momma, and daddy. As i was holding her , she was laying on her side looking up at me, she sad mamamama. So, I tookout my hand and signed " mama" and kissed her on her forehead. I did this 3 times. Finally. she pushed herself up and with her little balled fist started hitting my chin and saying mamamamamamamamamama. :-)

I think.. she has it. :-) :-)

i just dont think she quite has the dexterity to keep her palm open when signing mama... but she gets the thumb to chin thing.
;-)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww... :-)

So now, I get to brag...

her first word was Mama. :-)

Double awwwww...... :-D

Ug, I just realized that the word MORE means FOOD to her!
repitition will fix that right????

That's really common. Again one of those parallel language acquisition things. When babies learn how to speak, often one word "means" another -- like, I dunno, "blanky" means "I'm tired." Sozlet did that with a few signs, I don't remember which ones. I think maybe that one too! I think "more" kind of meant generally "gimme some food", whether she'd already had some or not.

She's using signs to convey meaning, that's the most important part. Precision will come later.