Leah signing ‘Thank you!’

Hello! I’m Jasmine, a friend of Dave’s. He has asked me to post an article about my experience teaching my one-year-old daughter sign language. Yep, that’s when you “talk” with your hands. For most people, this is a very novel idea.

My friend Bryan thinks this is very cool, and was telling his family that I was teaching Leah to sign. I heard them ask him in hushed tones, “Why? Is she mute?”

No, she hears and can talk (for her age) just fine, as do the rest of our family, although none of the boys, my husband included, seem to hear me when I ask for help cleaning the house!  (I wonder how to sign, “I hope you like the socks you’re wearing…it’s your last clean pair!”)   ;)

I had heard about teaching babies to sign when my oldest, Keegan, now eight, was a baby, but never did anything about it. So, when I had my third child, and found myself to be a stay-at-home mom (FINALLY, I get to spend real time with my children!) I decided to give it a try.

First things first: Where do I learn sign language, without having to leave the house for classes, and without spending any money? The internet, of course, and my local library. There are some good sites out there that will explain with pictures and video how to sign. Most of the sites I found are for people learning American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language, not for teaching babies, but they are good resources if you want to quickly look up how to sign something. My two favorites are:

• http://lifeprint.com/asl101/ and
• www.commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm

Some books I have checked out:

• Let’s sign! : Every Baby’s Guide to Communicating with Grownups by Kelly Ault, and
• three books by Linda P. Acredolo:
• Baby Signs for Animals
• My First Baby Signs
• Baby Signs : How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk

There are many other good ones out there.

Babies who learn sign language begin to communicate effectively at a much earlier age than those who do not.  Babies who grow up around ASL (such as a child of deaf parents) can understand and begin to communicate before their non-signing counterparts begin to babble “dada” and “mama.” Not only can Leah tell me that she wants something to eat, but she can tell me whether she wants cereal or some applesauce, milk or juice. And she’s been able to do that since she was 12 months. She probably could have done it sooner if I had begun teaching her sooner. Leah now knows somewhere between 50-75 signs. That’s as many as I know (we seem to be at a standstill as I haven’t taken the time to learn more words)! She can also speak some of those words (we speak and sign at the same time), but if she weren’t signing at the same time, I don’t think I could differentiate between “Papa” and “diaper” as they sound pretty much the same when she says them.

One of the other “pros” of teaching your baby sign language: avoiding some of the “terrible twos”. One of the reasons those toddlers can be such a little handful is that they are TRYING to tell you what they want, and you just don’t UNDERSTAND. You start the guessing game, “Do you want to eat? Are you tired? Which toy do you want?” and they try pointing, saying that word over and over that you just can’t quite make out, until you both end up in tears of frustration. Imagine your baby knowing all the signs to those things most important to them, such as their favorite foods, names of toys, and being able to tell you when they are tired, hungry, or are hurting. Wow!

Now, could a non-hearing person who uses sign language to communicate be able to understand the signs Leah uses? Probably some, but not all. We use “baby signs”, similar to “baby talk”. Babies and young children don’t have the hand coordination it takes to make some of the very complicated signs, so we make some up that make sense to her (we push the tip of our nose up to make the sign for “pig” instead of the traditional sign), and others we adapt to make easier for her (for “dog” we just pat our thigh like we were calling a dog to come here, instead of the “real” way of “pat-snap”). Some of the signs she adapts on her own to make it work.

All in all, Leah is communicating with us in a way that Keegan and Luke never could at this age, and Keegan could speak pretty clearly at an early age. We are all learning together as a family. Picture books have now become interactive as we try to sign all of the pictures in the book. I have enjoyed the learning and teaching process as much as I believe Leah has.

Do you want to know my favorite part of all of this? Leah signs to each of us every day, “I Love You!”  :)