I've had an interest in sign language for a long time & knew I would use it with my baby when the time came. In college, I really wanted to take American Sign Language (ASL) for my foreign language credit, but astoundingly ASL was not available at UW & I would have had to travel off campus to take it. I chose to take Portuguese instead -- probably not my best decision, seeing as I have no more understanding of Portuguese now than I did prior to taking 3 quarters. Ah, college.
I digress. Baby sign language faced some criticism a few years back that using it would delay a baby's use of spoken language. Even before this was
debunked, it never made sense to me. To me, a baby being taught sign & spoken language is exactly the same as a baby learning two languages simultaneously, which they do quite well (if only I started Portuguese as an infant). While case studies tend to still be fairly small, there are many proclaimed
benefits to teaching babies sign language before they are able to speak (& after!).
All this to say, we started doing a few basic signs with Blake around 7 months. Currently at 15 months, he is using almost 30 signs, along with very sporadic spoken use of
mommy &
daddy. I can't begin to tell you how fun & exciting it is to get glimpses into what Blake is thinking & to be able to communicate with him. We started with three basic signs --
milk, more &
all done, not knowing if Blake would take to sign language or not. Some babies learn a few signs & don't have interest in learning more. Blake's first sign was
milk, right around his first birthday, followed slowly by
a new sign or two every couple of weeks. Then, at 14 months, his sign language use exploded, adding new words every week! The fun thing about baby sign language is it's very forgiving & adaptable -- you, & your baby, can make creative changes. Blake has his own little version of both
kitty &
book. My mom made up a sign for
music, since we couldn't find one (wave finger in the air, like you're conducting). And Blake has made up his own sign for
watch -- turning his wrist back & forth. We know when he is noticing lights, thinking about doggies, listening to a big truck, or practical things like when he's hungry, thirsty, or wants more.
And probably most importantly, Blake really likes being able to communicate & tell us what he is thinking. Today was especially exciting as he linked together his first combined signs, asking my mom
Where's kitty? He was so thrilled & must have asked it six times in a row, very pleased with himself. Sign language with Blake is fun & rewarding & we now find ourselves scrambling to learn more signs for him! If you're interested, our favorite book is
Baby Signs - How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk.
Below is the only photo I have of Blake doing a sign --
airplane.
Here is the full list of all the signs he does, in order of when he first started using them:
milk
doggie
all done/all gone
music
bye-bye (also "you can go now")
duck
more (more food, wrestling, tickling, binkies, stories)
eat
light
hot (stove, coffee/tea, fireplace, candle, heat register, dishwasher)
drink
kitty
flower
noise
hat
fish
airplane
sleep
truck
baby
shoes
ball
book
watch (made-up sign)
butterfly
where
piggy
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