Baby Sign Language Decoded
The Idea Behind Baby Sign and How to Use it
Ever wondered what a linguistically-challenged baby is trying to tell people? What the meaning is behind those pitiful wails, cries and temper tantrums? So have millions of other parents. Baby-sign is an offshoot of American Sign Language (ASL) and many parents have turned to it in order to better understand and communicate with their babies who can't articulate English yet.
Joseph Garcia is the brains behind baby-sign. A certified ASL interpreter, Garcia first lit upon the idea of baby-sign when he noticed that the children of deaf parents were able to communicate even before they could speak. The question arose: why shouldn’t all babies be able to do that? With research, Garcia discovered that babies who were signed to often were able to sign back effectively at only eight months.
Garcia discusses his experiences with baby sign in his book Toddler Talk [Stratton Kehl, 1994]. He also patented the Sign with your Baby kit. Baby-sign is a simple concept: babies learn gestures and expressions quicker than they can articulate words in any language. In short: their motor skills develop quicker than their language skills. Parents need only learn the "baby" signs themselves and use them with their baby daily.
Basic Baby Signs
Many of the signs are intuitive, such as “eat” (bring fingers to mouth), “milk” (squeeze hand as if milking a cow), and “thirsty” (running a finger down one’s throat). These gestures are easy for babies to pick up on and imitate. Others, while not so intuitive, are still easy to sign: “daddy” (thumb on forehead with fingers extended) and “mommy” (thumb on chin with fingers extended).
Some parents might worry that their child’s language development will be impaired because they use baby-sign. This is not the case! In fact, there are numerous instances of babies who use baby-sign learning to speak faster than babies who weren’t exposed to baby-sign. For more information on baby-sign, check out Baby-Signs program.
Benefits of Baby-Sign
Baby-sign not only improves and quickens communication between parents and babies, it can also help from a medical viewpoint. If a baby knows the sign for “hurt” or “pain” (middle finger on hand or stomach) he or she can communicate that to their parents. Babies can also express fear at certain people or objects with a sign, or express if they are too hot or cold.
While Garcia's research was based on ASL speakers, parents can make up their own signs. Hearing people use every day! “Where” is often mimed with hands displayed palm up; “I don’t know” becomes a shoulder shrug. Repetition is how babies learns the signs, regardless of whether they are made-up or ASL-based. The objective behind baby-sign is simply to open communication between parents and babies, fostering a bond and lowering frustration levels for both parties.
Resources:
Signing with your Baby or Toddler
Garcia, Joseph. Toddler Talk. Stratton Kehl Publications Inc, 1994
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