Communication Through Signing

We've been signing with Graci since she was about four months old. Of course, in the beginning, we would simply watch Graci's in-home teacher sign as she spoke and played with Graci. We watched her intently and tried to pick up as many signs as we could, since she only came to the house once every two weeks. Between visits, we would use the signs we could remember and wondered if Graci was catching any of it.

Why Sign?
There are several reasons for learning to sign with your baby. The most obvious is that infants develop the fine muscles in their hands way before they develop those fine muscles required for speech. So, they are much better equipped to give you a quick sign than to use words to tell you what they want. For us, the thought that Graci might possibly be delayed in her speech was enough to turn us on to the idea. The frustration that comes along with not being able to communicate was something that we hoped to avoid with Graci.

If you think about it, baby signs are just another form of gesturing and they learn to do those anyway. How many times have you seen someone play "So Big" with their baby? Mom says "SO BIG" and baby throws his hands into the air to gesture how big he is. Babies also point to things and use their hands to try to give clues about what they want. When they can't get their point across, it can be very frustrating and that's when you might see a tantrum or two.

If Babies Sign, They Won't learn to Speak
This is a common misconception dealing with baby signing. In fact, we've heard that babies who learn to sign actually use their words sooner and have a bigger vocabulary than those who don't. Again, this is hearsay on our part since we haven't done the research to verify that statement. We are strong believers though that what you expect is what you get, so set your expectations HIGH and watch your baby thrive!

In Graci's case, she's always been such a little imitator, that she really picked up the signs quickly. She was able to tell us she wanted 'more'... more peek-a-boo; more row, row, row your boat; more piano... more of whatever we were doing. In the same way, she was able to tell us when she was 'all done'. When we started her on baby foods, she was able to use more and all done right away. By then, she was also able to ask for 'milk', 'juice' and 'drink'. The praise she received each time encouraged her to sign more and more.


Back to the speech issue... Graci now has about 30 signs that she consistently uses. She would use more if we would just learn more to teach her. Two weeks ago, her teacher was pointing at stickers and asked if she wanted the 'bird' sticker. When she said it she also signed it. Graci said 'bird' and signed it at the same time right back at her. She asked if we had taught her that one yet and since we didn't know the sign, the answer was no. In writing this blog, we just asked Graci "Can you say bird?" She looked at us and said 'bird' at the same time she showed us the sign. What a great memory she has! The point is, she is working on her speech even while continuing to sign. If she knows the sign, she does both. If she doesn't, she just says the word. If she knows the word, but doesn't say it, we encourage her to do so by saying "Use your words."

Graci's Words
Last night, we got a bit distracted getting ready for bedtime. Wheel of Fortune, Graci's favorite nightly show, was over and we were starting to clean up. Graci looked over and rested her tilted head onto her 'prayer' hands and said "night-night." When asked if she was tired she said "ya" and said "bye-bye" along with a wave to her little brother. She's been signing 'night-night' and lots of other words for a very long time. She's only just started attempting to say most words in the last four or five months. Speech is directly tied to feeding and we had big feeding issues with Graci. Within weeks of her grasping several different textures, food shapes and tastes in her mouth, her speech really started to take off.


Our absolute favorite signs now are 'please' and 'thank you'. She says "peas", but hasn't attempted the words "thank you" yet. She recently learned to sign 'sorry' to her little five-month-old brother. Remote controls to the head and finger pokes to the eye prompted our teaching her that sign. All typical behaviors, we are happy to report. The best is, she uses her thank you sign without being prompted. If she is handed something, she generally signs 'thank you'.

Baby Signing Resources
There are books and DVD's available at baby stores, book stores and libraries. We used "My Baby Signs Book" by Discovery Toys. One for Bedtime and one for Mealtime. We also used "Baby Sign Language Basics" by Monta Z. Briant. But mostly, we watched Graci's in-home teacher and started consistantly using the signs we could remember.



We also took a "Hanen Communication - It Takes Two To Talk" eight week course. This one class per week program helped us learn practical strategies to help Graci learn language naturally throughout her day. The It Takes Two to Talk Program teaches, step-by-step, how to become your child’s most important language teacher. Learning how to "OWL - Observe, Wait and Listen" to help us learn to follow Graci's lead in communication through play. Signing is simply a tool used to help reinforce this communication. We plan to add a blog specifically on the Hanen class, so watch for that soon.

Upcoming Blogs
Keep an eye on Graci's Story for information on the following subjects:
* Feeding Issues
* Hanen Communication
* Resources for a Down Syndrome child
* Resources for Families
* Will She Ever Walk
* Etc.