Using simple sign language to communicate with your baby is
a bonding and joyful experience, writes
Aquin Dennison-Mathew.
I
knew what my mom was about
to say even before she said it.
“Why would you teach him to
sign instead of encouraging him
to speak?” To be honest, I couldn’t
think of a logically compelling
argument for signing with our seven-
month-old son Isaac. At the time,
I hadn’t met any parents who were
signing with their child, and although
research touted its many benefits,
I wasn’t swayed by the promises
of a higher IQ or advanced verbal
development. Signing just seemed like
a fun activity, with a sliver of hope
that we may be able to communicate
better with our baby.
Getting started
Teaching ourselves basic signs from
an American signing series – Rachel
Coleman’s
Baby Signing Time
– we
started with three basic signs, “milk”
(squeezing the hand like you are
milking a cow), “more” (bringing
your fingertips together) and “cereal”
(wiggling a finger on your chin). For
the first couple of weeks of practice,
Isaac just stared back at us with a
quizzical look and it was hard to tell if
he grasped any of it. But one morning
when he was around nine months,
he pulled himself to a standing
position and made the squeezing sign
for “milk”. I thought I might have
imagined it, but he looked earnestly
at me and signed it again. In the
week that followed, Isaac signed
back all three words we had shown
him. It was nothing short of magical
– the realisation that our baby had
the ability to tell us exactly what he
needed.
A common misconception
is that signing is a crutch that
actually delays the onset of verbal
communication. After all, if the child
is able to communicate perfectly
with his hands, the logic goes, what
is the motivation to learn to speak?
According to paediatric behaviour
and developmental experts, baby
signing is just one communication tool
to help a child get his message across.
Baby signing is not a replacement
for talking; rather, it’s a medium for
babies and toddlers who understand
lots of words and concepts but
don’t have the vocal and motor
coordination to say them out loud.
Linda Acredolo, a child development
expert and author of the popular book
Baby Signs
, writes, “Just as babies learn
to crawl before they can walk, using
signs gives them a developmentally
appropriate way to communicate
before they can talk. Baby signing
helps the transition from no language
to spoken language.”
Speaking is the goal of signing, so
words are always used along with the
signs. Singwa Lim, founder of Baby
Signs Hong Kong, agrees: “Advanced
verbal skills in signing children can
be attributed to the fact that signing
incorporates all three learning styles –
visual, auditory and kinaesthetic.”
Early communication
With signs at their disposal, babies
can direct their parents’ attention to
objects they find fascinating rather
than just listening to labels for things
their parents think are important.
Lucy Nightingale recounts how her
daughter Inés would be in the stroller
facing away from her and could
thesıgns
reading
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