The Benefits of Sign Language For Baby

You may be wondering what the benefits of sign language for baby are, especially if your baby can hear. It is funny how many times we were asked if our baby was deaf whenever people saw us signing together. The fact is there are many benefits of using sign language with hearing infants and toddlers. This page will outline a few of them so you can decide for yourself if signing is for you.

Signing allows parents and caregivers to glimpse what is going on in their little one's mind as it provides a means for the child to more easily express his wants, needs, and desires. Because babies lack the ability to vocalize their preferences, we often forget they have them. But a baby who signs can easily tell you that he would rather have an APPLE for breakfast than a BANANA, or CEREAL instead of EGGS. Likewise, he can sign his preference of whether he wants to play with his BLOCKS or his CARS and even if he wants to read a BOOK or listen to MUSIC.

More Benefits of Sign Language for Baby

Signing can help your baby not only tell you when she is hurting but also the location of the pain. We know our babies well and by their cries we can often tell that they are in pain. Knowing where they hurt, however, is usually a process of elimination. Your baby knowing how to sign HURT in the area causing her pain makes it so much easier to make it better or get her medical attention if necessary. Imagine your teething baby signing to you that her mouth hurts and that she needs more medicine! Now how handy would that be?

Many of us adhere to eating, nap and bedtime schedules with our babies. Just like us, however, sometimes baby is hungry ahead of time or wants a nap sooner than expected. Think how nice it would be for baby to sign HUNGRY or SLEEPY to you instead of acting with the usual crankiness that is the typical way babies communicate when they do not have the ability to sign.

Diaper Dirty

Speaking of something that can make a baby cranky...dirty diapers! With signs like WET, DIRTY, DIAPER and CHANGE, baby can sign to you when he is in need of a diaper change. How beneficial is that, especially if your baby has sensitive skin and is prone to diaper rashes? This is not to say your baby will never get a diaper rash, but his ability to sign when he's wet or dirty could be a good preventative measure.

A baby can also communicate through sign what she is thinking about and can initiate conversations based on things she is observing or remembering. Imagine you are taking a walk outside with your baby...she looks up at the sky and signs BIRD, thereby letting you know what she is seeing and thinking about in that moment. Alternatively, she hears music and signs DADDY and DANCE indicating that she is recalling a memory of dancing with her daddy. Now, how precious is that! Thank goodness for the benefits of sign language!

Signing allows you to spend quality time "conversing" with your baby and reinforces positive communication skills.

Signing not only allows you to spend quality time "conversing" with your baby, but it also reinforces positive communication skills while simultaneously enhancing and stimulating baby's language development. Additionally, signing can help to clarify your baby's first words as they often sound the same. For example, you baby may say "da" for dad, dog, and dance. By using signs in combination with spoken words, you can better understand what your child is trying to say to you and respond more quickly. Aren't these benefits of sign language great!?

Play

Signing can act as a communication tool for children just learning English. This is particularly helpful in a child care or preschool environment where a child who does not know the language well could end up feeling left out. Instead, these children can interact with their peers and initiate play by using signs like PLAY, BLOCKS, BOAT, and BALL. Likewise, they can effectively communicate important needs like HUNGRY, POTTY, HURT with their caregivers as well.

It is easy to see how the use of a few simple signs can help reduce frustration all around because your baby does not have to rely solely on pointing nor does he have to resort to crying, whining or moaning when he wants or needs something. Less frustration plus less crying equates to a happier baby and a more harmonious environment for all.

Studies reveal the following additional benefits of sign language

• Considerably increases the rate, acquisition, and efficiency of language; signing babies generally begin speaking earlier and develop larger vocabularies than babies who do not sign.
• Promotes pre-and early literacy - Sign language is a visual language which requires the use of the visual-spatial portion of the brain to learn. This is the same part of the brain used to learn to read, therefore, learning to read tends to be easier.
• Signing improves letter and word recognition, which may lead to increased spelling proficiency, expands vocabulary and greatly strengthens the potential for future academic achievement.
• Signing children tend to have a greater interest in books, which, again, leads back to the potential for improved literacy.
• Increased Memory Retention - signing engages all of baby's senses which helps baby remember things easier. Children who learn words and signs together have a better chance to remember the word's meaning.
• Stimulates brain development - as a language with strong visual emphasis, signing involves the use of both the right and left hemispheres of the brain, not just the left hemisphere as it is with spoken language; this results in more synapses being built by the brain.
• Stimulates intellectual development - may help elevate IQ
• Cuts down frustration, fewer tantrums.
• Promotes and deepens parent/child bonding.
• Builds Self-esteem and self-confidence - signs are visual and often iconic and are quickly learned, understood and used, which offers a child a strong sense of empowerment.
• Children with special needs have a way to express themselves.

As you can see there are so many wonderful benefits of using sign language with baby. Let your baby join the ranks of all the amazing signing babies in this world. Once you see your baby sign for the first time, you'll be so glad you did.

Benefits of Sign Language

Benefits of Sign Language