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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

baby signing

20 replies

kittyfish · 11/01/2006 11:14

I am taking my 8mo daughter to a baby signing class in a few days time. Does anyone here have any experience of signing with their baby? I here that it helps speech developement.

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poppiesinaline · 11/01/2006 11:21

I started signing with my baby about 4 weeks ago (thanks to MN's encouragement) and he did his first sign yesterday. Ahhhhhhh. was so sweet. Signed 'milk' (he was due a bottle too!) DS is 9 months.

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kittyfish · 11/01/2006 11:25

That is so cool, I really look forward to communicating with my daughter.

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Tatties · 11/01/2006 11:28

There have been a few threads on it recently which encouraged me to sign up for a class, my ds is 9mths and we start tomorrow. Can't wait!

hotmama · 11/01/2006 11:46

I went to Tinytalk with my dd when she was about 8 months - she is now 15 months. I thought it was great - tbh it was great to meet other mums, sing nursery rhymes and have coffee and choocy biscuits.

Dd did sign for milk etc - it hasn't hampered her speech - she is a right chatterbox - even if I can't understand it all. Dd definitely understands more than she can say.

I recommend babysigning - if not just for choccy biscuits.

Bellie · 11/01/2006 12:04

Definately recommend the classes - it is great fun and a great way to meet other mums - if your dd learns to sign even better!!
I started with dd when she was 8 months old, but didn't get her first sign to me until she was about 10 months - you do have to keep going with them.
She is now 14 months old and can do loads of signs but as hotmama says it does not seem to have interferred with her speech at all - she gabbles away all day long and adds the signs in with her gabble!!
Have fun!!

rarrie · 11/01/2006 17:41

Go for it!!!

No, seriously, I would really recommend it. I signed with my DD and I am a huge fan. Started at about 7 months, byt she didn't really get into the flow of signing properly until about 11 months ish. Then it snowballed.

Within a few months, she was able to sign all manner of words, and ended up being well over 100 signs, but then she learnt to talk!

But she could sign about all sorts of things, including to ask for the light to be switched on, she could sign pain and sad and all sorts. I will definitely do it again.

DD is now 26 months and her language skills are very much advanced fro her age. It is not uncommon for her to use 8 word sentences, she understands me, he, she her, mine etc and can say some very complex things such as 'take away now daddy, put in the bin'.

I did find in the early days that perhaps she didn't speak as early as some other children might do, because it was easier for her to sign, but I found that once she got going with talking, she just did it and learnt to say a lot more than a lot of her peers.

Signing has definitely helped her to learn to talk. She hasn't signed now for months and I don't think she remembers that she ever did, but it is so lovely just being able to have a conversation with a 12 month old, and get to know your child in a way that you just couldn't do if you didn't sign!

(Sorry for the very evangelical post, but believe me it is a truly amazing experience!!)

bundle · 11/01/2006 17:42

can't see the point.

mazzystar · 11/01/2006 18:07

i think it has saved a lot of tears in this house.
the classes are a great social thing too.

mcmudda · 11/01/2006 18:13

Babysigning is great. I went to "sing and Sign" classes with ds for 10 wks when he was 7 mths. He started usung a few signs at 9 mths-ish. His first word was at 10 mths and he had 20 or so understandable words by 13 mths.

Now just beginning signing with dd (almost 7 mths) and dh swears she signed "eat" this morning at breakfast time.

We skipped tantrums altogether with ds (now 3.4 yrs)and I'm sure it was because he could communicate early. Signs for emotions are still useful once they've started talking but just can't get the hang of using words about feelings.

definitely takes a few months of signing before it really "clicks" with babies, but as long as your consistent and your partner goves it a try too, then it'll be worth it!

katymac · 11/01/2006 18:33

We all went on a tinytalk course last night and are hoing to use signing with our mindees - we are hoping to help reduce the frustration of not being able to communicate the children's needs

sunnydelight · 11/01/2006 18:36

I went to sing and sign classes with DD and they were the more boring thing I have ever done with any of my three children. I nearly lost the will to live as the teacher - smile pasted on face - worked her way down the same boring list of songs each week. I'm obviously in the minority around here though

amyjade · 11/01/2006 19:07

Dd2 is 7 months next week is it too early to start sing and sign?

Troutpout · 11/01/2006 19:14

I did baby signing with my daughter from 6 months...just for fun really....she started signing back at about 7/8 months
Can't say it made any difference with her speech...she spoke early but i think she would have any way and it certainly didn't hurt it .Her brother spoke earlier and he never did it.
If you both enjoy it ...then go for it i reckon.
Each sign dropped off as she learnt the word...although she kept 'sorry' for quite a while (very cute)

tessasmum · 11/01/2006 19:35

I'm with rarrie - go for it!

We started signing with DD at 7 months and got our first sign back at 10 months 'bird', followed by 'cat' the next day. Really took off from there and had about 60+ signs by 14 months. Was great to be able to communicate so early and not just on our terms, we really got an insight into her world and what was important/interesting to her.
Helped the most at about 11 months when she was ill. Before being ill she had the appetite of a sparrow, afterwards she seemed more like a vulture! If she hadn't been able to tell us she was hungry she would have whinged and cried and I would have thought that she was still feeling under the weather.

She is now nearly 3 and her speech is way ahead of most of her peers and has been all along. I'm sure that learning some of the basics of communication through sign eg not all animals are doggies, not all men are daddy etc helped.

Couldn't recommend it enough and can't wait to start with DS (9 weeks).

Elibean · 11/01/2006 19:44

Not done the S&S classes, but signed a little with dd as have used BSL in the past.
I think I saved us both some frustration by understanding when she'd had enough to eat, wanted to get down, etc by 9 months...though I also think you can make up your own signs just as effectively (minus the social aspect, of course).
If you do learn 'real' signs though, you'll be able to hold a basic conversation with any Deaf (signing) people you meet in life: an extra bonus!

Original poster

kittyfish · 11/01/2006 20:09

Thanks for all of the encouragement - I am really looking forward to it. Just the thought of actually communicating with my duaghter instead of the usual guesswork is so exciting.

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Bellie · 11/01/2006 20:21

sunnydelight - I think that you may have had the second teacher that I had!! I loved the first one but the second one was the most boring teacher ever - if dd hadn't liked running around the hall so much I think I would have left.
As with all these franchises it really depends on the teacher and how they are run. I guess I harp back to my first lessons with dd - great fun and great social as well and sort of gloss over the second set!!

1michele · 12/01/2006 21:35

I can?t emphasis enough how great it is to be able to communicate with your pre-verbal baby, having an insight to their early thoughts, using the beautiful language of Sign. Signed with both my daughters. dd No 1 signed back from 10 months & had over 100 signs by 15mnths. dd No2 did much the same. Meant I didn?t have to resort to guessing what was wrong or what they needed.

Lots of research to back it. It enables you to communicate before babies can speak. Signing babies generally speak earlier than non-signers. Both you and your baby have less frustration. Helps boost IQ, develop larger vocabularies etc etc + its lots of fun!

This said, I don?t think it?s for everyone, a bit like breast feeding or real nappies ? you?ve got to really want to do it. But its well worth perusing, and for those of you that have signing success, I bet you will find it to be one of the most worthwhile pursuits you will do with your babies.

I attended Sign & Rhyme classes and workshops

amyjade · 12/01/2006 21:50

Starting sign classes tomorrow with Dd2 who is 7 months, can't wait now i'v read all the positive comments.

GillL · 13/01/2006 10:59

I started signing milk a couple of months ago to my daughter. So far she's done it twice. The last time was on New Year's Eve - I started to give her her last bottle of the day and she refused it. A few minutes later she did the milk sign and then downed the lot. She hasn't done it since though. Is this common?

I'm persevering and adding a few others like more and food. Most of the time she laughs when I do a sign (especially sleep for some reason). I know she understands what the milk sign is because she whinges as soon as I do it and doesn't stop until she gets it.

Has anyone else had this experience?

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