speech and baby signing

[insywinsyspider]

ds is 17mo and signing really well but not saying any words - I never sign silently - he babbles constantly but nothing in the right place, not even mummy and daddy. Everyone said signing wouldn't delay speech but he is behind his peers, is the reliance on signing making him lazy?

I'm not worried just curious as I have no idea about development and at what age they should be doing what... any experts out there?

Hi

I did signing with DS1 and had exactly the same concerns as he seemed to be behind his peers. Hes now 2.3 and his speech is absolutely brilliant - I would say he adds 2 or 3 new words a day to his vocabulary. Looking back I just think DS1 was slow to speak as he was busy mastering his physical skills and baby signing had nothing to do with it. In fact I am glad he could sign because it certainly stopped him getting frustrated when he couldnt explain what he wanted (which does happen now with some words).

don't worry about it. I did signing with DS, and have several friends who did it with their kids too, to a much greater extent than me,.
One of them had a little girl who was talking in sentences by 18 months, as well as signing
my DS hardly said anything until he was 2 and then started chattering away and gradually just stopped signing as he learned to use words instead.
The other person I know was in-betweeny

Remember that all kids develop differently, and I don't think at 17mo you should expect too much of him verbally anyway. Boys do tend to be slower than girls as well.

I agree with themags as well. I think that my ds would have been slow talking regardless, and signing helped him "speak" to me which would have otherwise been very frustrating