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Original poster

Signing for hearing babies

14 replies

AllieM · 23/11/2005 21:47

Hi there,

Have recently heard things about sign language for hearing babies. My DS is six months old and I would love to start doing some signing with him.

However I'm not sure how best to start - I feel as if something quite simple with a book (and possibly a DVD to demonstrate) outlining the signs may be best; what I mean by this is individual words rather than incorporated in a song or something. I've done a bit of research, and have found the "sing and sign" site which advocates learning through nursery rhymes, plus a myriad of books by Josephn Garcia.

One problem seems to be that a lot of the books are American sign language and I would prefer British.

Anyone got any good tips?

Thanks very much!

OP posts:
starlover · 23/11/2005 21:48

we got some books out of the library and started with ds!

he is 9 months now and signs milk and drink!

hunkermunker · 23/11/2005 21:49

I went to TinyTalk classes with DS for about six months from when he was 7mo - he loved it. He still signs a few things (mainly animals and milk!) at 19mo.

I'd say go to a class for a bit if there's one near you - it's nice to see other babies at different stages and a good way to learn the signs.

Bellie · 23/11/2005 21:51

Hi signing for hearing babies is great IMO.

I have been going to signing classes with my dd since she was 6 months old, and she started signing back at about 8 months.
Are there any classes around where you are - the most popular are tinytalk and sing and sign - both based on british sign language.
I know that sing and sign do dvd's and books to accompany the courses - I am sure that these will be a good starting point.
HTH

Cristina7 · 23/11/2005 21:52

Allie, it doesn't matter what signs you use, BSL, ASL, made up ones, whatever is easy for tiny hands. Just be consistent and use the same signs. It's unlikely your DS will be using the signs to have a two-way communication with people outside the family (unless nursery, childminder etc) so using a standardized signing system isn't vital IMO. Just get that communication going between you. Books are fine, or videos etc, or just make them up yourself.

roosmum · 23/11/2005 21:56

agree that you could just make them up, as long as you're consistent, that's the main thing. lots of them are fairly obvious (eg 'drink' is what you'd sign to someone in a noisy bar!) tbh.

we go to sing & sign, it's been really good fun. no signing back yet, but ds says drink (or 'djink', something like that) which at nearly 10mths is quite young? i think that the signing & being deliberate & repetitive abt saying things helps babies to pick up words & start vocalising (there's research on babysigning that seems to show this). i expected him to sign tho really.

starlover · 23/11/2005 21:58

there are no sing and sign, or tiny talk classes anywhere near me!

so we do it from books... has worked fine thohgj

baka · 23/11/2005 22:01

Makaton are introdusing their own distance learning signing course for babies soon. (early next year- would be about right for you). Google MVDP and you'll find the info.

mizmiz · 23/11/2005 22:02

I'm a salt Allie and a great advocate of signing for allchildren.

Amcurrently taking a career break but I run sing/sign sessions with a musician.It's going very well.

For starters,I would recommend buying Sasha Felix's 'Sing&Sign' video/dvd (available through her website www.singandsign.com)
I'm not financially involved in it-she simply knows her stuff and is very good. Also contains a simple and informative little booklet.

See how you get on from there-don't confuse yourself buying to many books.In any case seeing it done (as in joining a class or watching a video) is much better than studying diagrams on a page.

nell12 · 23/11/2005 22:04

Agree with everyone. Didn't do classes, got the sing and sign vid, but found it nauseating, used books instead and chose the signs that suited us, dd (13m) now signs all the time. V helpful when she wants milk etc. (we started at about 7m BTW)
Start with a couple of signs, get the whole family to use them and don't expect overnight results, it will come and as baby gets the connection, the process will speed up.
Good luck and have fun!

julienetmum · 23/11/2005 23:21

We go to sing and sign classes and I have the video for ds, he loves it. Personally I find Sasha a bit sickly on the video but she appeals to babies and children. I suppose its just the same as Sarah-Jane etc!

Ds is signing quite a bit now, his first was change (for nappy) and hot. He never really did milk but does eat quite a bit.

rarrie · 24/11/2005 00:12

Hi there!!
I too am a great advocate of signing, I did it with my DD from about a year, and at her hey day, she had well over a hundred signs... at 14 months, she could communicate about most things...it even convinced the most sceptical of people around me!

I didn't get on with any of the formal systems - found DD couldn't manage the signs for Garcia's system, they were too fiddly for her. She wouldn't sit through the Sing and Sign video (and I found it didn't have enough signs too) so in the end I opted for the baby board books produced by Linda Acropoldo or something. DD had four or five books, and learnt every sign in them. I think sometimes, you just need to have a look and see what you guys get on with between you!

Although this is anecdotal, but I found signing really helped her communication. At 2, signing has long been forgotten and replaced by talking (although we were at a noisy swimming pool the other week, and she signed to me, as I couldn't hear what she was saying, so obviously not yet forgotten!!) But her vocab is huge... literally hundreds upon hundreds of words, but the reason why I am convinced signing helped is because most of her first words and sentences were those things that she could sign. Her spoken language really started with her verbalising what she was signing, and gradually she dropped the signing.

The only thing I would say is not to get too disheartened if your son does not reply just yet. I started signing at 7 months to my DD, but she didn't really get it until about 11 months. But once she did, it went, and I seem to remember that by about 14 months, she had about 140 signs... it really can be that amazing!
Enjoy every minute of it - I did!!

rarrie · 24/11/2005 00:20

Correction: She got to 140 signs at about 16/ 17 months... and by 20 1/2 months, she had changed this into 200 spoken words. Just looked back in my diary!!!!

Bellie · 24/11/2005 08:21

Oh the other thing that I meant to say was that don't expect the signs to be done 'correctly' to start with. My dd found some of them hard to do as they can be quiet presice. However she adapted them to what she could do and has been consistent with them so I know what they are. It is fabulous for her to be able to tell me (at 13months) that she is in pain and then point to her teeth - means we can get the calgel on without the screams!!

Original poster
AllieM · 24/11/2005 09:13

Wow! That's a lot of messages from when I went to bed last night to breakfast time this morning! Thanks everyone for your hints and tips, most useful and nice to know that people are using a variety of signing methods. I shan't expect a full and deep conversation with him right now but will def. start looking into classes for January next year, and also into getting something to work at home. Perhaps even sickly Sasha!

Great also to know that it encourages children to increase their spoken vocab. as well.

Thank you!
x

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