The Research!
Research carried out found that by 2 years old signing babies knew on average 50 more spoken words than their non-signing peers, and that a year later the 3 year old signing babies were at a speech level comparable to a 4 year old. They then looked at the same children at age 8 and they were performing all round at a level more like 9 year olds. In fact the signers scored on average 12 points higher in a traditional IQ test than any of the other non-signers, which is a very significant difference and clearly shows that using signs with your baby is CERTAINLY NOT going to harm mental development in any way.
“Sign language can be used to improve hearing children’s vocabulary, reading ability, spelling proficiency, self-esteem, and comfort with expressing emotions. Sign can empower a young child as it eliminates the necessity to scream & cry, because its communicative ability allows the child to express needs. This aspect cultivates a strong sense of self-worth in youngsters and permits them to enjoy greater confidence”
“Signing also speeds up the process of learning to talk, stimulates intellectual development, enhances self-esteem and strengthens the bond between parent & infant.”
Areddolo & Goodwin (professors of Psychology & child development)
“When signing is used in a nursery setting, the incidence of biting; a sign of frustration, is much reduced”
Elizabeth Morris- School of Emotional Literacy, Gloucester.
“Signing helps to lower noise in care environments by reducing frustrated screaming and crying.” “Signing minimizes stress and frustration of the carer who may be responsible for meeting the needs of many children at once.”
Dr Peter Willats- Senior Lecturer in Child Development, Dundee University.’
Tania Allen is a head of Speech and Language Therapy in East Kent and this is what she thought of using signs with her 1 year old nephew:
“It’s a constant source of pleasure for all the family to see Theodore signing, using a mixture of British Sign Language and a variety of highly ingenious signs of his own.”
Did it stop him from talking? NO!
“At two years old his expressive language is now rapidly developing but he continues to use his signs alongside, perhaps realising that this will help others to understand what he is saying.”
She also lists 7 main benefits to using signs with babies:
- Signing allows an infant to communicate accurately their thoughts, needs and feelings before they
can speak.
- Signing reduces frustration for babies.
- Signing gives a window into the infant’s mind and personality…
- Signing enhances the parent-child bonding…
- Signing promotes excellent interaction…parents automatically adopt positive interaction
strategies.
- Signing facilitates an adult’s ability to interpret early attempts at words…
- Signing children tend to be more interested in books…
Tania Allen “Signing the way” (Speech & Language Therapy In Practice Winter 2004)
Have a look at \link(tinytalk.co.uk)