BABY SIGN LANGUAGE

[BROWNY]

Has anyone taken their baby to baby sign language classes? I've just started signing a few words to my ds, but I'd love to hear if other mums have tried it.

Hi browny,

I signed with ds from about 5months and then moved on to classes when he was about 10 months (as that was when they became available locally).

We use the sing and sign method (www.singandsign.com) and the dvd was very useful in the early days. My ds didn't consistently sign back till he was about 9 months and now he is a sponge for signs (at 15 months!). I have found it decreases frustration and when he wnats me to talk to him he starts signing anything he can think of!! (bit like signing babble which does happen sometimes)

I am now teaching classes as we enjoy it so much!!

The classes are great because ds loves the music and I learn lots of signs. I think it is also encouraging for him now that various children sign in class- he sees that and copies them!! I also find the small groups (about 11 in sing and sign) refreshing from the madness of the other local baby groups where there is at least 25 others!

HTH

leahbump,

Sounds great, but where do you live? I've e-mailed tinytalk and sing and sign and they've no plans to have classes in Liverpool - poor me! . Can you recommend any DVD's or anything else to get us started - thanks!

I live in Newcastle Upon Tyne!

So not near you, sorry!!

You can buy the sing and sign DVD from the website, amazon, mothercare...and I believe there is a copy of the video on ebay atm.

You could also consider joining the website at some point in the future (would wait and see how you feel after using the dvd) as there is a vidoe dictionary of about 100 signs on there.

You could also buy the cd as there are songs on it that are not on the dvd.

By the time your lo knows the dvd backwards the new one will be out as Sasha Felix is currently producing a new DVD!!

Other than that...get your family on side, partner etc and be consistent! start with a few functional signs (eat, drink, more, all gone) and then watch what your lo is interested in and use signs for those things (with my son it was ducks!).

Communicating with your child is amazing and there is nothing better than knowing that they understand you and even better- the grin you get when they know you have understood them properly!!

good luck

Thanks for all your advice, don't know why no-one is interested in starting classes in Liverpool - speaking to other mums at M & T sessions, almost all of them would like to take their babies. I'll look at ebay and I didn't know mothercare stocked them. I've been signing to my ds (who's 10 months old) now for about four weeks and he seems to be watching my hands more and he's started to lift his fingers to his mouth (eat), I was so happy that he was starting to communicate with me.

Any more help you can think of would be really appreciated.

Thanks again!

My ds is now 4 and we live in a small town and I could not find any classes anywhere near me, so we made up our own signs for some words eg milk. So for example everytime we got his bottle of milk ready for him we did a sign, said the word and then gave him it, we did this from only a few weeks old and amazingly when he was older, instead of crying for his milk, or whatever it was he wanted he did the sign for it and it made life so much easier. We only did signs for about 10 or 11 things but it was great, wish I had done it with the older ones.

Bump, bump, bumpity bump!

Hi Browny, my ds is now 21mo and started signing at 9.5mo after we started going to TinyTalk classes (NW London, sorry!). We loved it so much we volunteered to help with their new video/dvd and my son appears in it lots! [boastful mum alert!] I'm so proud of him.

The difference between the two dvd's was that the Sing&Sign one had children and teachers singing to songs and you had to watch the signs closely whilst the song progressed. The TinyTalk one is completely different and actually shows you how to do the sign and then shows a picture/situation of when/how to use the sign. There are also four or five songs on it.

Both are good and both can be watched by both you and your ds, but I must admit if I was getting into baby signing for the first time I would go for the TinyTalk one as it shows the individual signs. A bit later into it, once you're confident with a few of the signs, the Sing&Sign one is just nice to watch and you learn without realising it iykwim. HTH!

PS, do a search under the Development topic, there's lots of archived threads under there. You will also find some if you search for my old nickname "karen99". HTH

99redballoons, thank you for the advice - I'm really looking forward to "talking" to my baby when he starts to recognise the signs - I've only done a few words so far and as yet he hasn't signed back yet - although he is using his hands eratically!.

I don't suppose you have any dvd's that you no longer use, do you? I could give you something for them if you don't need them anymore. Sorry to ask, just a thought!

Thanks again, I wish you lived by me - I'd gladly come to your class!!

Hi Browny... funnily enough I sold my sing&sign dvd a few months ago to someone on MN! Sorry!

It took about four weeks before my ds did his first sign.. he'd just started to point at things.. it's then you know they have complete control over their hands. Try and get dp/dh and grandparents involved as ds will get frustrated if they don't know what he's 'talking' about! Start off with say three signs (eg. milk, sleep, food) and once he's got the first one, which might be a completely wierd movement but is recognisable, then move onto three more signs. They say introduce a couple a week. Once he starts he'll soon get the hang of it.

Forgot to say Tinytalk have updated their sheet pack which is very comprehensive - here . I haven't really seen the Sing&Book so I'm not sure if it has more info.

Found this , not sure if it's near you? I know the videos cost a bit, but really are worth it if there isn't a class near you. Even if you make the trip to a 'nearby' class a couple of times you can talk to the teacher and look at the material to see if it's worth buying? Tinytalk are pay-as-you-go rather than pay for a term with Sing&Sign, which is the main reason I went for them in the first place. I don't teach, but would love to. Very envious leahbump does!

PS. Babycentre.co.uk has a great bulletin board here for help. Pls come back with any more questions!

and I don't mean to be Tinytalk biased, it's just that's what I know!

Hi 99redballoons,

that I missed out on the dvd - never mind! Thanks for the links, I'm going to look at them after my driving lesson - with my dh!.

I'll keep in touch to let you know how we're both getting on - not the driving, the sign language lol!

There were no classes in my area so I used these books .

hiya, I found the Sing and Sign dvd's wonderful, by son has been talking extremely well since he turned two... he is 2 and a half this Saturday and everyone is astonished by how well he speaks... we can have a proper little converstion with him. I put this down to baby sign language because he was able to communicate with us at a much earlier age than normal.. By the way, he still loves to watch the DVD's now and asks me, "mummy, put sing and sign dvd on please".

My son is the same, his speech is very advanced. I haven't noticed it as much with DD but they often say that second children are slower to talk.

There are some signs on something special
I did adult sign language because my nephew signs makaton. Hope to teach my dd to sign the basics

Chelltune, my ds2 is my fourth baby, so he has probably picked up quite a lot from my other three . Definately think that baby sign language has had a lot to do with his excellent speach though.... the other day he said, "enormous spider mummy"

Chelltune, my ds2 is my fourth baby, so he has probably picked up quite a lot from my other three . Definately think that baby sign language has had a lot to do with his excellent speach though.... the other day he said, "enormous spider mummy"