Baby Signing???

[Natzer]

I am in two minds as to whether to start a course of baby signing for my 7 month old dd.

I am a little sceptical about it, also a little lazy at the thought that it will take a fair amount of brain power which is something I am a little short of right now .

One thing I have considered is does it help with the terrible twos? my niece always seemed very frustrated when she was going through the terrible twos, but it seemed that it was because she couldn't communicate. She understood most of what she was being told but couldn't speak well enough to communicate and therefore got stroppy. Do you think signing would help with this? or is that total fantasy.

Any good or bad experiences?

thanks

See previous threads - in my case the classes were great fun for parents and babies (was gutted when ds was too old!), though unlike the teacher's daughter who was signing lots from 9 months, ds didn't say or sign anything until 18mo - when suddenly he started both speaking and signing!

Doing both together helped me understand him (ISS! ISS! [armwaggle] Ahh! Fish!) and by 22 months he had a huge vocab which certainly helped with him being 2... though not with the fact that you can't eat your cake and still have it etc!

Something Special was also the only TV programme ds would sit and watch, for months.

Worth a try if you enjoy the classes - they emphasised you only want to introduce half a dozen signs to start with, or if you just want to get a book and try along with Jessie Cat or Justin.

Great experience with DS 1 (now 3). He enjoyed it & started signing around 14/15 months & speaking maybe a few words at the same time. Like Notcitrus it helped me understand him & I think it also helped his vocabulary.

I am going with my 11 month Ds2 now. No signs yet, but he thoroughly enjoys the songs.

Maybe there's a taster session you could go to to help make your mind up? They do free ones where I am. (S London).

I went with my 18month old. She thoroughly enjoyed it even though she was too old really. I hope to take my 6 month old after Christmas! Well worth it compared to other classes imo.

My friends are deaf so obviously signed with their hearing kids and the kids signed from very early but they still had the terrible twos tantrums like any other toddler so don't expect it to work miracles!

It's obviously no miracle worker on tantrums as it doesn't mean that they'll get everything they want but it does help them communicate what they want! At least they can tell you, even if you still say no!!!

My 12 month old can sign a handful of things and every time someone hands her a drink that she has asked for she looks so happy that they've understood her!!

I think it's an amazing thing and if you see results I don't really know why everyone doesn't give it a go!!

Hope that helps.

I can't recommend signing enough. Please don't take the following as boasting I truly believe that it was all down to signing.

My DD started to sign at 9 months by the time she was 15months old she could sign a 3 word sentence. At her 2 year check the HV said her speech was phenomenal her vocabularly is the size of a 3/4 year old. Some children rely on signing and talk later and others drop the signs when they can talk. My DD rarely signs now but she does use it when we are somewhere noisy or Im slightly further away from her at the park etc, when shes scared. On firework night she signed that it was too noisy and she wanted to go home. She also signs if she can't get a sentence out fast enough.

As far as tantrums go we have them but not many and only really if I stop her doing something or shes tired, she doesn't get frustrated as quickly as other children as she can tell me exactly what she wants, a drink, more food, a banana etc. We never had the stage of whining and pointing at things and having to try and work out what she wanted.

If you don't fel like going to a class then there are lots of good dvds available andofcourse something special on cbeebies.

Go for it.

Thank you everyone. I have looked into courses, the childrens centre have a class but there is a very long waiting list and will soon only be for families in need (which is really frustrating! ) . I think I will look into the DVDs and see if there are any other courses.

Thanks again

I do Tiny Talk classes but their dvds aren't very good, just someone making different signs. However we have the Sing and Sign dvds and although they are a bit outdated fashionwise its presented at a signing class interspersed with songs at zoos, parks etc. They are quite expensive on their own website but you can get them on ebay very cheaply.

Sunny Signers are very good, if they have one near you (although, from memory, they aren't in your area)

Thank you I have just bought a sing and sing dvd from ebay. It will be nice to do that at home with her I think, could get DH to learn it too.