Signing (makaton) toddler seems to be unwilling!?!

[OdoItal]

Been signing with DD (14mths) for about 6mths now. But only ever had 1 sign back (half heartedly). I honestly think its because she really doesnt want to... She appears to know what im talking to her about, she knows names, bits of body, few animals, frequent phrasing (lets put shoes on, its time for bed, wheres whoever, etc) but really isnt interested in signing. Non-verbal as yet, points (occasionally), 'asks' to be picked up, She does get her needs met, perhaps thats why?
Bit of background: Youngest only girl of 6, all brothers have forms of ASC, hasnt noticeably regressed, but very much likes order and routine. Major food issues and intolerances. DS4 signed from 10mths (aspie), but DS5 took 18mths of signing before reciprocating (Autism and Brain injury before birth) but it was clear he was in his own world until GF/CF diet.
What do you think, should i carry on?

It never hurts to carry on. If she's managing to communicate with you in other gestures then signs probably seem too much like hard work for her!

shes very much a girl who knows her own mind (apparently much like her mum was LOL)

My little bluechick is exactly the same, understands signs but won't copy me!

After our last (pointless) SALT session, I've come to the conclusion that she's doing it, or rather not doing it, to piss off the SALT. This makes me love her even more!

I signed with ds from 10 months, and didn't get any signs back until around 2 and a half. He is now nearly 4, and has no speech at all, but uses signs and gestures to get his point across, as he is very keen to communicate!

I think it is a good thing to keep up, even if you just use it for key words that can be built upon.

We are trying at the moment to get ds to sign 2 words together, and he is very reluctant to do that!

I would say as well that I get everyone around ds to sign, I try and sign all key words, songs and stories. I kick dh and dd1 and 2 up the bum regularly to remind them to sign, we have signs stuck up on the wall and watch something special all together. When ds started preschool all the staff were sent on a makaton course and the same is happening when he starts primary in september, it is written into his statement that all staff should trained and use makaton with ds.

Ds's signs have always been fairly indistinct, and I use a lot of hand over hand to model the correct signs, but some he has made up, and I have made a book of the signs that ds uses for certain things that don't correspond to makaton.

Just keep at it, it will do no harm. We started last June and DD only started doing a couple back in January, she now has about 50. Like a previous poster, the nursery staff have been on a course and so has my Mum who she is with one day a week. I think everyone around her has to be doing for it to work, consistency is paramount.

Definitely keep going with the sign - it helped me when I was told not to anticipate and act on DS1's demands straight away, so that he'd have to communicate more. It was a very thin line though, and he got frustrated a lot early on; it was hard to work out exactly how long you could leave him hanging before he'd either sign back or enter Defcon 1....

Also, how is DD with touch? I did the hand-over-hand approach hazey mentioned with DS1 when doing Makaton nursery rhymes - it gave him a bit more confidence to start moving his hands himself.

I hasten to add that we do persevere with it so hopefully one day she'll decide to co-operate!