Recently I spent some time with my friend Marianne and her daughter Kaitlyn. At 15 months, Kaitlyn has the ability to communicate because her parents have been teaching her sign language. Like everyone else I’ve heard of babies having the ability to learn sign language and thought it was interesting – but actually seeing it with my own two eyes took the concept from an interesting possibility to a remarkable reality.
As Kaitlyn was toddling around the first floor of our house, she came to us in the kitchen, tapped her fingers on her tiny mouth to say (sign) eat. Marianne asked her; “Do you want to eat?” Kaitlyn was excited to be understood and wiggled in excitement. Mom started to prepare food, got Kaitlyn settled in her chair and all through the meal they communicated calmly and clearly. Kaitlyn was able to say what she wanted to eat (meat, banana, etc), when she needed more, when she wanted a drink, when she was all done and more. I was delighted to witness such a lovely exchange.
My own children were all very happy babies and toddlers and our meal times were positive experiences as they are in many homes, but this was a whole new level of communication and positive experience. Kaitlyn having signing as a communication tool was the key difference. Her hands and body gestures were able to say things that were not yet developed in her oral and verbal skills. Signing is such a positive tool for young children in so many ways.
The first words Kaitlyn learned to sign were:
Mom Eat
Dad More
Grandma Milk
Grandpa All done
As she continues to gain understanding and the ability to move her hands appropriately, she has continued to learn new words: blanket, sleep, nap, cereal, banana, orange, and diaper change!
Next are the animals she is seeing and learning about: cat, dog, birds and more.
Like me, you may not really believe the benefits and the possibilities until you see it for yourself in this YouTube video. Marianne specifically used the Signing Times videos to teach Kaitlyn her signs, but there are a variety of wonderful tools available to help parents learn the signs they can teach their own babies, including www.signbabies.com which is a good source for materials, and www.mybabycantalk.com; a great site with actual “how to” videos on an extensive list of words.
Good Luck and Happy Signing!
June 29, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Our youngest grandbaby is learning to sign. He turns 1 tomorrow. He does less crying out of frustration since he is able to get his needs met more accurately. I wish that this had been an acceptable option when my children were little. My sons language skills were a little slow in coming. Signing would have really enriched our experience with him as a young toddler.