Sign Language

We did American Sign Language with Panorama when she was a baby. Her first sign, “more”, appeared at about 10 months old.

By thirteen months old, she was actively using 26 signs (eat, banana, milk, up, bath and similar), and occasionally used about 17 more (animal nouns like cat, butterfly, bear, pig). Within a few more months, she could identify all of the colors using sign language, outdoor things like grass, tree, river, and bridge, and family members. (I have some video on my other hard drive that I will have to find and post to show you what you might expect. At the time I thought it was very cool, but looking back now, I find it amazing that she could say so much.)

We actively taught her signs until she was about two. Her spoken words came along with the signs, and I believe that the enhanced two way communication through sign language increased her interest in speaking. If you’d like to learn more, check out this pdf with a summary of the latest research.

Prospector was six months old last week. He sits up, rolls over and takes some solid food in his high chair. We’ve been using sign language at home with him from day one for things like “milk”, “water”, “bath” and “up”, but other signs that require two hands, or a prop (like a cat puppet or a dog to point at) haven’t come easy until now. He likes songs, puppets, books and face-to-face playing, so I’ve started committing a bit more energy to exposing him to signs.

I didn’t know any sign language when I started with Panorama, so being the geek that I am, I checked out just about every book, video and product that was geared towards teaching babies sign language. My two absolute favorites are the Signing Time products and My Baby Can Talk.

Signing Time was created by a woman who has a deaf child and a special needs child. She is an extremely talented singer and songwriter, and the world is blessed that she chose to use her gifts to educate children. The Signing Time songs are catchy, fun, high quality songs that are rich in vocabulary. The songs are very singable and they post the lyrics on their website. My husband and I were able to learn many signs along with the baby because these songs were so catchy and fun. They also have quite a few excerpts up on youtube, and sample MP3s on their website.

We have most of the collection at our house, except for the most recent few videos. The signs from Baby Signing Time Volume 1 and 2 are great ones to start with, so I will be focusing on them with Prospector over the next few months, and I will post the results.

My Baby Can Talk is another series with a slightly different approach. The videos feature a “Baby Mozart” style, where the sign is shown by an adult, by a toddler, then the word is repeated over and over as toys and pictures go by. For example, they will say “cat”, then you’ll see cat toys, puppets, pictures, video, etc. go by with lots of nice classical music. Babies especially love these videos when they are in that “Baby Mozart” age group (3 months-9 months), and parents can easily pick up the signs along with baby.

They also have generous excerpts on youtube, and information on getting started on their website.

As we work through Prospector’s learning, I will post other resources that have been helpful.

Baby Sign Language on Amazon.com