Baby Sign Language

Baby Sign Language Allows Communication Before Your Child Can Talk

As a parent, how frustrated have you been by an inability to communicate with a child who can’t yet talk? Young children are good at telling you something is wrong; they start crying or fussing. But that’s when communication breaks down and you’re left to wonder what the problem might be. Is your baby hungry? Does he have a wet diaper? Does she want her teddy bear?

The usual way of dealing with this is to go down the list and try to figure out what baby wants. Bottle? No. Diaper change? No. Teddy bear? Ah, yes, that was it! It’s almost like being an auto mechanic without any training; you just start replacing parts until something finally makes the car run.

What if you could avoid all this hassle? You can! The solution is as simple as teaching sign language to tots as young as six months old. It might seem amazing, but your baby can learn how to communicate via hand signals from a very young age.

How Baby Sign Language Works

Baby sign language is an effective and easily learned form of communication because it comes naturally. From birth, your little one instinctively grasps your fingers; as he gets a bit older, he is able to hold a bottle. His hands are the only part of his body over which he has some control. It just makes sense that he can learn the specific ways of holding his fingers and hands to communicate via baby sign language.

If you couldn’t speak, you would become very adept at interpreting body language. But this is not just an adult skill; babies, too, learn from an early age how to interpret mom’s and dad’s mood simply by viewing their facial expressions and body set. Body language does more than just reveal mood or attitude, it facilitates a deeper understanding of personality. And yes, your baby has her own personality from day one!

Benefits of Baby Sign Language

In addition to providing a form of communication between child and parent and showing personality, sign language forms the basis for a lifelong ability to communicate in a second language with anyone, at any time. You are probably aware that speaking two languages in the home while your child is growing is a great way to make him adept at both; sign language is just another one – and it’s universally “spoken”!

Baby sign language is a great benefit to the parent, too. Imagine how much time and frustration you could save by knowing immediately what your baby wants! Wouldn’t it be great to satisfy her immediately instead of repeatedly going through the “Is this what you want?” routine.

You may think that learning sign language will prevent your baby from speaking when she is physically and mentally able. However, this is not true. In fact, just the opposite is what researchers have found; babies who learn sign language begin speaking earlier than their peers who do not have this training.

There is no downside to teaching baby sign language and the benefits are great. Why not save yourself time and trouble while teaching your tot to communicate? Once you get started, you’ll learn just how quick and easy it is.