Have you seen friends posting videos of their baby’s signing or maybe a family member has mentioned that they’ve heard “signing with babies is helpful and you should try it too”.
So you’ve found yourself wondering…
“Should I start signing with my baby?”
If this is something you’ve wondered, you’re definitely not alone. It’s one of our most frequently asked questions.
While there are so many benefits of sign language for all ages, let’s talk about sign language for babies. Focusing specifically on that 0-12 month age range and how signing with your little one can help your parenting journey and lay a great foundation for language development.
There are two main benefits of signing with babies:
- It helps them learn to talk.
- It helps you understand your little one, creating a deeper and more meaningful bond.
So, let’s dive in!
Sign Language Helps Your Baby Learn to Talk
That seems like a pretty bold statement right? It is bold, but it is also true. Babies learn to talk by moving through a series of imitation skills, one of those skills is signing.
Let’s break it down.
How Does Sign Language Help Babies Talk?
In order for your baby to use spoken words, the fundamental skill they must first develop is imitation. Imitation is simply your baby copying you. Have you ever heard the phrase “imitation is the best form of flattery”… it’s true! And it’s how babies learn best too!
This starts early with smiles, coos and raspberries and eventually develops into them copying your spoken words.
How does it all work you might be wondering? Take a look at this simple illustration we created to show caregivers how one skill builds on another.
While our babies do not have to master each skill to move on to the next, you will see that they move fluidly through the model, starting with imitating body movements and moving through to spoken words. Babies are first able to imitate with their bodies and motor movements and then able to imitate higher level skills like sounds and words.
As you can see, signs are right there before spoken words. Most of the time when I’m explaining how our babies develop spoken words, I focus on the gesture level first. Gestures are such an important part of a baby’s spoken language development AND much easier for caregivers to conceptualize.
Gestures are a baby’s way of communicating with you.
We get excited when our babies clap, wave, reach to be picked up and play peek-a-boo. Every time we model one of these gestures for our babies to imitate, we add a word or sound, like:
- “Yea!”
- “Hello”
- “Up”
- “Boo”
This is teaching our babies that these words and sounds go with those actions.
When do babies start imitating?
We look for babies to start imitating gestures by about 9 months. Many times babies are imitating gestures much earlier.
Now let’s move on to signs. In their simplest form, signs are gestures that have specific language attached to them.
When you open and close your hand like milking a cow that means MILK.
When you place both of your hands in front of your chest and twist them out, that means ALL DONE.
Signs teach our little ones that specific hand movements mean specific things, and they can use them to meet their wants and needs.
When can babies learn sign language?
As their fine motor skills develop, they are then able to start imitating the sounds(words) you are modeling with your gesture. In fact, we often see little ones use the spoken word about 3 months after learning the sign.Isn’t that cool?! And it shows just how important the signing step is on your way to spoken words.
Signs help our babies learn to talk.
Signs Help You Understand Your Baby
So, when should we start signing with our baby?
We don’t expect babies to say their first true word until around 12 months old. That’s a really long time to not be able to meet your little one’s specific wants and needs.
Modeling signs for your little one, allows them to let you know what they want, need and are thinking, so much earlier.
Remember we said that imitating motor movements is easier than imitating speech sounds for babies. Being able to know that your baby is hungry, wants to play with a ball or is looking at a dog because they are able to use signs to tell you before they’re spoken words is so beneficial to you both.
Once you are able to meet your baby’s wants, needs and ideas, you’re able to reduce frustration around communication.
I like to say “A baby always knows what they want. It is our responsibility as parents to figure out what that is.”
So, why not make your life a little easier and eliminate the stress and franticness of trying to guess, by adding sign language to your day.
The Benefits of Signing with Babies Goes Beyond Asking for “More”
Imagine your child being able to sign to you that they want to go outside, would like to play blocks (not puzzles) or really would prefer crackers. All of these signs are easy to add to your daily routine and could decrease frustration and the guessing game we often play with our little ones.
Now that you’re able to meet your child’s needs and they are less frustrated, the shared bonding around engaging with your child in a positive and meaningful interaction is easier to achieve.
There is nothing more connecting than being able to understand your baby and easily meet their wants and needs.
Communication is necessary for everyday life and is what connects us to others. Having access to language at an early age, allows for this bond to deepen and grow. Plus there’s just something super special about your baby singing I Love You back to you at night time.
Signing is such a wonderful gift for your family. On top of that, it is a great language building tool. Go forward mama, empowered with the facts of how signing with your baby is beneficial to their spoken language development and your everyday lives.
Want to give your family the gift of signing? Check out our Sign Language Classes for Babies!
