News
Baby signing - one mother's experience
28 Aug 2003
In 1987, an American scientist, Joseph Garcia, began researching babies' sign language at the Alaska Pacific University. A decade earlier, he had worked as an interpreter with deaf parents, during which he had observed that their babies, who could hear, started communicating earlier than usual. In this research he used American Sign Language to teach hearing babies of hearing parents. This showed that if signed to regularly, babies would communicate earlier, at around eight to nine months old. This led him to develop his own system of sign language, for parents and their pre-speaking babies. A research study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in America, revealed that signers began to speak earlier than usual and were more interested in books than non-signers. When visited seven or eight years later, it was found that their average IQ of 114 compared very favourably with a mean IQ of 102 for the non-signing control group.
June Rozanski signed up for baby signing classes when her second child was six months old (the optimum age to start baby signing) and found it "marvellous to get a glimpse of his baby thoughts, long before he could speak, and I felt that the bond between us grew stronger. Babies generally learn to speak between the ages of 12 and 24 months. What is less well-known is that they can understand the world around them far earlier than they acquire the skills for talking. Speech is just one method of communication. There are several forms of body language, such as facial expression and gesture, which express thoughts and feelings.
"While babies take time to develop the ability to speak, they are busy acquiring the skill of manipulating objects with their hands; they are already gesturing at around seven to eight months old. It is logical to take advantage of this skill in developing a language using gestures and signs, as babies are naturally able to convey their thoughts by this method.
"Better communication results in parents being better equipped to understand and satisfy their babies' needs. This leads to a happier baby or toddler, who is less frustrated and so has fewer tantrums.
"My son's first sign was a chicken, using fists tucked under his chin and elbows flapping up and down. Before long he had acquired a passive vocabulary of more than 50 words. My son would let me know his needs; for instance if he was tired and wanted to go to bed or needed help. Once I arrived home after a shopping trip to find him in a tantrum and screaming at the top of his voice. I asked him and signed, 'What do you want?' In reply, he signed for his favourite toy and the problem was immediately solved. Other more important signs came in useful when he would suddenly cry while we were in the car and flap his hand up and down to his mouth. I soon knew that he was signing for a drink.
"Everyone's experience will differ. It is essential to be patient because not all children sign quickly."
(Nursery World, 28 August 2003)
