Don’t know what your baby wants? Can’t get through to an upset toddler? SIGN BEFORE THEY SPEAK!
Although sign language has been successfully used with deaf children for years, now it is being used with hearing children as well. You can start signing with your baby as soon as they are old enough to hold a rattle. The children of deaf parents often begin communicating with their parents through sign language as early as eight months. However many children of hearing parents do not say their first word until they are over 12 months old. This tells us that babies are able to communicate a lot sooner than their oral motor skills would allow.
Signing not only reduces frustration and tantrums, but it can even boost Intelligence Quotient (IQ). One study from the University of California found hearing children who had been exposed to sign language as babies scored an average of 12 points higher than the control group, when their IQs were tested at age eight. And for two-year-olds who signed, it found the average vocabulary was 50 words greater than in non-signing children.
So how does signing help a baby’s brain? It empowers your baby to communicate with you when she otherwise could not. This fosters a unique sense of self-confidence. Signing also helps lay down the foundations of good memory training and it encourages imitation like nursery rhymes do.