Hey everyone... I need your thoughts on something.
I'm researching an article on baby sign language...its pros and cons... and how it may help/hinder children with disabilities.
What are your thoughts on and/or experiences with baby sign language? What would you say are its pros and cons?
If you have a child with a disability, how useful have you found baby sign language?
If you know of any experts who teach baby sign language, please feel free to pass this post along. I'd love to get their thoughts, too.
Finally, if you do comment, could you please include your name, where you live and how many children you have. I may use you as a source for my article. If you prefer not to give me your real name, that's okay, too. Just make a note of that in your comment.
Thanks for the help ya'll!!!
I've heard both positive and negative experiences from fellow first-time mommies. I decided not to do it, because I just didn't see the value in it. I feel I understand my son well enough to get by and figure out what he wanted/needed without learning sign language. We sort of developed our own sign-language/vocal cues and now that he is starting to talk and put words together, I don't see the point. JUST MY OPINION.
ReplyDeleteWe used Baby Signs (Rachel Coleman videos) with our son starting when he was about 11 months. We have a dvd player in our van and so we would pop that in when we drove around town, to the lakes, etc. We did not 'teach' him ourselves-he picked it up just from watching. . . and it was such a great thing for our family. You could tell he would be less frustrated about trying to communicate and he also seemed to get a sense of pride/accomplishment out of being able to sign. It also helped my husband & I feel like we could talk to him and it was just plain fun too! One area it really helped was learning the 'all done' sign. This would help our son to know that it was time to stop one activity and go to the next or he could tell us when he was full, etc. It did not hinder his speech at all since he would try to say the word he was signing at the same time. He is now 2 and has an above average vocabulary (at least mommy things so). We have an 8 month old daughter as well and we are planning to use Baby Signs with her in the next few months. My sister in law is a pediatrician and she is the one who bought us the DVDs and she advocates using sign language with babies based on what she has seen in her practice in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteSorry this got so long!
Christy Jacobson
Moorhead, MN
2 kids - 2 year old & 8 month old
We used sign with both of our kids, especially our first. our daycare used it too. let me know if you're interested in hearing more. I'm a huge advocate.
ReplyDelete