There are many reasons that sign languages have been introduced into a child's life. Most of the time we as parents don't think about sign language or teaching the language to our children if they are not hearing impaired. Today there are many individuals and parents who have found sign language can be helpful to communicate with their child as they are growing up whether they are hearing impaired or not. There are several tips in the following article on how to teach sign language. Most of these tips will focus on the hearing impaired, but remember anyone can learn sign language to help boost their communication skills overall.
Teaching sign language to a baby is quite easy and can be a very enjoyable experience. Infants use a different part of their brain for signing than speech and they also develop the muscles in their hands before those which are required for speech thus enabling them to sign successfully before speaking. Research has shown that signing babies experience less frustration due to the fact of being able to communicate their needs and wants to their parents. In addition to this there are many other advantages of teaching sign language to your infant. Research shows that being multilingual expands cognitive processes and intellectual skills as well as it boosts the lingual developments of an infant. So in fact as opposed to the existing myths regarding sign language delaying speech in a child, signing children actually speak sooner than those who do not. Children who sign, has shown stronger lingual development and higher IQ results (10-12 points) than those who do not sign.
Have you ever watched a baby wave bye-bye or point to their mouth when they are hungry, or have your seen a little one point to his nose when it needs to be wiped? These are all symbols of communication, in other words, sign language. They are communicating to you what they want and are expressing it without speech. It is very easy to encourage such a natural form of communicating and to turn it into the use of sign language. You can do this on a daily basis with your child with little effort on your part. This is not a time consuming chore. This can be just a natural part of your communication with your child as well as the rest of the family. You can start using sign language as early as 6 months of age. It will not show up for a few months until they are able to sign back to you, so don't become discouraged.
The following method of teaching your child sign language is simple for both you and your child. When teaching, first say the word you want them to learn. Next, demonstrate the word yourself while saying the word out loud. Finally, show them how to say the word themselves in sign language. For example, when I was teaching my daughter "more" I would first say "more". I would then demonstrate how to say "more" in sign language while saying it out loud. I would do this when she would grunt during mealtime. After I demonstrated it myself, I would then take her hands to show her how to say "more" herself, again saying the word out loud. After a few days of doing this at each meal she finally was able to say "more" herself in sign language. I would use this same method for all words I wanted to teach her. This way she would hear the word, see the word, then do the word herself.
By saying the word, demonstrating the word, then showing your child how to sign the word, your child will pick up these few key words fairly quickly and easily.
Have you ever considered a career teaching mothers how to use baby sign language? If you haven't heard about baby signing, it is a system of simple sign language for use with hearing babies. It is not intended to replace speech: it is to help with the problem of communicating with babies while they are too young to be able to speak. Baby sign language has been quite well known in the United States for some time and now that it has spread to the UK it is catching on in a big way.
I had seen articles and advertising on the Internet about baby sign language but didn't think too much about it. To be honest, I dismissed the idea as some nonsensical passing fad for trendy young mothers. After all, mothers and babies have managed without sign language up to now, haven't they? This logic is not, of course, infallible: we managed without electricity and penicillin etc. but I wouldn't want to go back to those days, so I am open to change. A couple of things have caused me to revise my opinion of baby sign language and I now appreciate how useful it can be.
My little granddaughter, at 17 months, was short on intelligible vocabulary but great on communicating via a system of gestures and noises. Unfortunately the day arrived when our amateur sign language let us down. The baby wanted something but no amount of pointing and squeaking on her part could convey to me exactly what was required. The only way I could hope to find out what she wanted was by offering things to her; I didn't know if she had a pain, wanted a drink or needed her best cuddly bunny. The harder I guessed and offered items, the more distressed she became. The end result was a miserable frustrated crying toddler and an unhappy guilt-ridden grandma. I was so upset, I felt like joining in with the tears.
Just after that unhappy incident, my daughter told me about a little boy who attends the local toddler group. He had developed a habit of cruelly squeezing the family cat. The fact that this little boy had been taught baby sign language meant that he was able to tell his mother he knew he was hurting the cat. This enabled the mother to deal with the situation without delay by teaching the child not to cause pain to other living creatures. This outcome impressed the other mothers (my daughter included) most of whom had never even heard of baby sign language. The poor old cat was probably impressed as well.
Until then I had never given serious thought to baby sign language but I realised that we already teach babies to communicate through an informal system of sign language, so there's no reason why a proper system should seem like a strange idea. One thing that causes great distress to mothers is the inability to know for sure if a baby is in pain but a signing baby has the ability to convey this. That was the point that really convinced me that baby sign language is a useful thing to learn. It looks as if my next grandchild will have the benefit of learning baby signing, that makes me very happy and I'll be taking the lessons too.
Teaching mothers how to sign is a very worthwhile job as well as being fun and I believe there will be an increasing demand for instructors as word spreads about the benefits of being able to communicate in a meaningful way with even tiny tots. From being a complete sceptic, I am now a firm believer and I have found a source of baby sign language teaching to add to my "mom specials" at my website. If you would like a job working with new moms, consider a career as a baby sign language teacher - family pets will bless you for it!
Both Nick Clipton & Elaine Currie are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Nick Clipton has sinced written about articles on various topics from Dogs, Getting Pregnant and Teeth Whitening. Remember, as with anything you teach your child, teaching them takes time, effort, and patience. The payoff of teaching thes. Nick Clipton's top article generates over 165000 views. to your Favourites.
Elaine Currie has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Family Concerns and Web Development. Visit Elaine Currie at her Work At Home Income Directory Website For 1st class work at home ideas:. Elaine Currie's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.