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From: zolw
Organization: Comcast Online
Newsgroups: misc.kids.pregnancy
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2004 19:47:46 GMT
Subject: Baby sign language?

Hi;

I had read in a thread wees/months ago about baby sign language. My
husband & I seem to agree that this is such a great way t help our
little baby communicate .. eases both of our frustrations (ours & the
baby's that is)

So, I have a few questions:

- At what age can/should we introduce sign language?
- What kinda sign language are we to use?
- any book recommendations?
- Any classes recommended?
- If I make up some signs of y own, would this confusethe baby? (I know
it sounds stupid, but I was told that it would. Which I really can't see
as logical at all)
- Does the fact that our baby is gonna be raised tripple or quatro
lingual mean that sign language will be harder for the baby to learn? (I
mean it is an added language)

OK, I guess as we go along this thread, I might find more questions. If
you have any more info that you feel I should know, please don't hesitate.

Thanks in advance.

Mona
due 07-31-04


I know I have never posted here before, but I was lurking around and saw
your post. I can put a different spin on this. My son, now 3 years old,
was diagnosed autistic when he was 18 months old. I had never really
considered using signlanguage with him even though at that point he had no
way of communicating with me (very frustrating). He began working with a
speech therapist and she introduced me to the possibility of teaching him a
few signs to help him communicate. Well, it's been 1 1/2 years and he's
finally really talking, but before the words came the sign language. He
could sign 'more' 'cookie' 'color' and 'eat' before he was two. Now he can
ask for those, but he still signs them when he says the words. He also
signs 'please' and 'thank you'. Which will come in handy later when mom is
trying to give him the hint to say 'please' or tell someone 'thank you'. He
can also sign for 'help' and while it isn't an asl sign he tells me he needs
his diaper changed by patting his own bottom (kinda cute actually). Don't
be afraid to let the child make up a few signs of their own or to modify an
asl sign for simplicity's sake. Like another poster said...the key here is
communication. If it works for your needs, go for it.

As far as books or videos go, I bought the Signing for Dummies book and the
speech therapist let me borrow her dictionary for a while. Probably not the
best resource, but it was sufficient.

Heather