Sign with Your Baby Using ASL

Most people have heard of baby signs even if they haven’t used them with their own children. The people who do use signs to communicate with their babies typically report less guess work with figuring out what baby wants. Communicating with your baby through signs can begin as early as 5 months although results may not be seen for a few months. But don’t quit, your baby is absorbing this new knowledge and will use it.

As the baby learns one sign a new sign can be taught. Some people say to only teach baby one sign at a time but others use as many signs as they like and don’t see a problem.

An ASL Experience
I had taken an ASL class in college before I had my first child so I was sure I wanted to use signs with our baby. We started when she was about 5 months old and we were about to stop signing with her until she finally signed back to us at 8 months old. The first sign we used with her was “milk.” Then we used “more” and moved on to others like “water”, “please”, “thankyou” and others. We just introduced signs as they came along and didn’t expect her to make them exactly as we did. Her hands were much smaller and she didn’t have the fine motor skills at that age to do them perfect. By the time she was 18 months old she used over 30 ASL signs that she wouldn’t otherwise have been able to speak.

If you didn’t have the chance to take an ASL class, you can learn at home. PBS runs a show called Signing Time. It’s excellent for both parents and children. Signing Time also has a store where ASL videos and other supplies can be purchased. There are also lots of other baby signing books out there, you’ll be sure to find what works for you. Get started now… you’ll love the expanded communication you will be able to have with your baby!

Where to Get it
PBS, a public television station, airs a show called Signing Times. The people at Signing times have also made a store available where books & videos can be purchased so you can start to teach your baby Sign Language at home.