Sign Language With Infants

When children are born, they are incapable of telling their care givers what they need or want at any moment.  The way they communicate is by crying, laughing or cooing.  What I do with the infants in my classroom is start to use sign language.  Children as young as four months start to talk.  Most children start out with "mama" or "dada".  Child are capable of using sign language as a means of communication.  Around the age of six months, children start to eat solid foods.  At this time, I start to use sign language.  This will help us, as care givers, and children break the bridge between communicating with each other.

When we start to communicate with infants, we use words that they will use on a regular basis, such as "more", "drink", "milk", "eat" and "all done".  This will help at meal times and different times during the day.  When we use these words, we say the word and show the sign for it.  We do both gestures because this will help the children understand what the sign is for and how to use it correctly.  For meal time, we have the children sit at the table (or high chair depending on age) and we serve them food.  When we see they are out of food or making noises, we use the "more" sign and give them more food. When, the children seem to be done, we show the "all done" sign and then take them to wash up. Other times during the day, we use signs as well.  The words we use are still very useful.  Some other words we use would be "book", "cat", "dog", "shoe".  In this case, we say the word, use the sign and then show them the object we are describing.  Doing this will help the child see what it is and hear the word and know how to sign it.

The reason we use sign language is because there are so many benefits for the infant.  A major benefit would be that this helps the child emotionally and cognitively.  The infant will not become as stressed if they know what they want and understand how to receive it.  They won't have to cry and wait until the caregiver can figure out what they want.  The child's way of communicating will also expand.  They will know how to communicate with people.  Signing with children will also help them express their feelings and have the caregiver give them what they need.  The children will be more confident when they sign because they can express their feelings and get positive feedback from their caregivers.  This will heighten the child's cognitive development by increasing vocabulary, promoting literacy, reinforcing vocabulary and attempts of communicating.  It also increases interests in books and the early use of sentences.

Signing does not only benefit the infants, but it also benefits the parents and caregivers.  When a child is crying, I feel bad because I do not know what they are in need of.  With sign language, the child can tell you what they want or need.  This will help the parents become less stressed trying to figure out what the child needs.  It will also save time.  How many times have you parents try everything, a diaper, a bottle, and attention, and realize they are tired?  That can take more time trying to figure out what they need, but when they can tell you what they want, the parents can give them what they want the first time they ask.  I know, as for myself, when a child cries, I feel bad because I don't know what they want.  With them telling me, it helps me stay positive.  I don't get frustrated.  Lastly, the parents will learn how to use sign language, as well.

I believe that signing at an early age is very beneficial to both children and parents or caregivers.  It makes everyone less stressed and stay on the positive side.  I know when I first started in the infant room, I thought that it would never work, but it does.  It also follows them up through preschool.  I see preschool children who has learned sign language in the infant room still use them.  It is a very good technique.

Here are some websites that will help you understand sign language and different words to use with your infant.

Baby Sign Language
Babies and Sign Language
Signing With Your Baby