Baby Sign Language

A couple years ago I was minoring in American Sign Language, and while I am still not fluent in it, I am a big supporter of teaching your child to sign. I come from a Speech Pathologist background and I know that not long after birth a child is equipped to understand speech, however, their articulators (tounge, oral muscles, etc.) are not developed enough to facilitate speech. The next alternative??? Sign language.

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Need a good reason to use Sign Language? Because babies can understand you whether they can sign back yet or not. What better way is there to communicate with your child. Plus, once they can sign back, there will be far less tantrums due to your child not being able to communicate what they want.

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We started teaching Shyla the "milk" sign at about 4 months (you can never start too early) and at about 6 months she was signing it.

We taught her "more" at about 10-11 months and she picked it up right away.

Then came "daddy". She now knows "daddy" when I sign without the spoken word so I know she understands what it means.

Then came "mommy" (we're still working on this one).

We're also currently working on "thank you".

And "please".