by Sophie Coolbaugh

Created on: May 02, 2008

I learnt sign language shortly after my baby girl was born as I was interested in its uses with infants. I didn't know much about the research: I just thought it would be something interesting to do with my daughter that might help her get understood before she is able to speak.

I started signing along to her when she was about 7 months. She thought mummy was being quite funny with all the weird movements that I was making, but she didn't take to it straight away. Like most things with babies, it comes when it comes and not a second sooner. Then one day she signed "no more" when she was done with her meal instead of grabbing the spoon from me and throwing it to the ground. I was so proud! Soon after that she signed for "drink", and for "cat".

I still meet regularly with the moms that attended my ante-natal classes: our babies were born within weeks of each other and so quite naturally we compare notes (in a strictly non-competitive fashion, I hasten to add!) Most babies from the group, aged between 12 and 14 months) know 2-3 words. "Dada", "Bye" and "Mama" seem to top the list of favorites. My daughter is the youngest of the lot as she just turned 11 months. She's also in a slightly more difficult language setting as we are a bilingual family and she is being raised in both English and French. I'd read a lot about how having to learn two languages at once can sometimes delay speech, and I was therefore not too concerned about when she would start to talk. So far she's able to say "mama", "daddy" (and the French version "papa"), "cat" (and also the French "chat") and "baba" (her teddy, Bubba). I make it 6 words: quite good for an 11 months old baby. Now, don't think I'm showing off or anything of the sort: I don't think my daughter is a genius. I am convinced, however that signing has helped her pick out words from sentences and associate them to what they are.

A perfect example of this is "cat". We have 4 cats in the house, and they usually congregate in the kitchen when baby gets fed, so I had plenty of opportunity to sign this word to her in context. I also signed it whenever we encountered a feline in picture books, and then one day she started saying 'ca' when a kitty walked into the room.

I don't know the science behind this but I know that it has definitely helped things along for my baby girl. Even if it hadn't I would still have done it, just for the sake of hearing her giggle when I sign animal names (accompanied by the appropriate sound for added comedy effect...) Signing is not difficult and can be a lot of fun. It's also a good skill to pick up for grown ups as you can more easily communicate with the deaf and hard of hearing. Babies seem to love it, so on that basis alone I would have to side with the "beneficial" side: a happy baby will be more confident and I would think that would help her pick up communication skills.

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