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At the age of six months I began using simple sign language with my oldest son. By nine months he had begun forming a few of those simple signs back to me. His vocabulary continued to grow and new signs were used almost daily to communicate his needs and wants. Now that he is a preschooler I am constantly getting comments on how well he speaks, how large his vocabulary is, and how easily he communicates. I thank teaching him sign language at an early age for that.

It began with purely selfish reasons. I dreaded the tantrums that I knew would be coming, largely due to not being able to communicate effectively. I saw others go through entire lists of what their children cold want, all the while the child cried and screamed and made seemingly helpless gestures. I knew I had to avoid that. And then I learned about infant sign language.

I was surprised the first time he returned my sign. It was during dinner and he had finished the food he was given. With a curious look on his face he clumsily made the sign for "eat". I offered more food and we both smiled. The doors of communication were opened. After that he was able to effectively let me know what he wanted without the frustration of me not understanding him. More, done, drink, food, ball, hat, cat, and so on were signed out daily.

As he grew the signs began to fade away. His brain made the connection from object to hand motion, and then in time made the connection to sound. As his verbal skills improved the signs were replaced with words. Like every other part of childhood he moved out of it in his own time. But the communication skills he learned early on have stuck with him.

Learn more about this author, Summer Minor.
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