© Heather AVV, aka "Babs".
2004

Infant Sign Language

(Author's Note: This was a hurried essay in response to a few comments I'd received about the myth that baby sign delays speech. I apologize for the poorer flow and fewer articles and links then are contained in my other essays. One day I'll sit down and flesh it out a little more.)

There is a popular belief that teaching sign language to a child will delay speech. This is absolutely not true. Signing with your baby paves the road for  a deeper understanding of the language and fascilitates learning to talk: signing  makes it easier, not harder.

It was once believed that children learn to talk entirely on the basis of  hearing language and then practicing, thereby if the child has deaf parents  she would have drastically delayed verbal speech, as it is not common in her  household.
  However, this is untrue. Both children of deaf parents and children of hearing parents learn to speak at the same time. Babbling, first words, and first two-word sentances all come around the same points in the first and second year. The only difference is in children who are taught both sign and verbal speech - they tend to hit these milestones a little sooner.

I found an article a bit ago about how language develops in children. It's really interesting, but be warned that it's quite technical (despite the cutsey pictures along the side).

Here is a section of the article that outlines the point I'm making quite  nicely:

"Deaf children exposed to signed languages from birth, acquire these languages on an identical maturational time course as hearing children acquire spoken languages. Deaf children acquiring signed languages do so without any modification, loss, or delay to the timing, content, and maturational course associated with reaching all linguistic milestones observed in spoken language. Beginning at birth, and continuing through age 3 and beyond, speaking and signing children exhibit the identical stages of language acquisition. These include the (a) "syllabic babbling stage" (7-10 months) as well as other developments in babbling, including "variegated babbling," ages 10-12 months, and "jargon babbling," ages 12 months and beyond, (b) "first word stage" (11-14 months), (c)"first two-word stage" (16-22 months), and the grammatical and semantic developments beyond. Surprising similarities are also observed in deaf and hearing children's timing onset and use of gestures as well. Signing and speaking children produce strikingly similar pre-linguistic (9-12 months) and post-linguistic communicative gestures (12-48 months). Deaf babies do not produce more gestures, even though linguistic "signs" (identical to the "word") and communicative gestures reside in the same modality, and even though some signs and gestures are formationally and referentially similar. Instead, deaf children consistently differentiate linguistic signs from communicative gestures throughout development, using each in the same ways observed in hearing children. Throughout development, signing and speaking children also exhibit remarkably similar complexity in their utterances."

Babies naturally communicate through expressions and gestures right from birth.  A parent who practices elimination communication, for instance, will learn to  be deeply aware of these signals. A baby who is about to urinate will have certain  body cues that her parent then picks up on. Responding to these becomes second  nature very quickly.
  You've probably noticed your baby making faces or wild gestures when they are  excited, hungry or hurt. These are your infant's only way to communicate, and  they are prepared to use them well (crying is a late signal). Gesturing is an  easy step-up from this.

Best introduced between six and seven months (but no time is too late!) sign  language helps your baby learn to communicate on both an oral and physical level.  Learning is simple; take out a book from your library or find a website that  shows you some basic signs, teach yourself, and then make the signs every time  you say the word or engage in the activity. For instance if you're bottle-feeding  you would sign "bottle" when you ask your baby "do you want your bottle?" and  then sign it again when you give it to her. It can take anywhere from a week  to a few months before your baby starts signing back to you, and you may see  only a few signs here and there until a key age where a phenomonen jokingly  referred to as a "signing explosion" may take place. This is a time of frenzied  learning where vocabularies can jump at amazing speeds on a daily basis. In  a baby who has been signed to consistantly since six or seven months, this time  is around 13 or 14 months old - but it varies. And for some babies there is  a more gradual build in vocabulary. Both are normal.

Good signs to start with are ones you'd use on a daily basis like; Bottle,  nurse, eat, hungry, change, bath, more and 'all done'. The more signs you use,  the quicker your baby learns them. By just over a year the normal sign language  vocabulary varies between 10 and 50 words depending on how consistant you are  and how many you choose to introduce.

So, what is normal in regards to speaking?
  That varies too. A child's first words can come anywhere between nine and eighteen  months. Even if your baby is a year and a half old and only says a few basic  words, they are still within the normal range. On average, a child at 18 months  should recognize/say 10 words in their choice language. A child who has no interest  in any form of communication may be one to worry about - but some children prefer  to remain silent until they are much older. This situation does not mean your  child has problems with their mental abilities, in fact the opposite might be  true. Albert Einstein did not speak until he was over two years old, and he  is the namesake for the "Einstein syndrome". Children with very high intelligence  are often late talkers, but no one knows exactly why this is. Before you start  to worry about your 16 month old only saying 'mama' and 'dada', take a step  back and realize that language isn't a race. No one gets a prize at the end  because their baby said "thank you very much" at ten months and someone else's  wasn't using polite conversation until three. Talking, like walking, will come  with time and when your baby is rightfully ready.

A child who has truly delayed speech will have a visit to a speech therapist,  and one of the first things they'll ask of you is to teach your child sign.  It is widely recognized as a valuable tool in aiding language development, although  it is not necessary for a hearing child to learn - so if you don't feel it's  right for you, don't feel pressured to jump on the babysign bandwagon.

Having a way to communicate successfully with a pre-verbal (or non-verbal)  child is incredibly helpful. It reduces frustration on parent and child to be  able to, with a mere gesture, see what she wants or needs. Signing has also  been shown to raise IQ by an average of 12 points (which probably comes as no  surprise to parents who sign regularly with their children, and are communiciating  easily and clearly in a pre-verbal stage).

Studies and Articles:
  WebMD has an article titled "Look who's talking in Sign Language"  which outlines the basic benefits, research and also addresses the myth of delayed  speech.
  Discovery  Health also has an interesting article which includes a personal story.
  The  Washington Times on the "Einstein Syndrome"

Places to start:
  Signing Baby is an excellent place to start if you're interested in learning  to sign with your child. It's full of articles, information, FAQ's and how-to's.
  Teach your  Baby How to Sign isn't as well-put-together as the first page, but has some  good book reccomendations and some articles.

Visual Aids:
  Sign  With Me is a searchable visual dictionary of baby signs. Some of these are  ASL, others are "baby sign" which is a simplified version. This is  not complete, but carries all the signs you'd need to know when you're at a  beginner through intermediate stage. There are only a few signs I have wanted  and not seen listed on this site.
  ASL  Browser is a visual dictionary of American Sign Language organized by letter.  It is not searchable, but has a very easy format. This dictionary probably has  every word you'd ever need to know. (I have this in my browser toolbar for easy  access)

Articles on Late Talking and Language Development:
  What  is Late Talking?
  Speech  Development in the Infant and Toddler
  Speech Delay -  Dr. Greene
  Speech  and Language Delay includes a table with indictors of language problems  listed by age.
  "Will  I grow out of it?" Milestones and warning signs for speech and language  development.