baby signing: truly helpful or just pointless

Joslin - posted on 03/29/2010

I love signing! My son has gotten better as he's gotten older, but even though he's two now, I think it's still helping him learn his words better. And, I think it prevented many tantrums in the beginning because he could communicate his wants before he could speak them.

Amber - posted on 03/29/2010

I thought it was a waste of time.. then at 2 my son was still not speaking. We stared signing with him and he picked it right up he had the sign for want and more down in one day.He's 3 now and we still use sign and his spoken vocab grew alot over the past year the frustration went down with signing and he spoke very soon after.

Addie - posted on 03/28/2010

my son is almost 1 and he knows a lot of signingbut also knows how to talk he does finish and all gone and more but he says the word too so helpful

Fiori - posted on 03/27/2010

My son signs.... but now hes about to be 2 and he doesnt speak!!! :( we cant tell if its our fault for taching him a different way to communicate or if he really has a speach issue.... at what age is "too old" for a child not to be talking?

Jole - posted on 03/27/2010

My fiancee tries to do that with our daughter, but she just talks flat out. Personally I think it won't help her be more vocal, instead of shyly saying or signing something.

If you're so focused on the signing of things, it'll be longer for them to pick up on actual speech. Talk to them first, wait til they're older and know the words to teach them such things. I know I'd get confused and would have to know what I'm "sign-saying"

Jenica - posted on 03/27/2010

We taught our first how to sign a few words prior to him learning to speak....but at the same time we would sign the word we wanted him to learn, we also spoke it. Once he began to speak, we would make him at least attempt an effort at the word we were teaching. Otherwise, you're only teaching how to speak to you and others who know how to sign...

Sarah - posted on 03/27/2010

Helpful. My daughter was taught about 20 signs, she always used 10 of them and then she made her own signs for about 5 other things including a sign for when she wanted to nurse it was truly worth it and at 2 she will still sign if she is really excited or frustrated

Jen - posted on 03/27/2010

I started signing with my daughter when she was 6 months. She never really picked up on it until she was closer to 1. She used to sign "more" a lot, but she said her first word at 11 months and was talking in 2-word phrases at 15 months so we didn't do much signing. She does still sign "please" and says it at the same time. I think it is really beneficial for children who are having trouble communicating, but I think it is also important to encourage them to sign and attempt to say the word as they get closer to 1.

Crystal - posted on 03/27/2010

Helpful. We used it with my youngest and it really helped with speech.

Andrea - posted on 03/27/2010

Truly helpful!!!! My daughter, born 10 weeks early, has problems with speed... while she can talk at 2 she has the language skills of a 18 month old... she is really starting to pick stuff up but signing really really helped use out!!! We didn't go really into depth with signing but taught her some basics and she had about 20 or so signs that I could understand. Now that she is starting to talk her signs are going away but when she is super upset or wants something right this second she signs for it. If I have another one I think we will teach sign to that baby too...

Jan - posted on 03/26/2010

I have found with but of mine that the signs start to really come around the same time they start to talk, using signs lets them say more and get their point across clearer. My kids would say the word and sign at the same time and that way you knew for sure what they were trying to say, also it helps to encourage sentence use because they will combine signs and words into simple sentences and my son would sign if he was around someone he was uncomfortable around or if he was being shy around someone new he would sign instead of talking to them.