Well, it’s probably about time for me to brush up on my ASL knowledge. It’s not that I’m hoping the baby’s going to be deaf but signing has been very very, extremely, beneficial with M. I learned how to sign from videos and at about three months I started showing M the sign for milk, dog, and drink. At about six months she signed milk. I was sooooo happy and I still remember how it happened. I was in bed holding her while talking to Drew who was in the LA area at that time. I looked down at M and she had her little arms up and a fist. Of course it didn’t click right away and I kept talking but each time I looked down she lifted her arm and did some hand movements. I guess third time’s a charm and it clicked. I might have shortened Drew’s hearing by a few days but crap, I was so happy and he didn’t care either.
I hung up, I think I did a decent goodbye, miss you, I love you and all that, but honestly, I was focused on the little girl. I was nursing then and so after we found a nice comfy spot I signed milk and she ate. From then on, I always rely on M to tell me when she’s hungry. I did pay attention to the clock but not as much since she was hungry a lot (and is still hungry a lot).
At seven months M signed dog and since that day she added more and more words every so often. She started talking at 14-months. It was weird, she went from babbly to just talking the next day. She signed a lot until she was 18-months and then the signing gradually went away. But even when she talked, sometimes I still didn’t understand her and after a few tries she’d say AND sign the word for me. She knew that I was not understanding her words and would voluntarily say and sign.
Some people are afraid to sign with their babies because they are worried that the child might not learn how to speak. Well, I don’t believe that. A child will start speaking when he’s ready. Just like M did. When then do differs from one child to the other and you can’t compare your child to a chart from a book or your neighbor. Personally, I think signing has helped M’s language skills. When most kids were only using one words to communicate, M was doing two and sometimes three.
Videos I used to teach myself a few signs:
Videos I purchased for M:
- My Baby Can Talk First Sign (purchased at Amazon)
- Signing Time Vol 2,3&5 (also at Amazon)
My personal opinion, I think the My Baby Can Talk is best for new babies learning to sign. It’s slower paced and babies are just entranced with it. It’s not just M. I bought this for a few friends and they say the same thing (and their little ones are communicating so well!!!). After baby’s a bit older and really understand the idea of signing, Signing Time is awesome. It’s more musical, animated, and fast. M loved loved loved the three she has. She learned her ABC with Alex and Leah {::SMILES}. We never got to buying more just because she started talking so soon. Plus the words that she learned from the ones we purchased were sufficient. Also, I was supplementing her with words that we learned together from the Internet that she needed/wanted and weren’t in the videos. It worked out well without buying the whole load of DVDs.
So, kind of long but just some info on signing and a reminder for me to get warmed up on it. M too… she can’t wait to start learning again so that she can teach baby too.
Yay I am so excited to see a pregancy journal/blog from you we are hoping to sometime soon add a 2nd to our family so would be so cool to hear your experinces and such!!
I was always interested in ASL but we were not organized enough to really do it properly with Ella, maybe the next? It does sound so fantastic, and M sounds like she was so advanced with her communication. I agree too that it would only help with communication not hinder it.
Cant wait to see how you go!
We started signing with our DS too Savitri. He could communicate so much earlier than most kids because we understood what he wanted. It was the best thing we ever did for him. We only used a few signs because that’s all he needed. The biggest sign he used was “more”. My hubby’s family went all mushy at Christmas the year he was signing. He’d approach everyone in the room signing “more” and they would give him more candy. The family thought it was cute but DS thought it was even better = more candy!!!