photo credit: DaveBleasdale

Baby sign language is a way to start communicating with a baby that is too young to talk. Using hand gestures you can exchange simple messages which is not only great fun, but will also help reduce tantrum time, and has been show to have great developmental benefits.  A baby can start signing at six months, and have a small repertoire of signs at the age of one year old – about a year before they get a similar speaking repertoire. Best of all, you don’t need anything to get started – just a baby and a spare hand! To teach a baby to sign, we use a four part process we call FREE (Fun, Repetition, Encouragement, Expansion).

Fun – baby sign language should be a fun thing you do together.  Like all learning if it is fun, baby will learn a lot more, and will want to do more. Make it a game, and sign with baby only when she is interested.

Repetition – start by learning a few simple signs that you get lots of opportunities to use, such as mom, dad, milk, eat, or dog.   (The signs are easy to learn, take a quick video tutorial on the baby sign language dictionary Now make these signs at appropriate times as you and baby go about your daily routine, saying the word each time you do the sign. For example you might say, “look, it’s dad.” Or, “Time for milk.” Younger kids learn a bit slower than older babies.  Eight months is a good time to start, babies who start at that age begin signing back in around two months.

Encouragement – watch baby carefully for any hint she is signing back. At first the sides will be very simplified, so you have to be on the lookout. But, when you see any sign acknowledge baby by saying the word and making the sign back. “Yes, that is your dad.” Make a big fuss and give baby lots of attention – this will make baby want to do more baby sign language. Don’t worry that the signs aren’t perfect, baby is going to improve a lot in the coming months.

Expansion – once baby starts to get her first few words down, add a few more words. Keep adding words gradually and watch her vocabulary grow until you get to that bittersweet time when baby starts transitioning to words and starts dropping the signs. Sigh! And there you have it! You are on the way to become baby sign language buddies. To get more information including free video tutorials, craft your own baby sign language flash cards, or learn more baby signs check us out the Baby Sign Language website.

Thank you to Misty for writing this guest post.    Misty is a mom of a 2 year old boy who has been her baby sign language guinea pig.  It has been a great bonding  language between the two of them. She enjoys writing on her off time and relaxing with a good book.  Misty is the Editor of the Baby Sign Language website.