| Many parents have their own words that they prefer
to use with their baby in certain situations such as meal times,
breastfeeding, bedtime etc.
When using basic sign language to communicate with babies, where
it is important to say the word at the same time as doing the sign,
some parents will substitute the word that is associated with a
particular sign for their own preferred word.
For example when approaching meal time the sign for "eat"
may be used but the spoken word used in association with the sign
may be substituted by the parent for their preferred word such as
"din-dins"
The question arises as to whether or not this is good practice
to substitute words which are not necessarily the correct correlating
word with the sign.
When using a baby sign program such as Australian Baby Hands which
uses Auslan, Australian Sign Language, the words associated with
the sign are the correct ones for those signs.
Auslan is a language all of its own and by substituting words and
relating them to a particular sign it is no longer proper Auslan.
But, we are talking about baby sign language here and as a busy
parent it is important we remember that while trying to use Auslan
we must also make this a fun and easy experience for you and your
baby.
As with the example for the sign "eat" then substituting
the word "din-dins" may be acceptable as the end result
achieved will be that your baby understands that food is involved
with this sign.
However substituting the word "hungry" while doing the
sign for "eat" is not the same since there is quite a
different sign for "hungry" than the sign for "eat".
There may be situations with signs and words where a substitution
for the correct word with the sign is perfectly acceptable. One
particular example is "breast feed", many mothers have
their own word they prefer to use such as "num-nums".
Wherever possible try to use the correct word associated with the
sign as this will help to advance your baby's speech development.
It is important to remember again that Auslan is a proper language.
By using incorrect, made up or modified signs you are changing
the language of the Deaf Community. In some cases this has caused
upset and even outrage among the Deaf Community such as a recent
story in the press where a British children's TV presenter opened
the show by signing "I'm happy to see you" incorrectly
which was translated into a rude sentence containing swear words.
So how strict do we need to be?
Living in Australia I feel that it is important that we respect
the language of our Deaf Community and try to use Auslan as best
we can.
Baby sign language is a bridging gap for communication while your
infant is preverbal so even if you are not planning on further study
in Auslan than learning some simple signs for words that will help
make you and your babies life easier such as "eat", "drink",
milk, "more" should be easy enough to stick to using correct
Auslan.
Even stringing together two to three word sentences as your baby
grows such as "more drink please", can be simply done
while sticking to the correct word and the correct sign.
It is unlikely that your baby will get signs 100% correct as their
co-ordination levels take time to adapt to any new task at hand.
This is ok. Praise your baby's attempts and re-enforce the sign
back to them. Repetition is key to helping babies learn any new
skill and baby sign language is no different. With praise and repetition
as your baby's co-ordination skills improve so will their ability
to communicate through sign.
To help develop language acquisition using the correct word and
encouraging your baby's initial efforts can help advance their vocabulary.
It is important to listen to your baby, praise them and then re-enforce
the correct word by speaking back to them slowly and patiently.
Speech patterns develop over time and using baby sign language while
saying the spoken word helps develop synapses between the right
and left hemispheres of the brain.
For more information on how to help develop your baby's speech
you might like to read a
little help on the road to talking.
Remember, it is not a test. Using baby sign language should be
fun for you and you baby. By using Auslan we support and respect
the language of the Deaf Community in Australia and hopefully we
may help to bridge even more communication gaps around the country.
Happy Signing and as always, have fun! :-)
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