3 Ways To Introduce Baby Sign

Through many of the previous posts in our blog we have looked at the benefits and reasons for introducing baby sign and also the much asked question “Does baby sign delay speech”? In this post I want to share with you three specific ways to help you introduce baby sign with your baby.

Its important to use a mix of motivational and practical signs for best results with your baby to ensure that they are interested in what it is you are signing about to start with.

So with that in mind let’s take a look at three great ways to use baby sign with your little one;

1 – Reading Stories:

Young children love books and reading with your baby is a great way to introduce sign. It introduces many of the key concepts of signing with speech and related actions.

Use age appropriate books for your child and as you go through the story you can sign key words, animals or characters to your baby and ask them to copy you and sign them back.

Top things to remember here are:

1. Use age appropriate books with your child
2. Try to find books that have repetitive language such as nursery rhyme books
3. Point out the images and say and sign the word together.
4. Encourage any attempt by your baby to sign and also use that as a way to expand the conversation about the topic further.

For more information visit Reading With Your Baby

2 – Introducing the “More” Sign:

Mealtimes are a perfect time to introduce the More sign.

When you feed your child try putting a little less out on the plate than you know they would normally eat. When everything has been cleared from the plate then you can do the sign for More and bring out more food and add it to their plate for them.

If you can do this 3 or four times at each meal sitting with an extra spoonful each time they will soon get the idea that this sign results in More food and begin to do the sign themselves as they want more.

You can also introduce this concept with bubbles as kids love bubbles and they are easy to consistently reproduce more and more of.

After each time you have blown some bubbles make sure that you child is paying and attention (and has been enjoying the game) and then do the sign for More as well as saying the word before blowing more bubbles.

Kids love this game and never seem to tire of running around chasing bubbles so say the word,do the sign and then start trying to get them to copy you and as soon as they do reward them with more bubbles.

3 – Toilet Training:

Getting your child out of nappies as soon as possible might be a priority for you (it’s not for everyone) but if it is then teaching your child to sign when they want o go to the toilet can save you a lot of nappy changing time.

Toilet training a child is very like baby sign as it takes consistency and routine to get it working so to start of with here are a few of the key things you should do;

1. Have a routine of when they will start using the potty, ie first thing in the morning when waking, after breakfast, before going down for a nap.
2. Precede each potty trip by using the sign for Toilet and saying the word, make sure you explain to your child what is happening.
3. Don’t make them stay on the potty to long but if they do go while they are on there make sure you give them lots of praise and reward them with a sticker chart or other such items
4. Remember accidents will still happen so be prepared.

For more information on how to get started visit here Toilet training and what you need to know.

Tags: intrducing baby sign. toilet training, meal times, more sign, potty training, reading, reading with your baby

This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Baby Sign Language Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.