So, you have either heard of Baby Sign language and are trying to find out more about it or you just started using baby sign but you have had some doubts because once you told your friends/family/co-workers one of them told you it just doesn’t work and will delay your baby’s speech.

Naturally you want the best for you and your baby and you want to trust your friends advice but are they right?

There will always be skeptics with anything and even though baby sign is no longer new and certainly out of the “fad” stage there are still those people out there who through misinformation believe that baby sign is not a valuable skill to be teaching your baby.

How do you deal with the skeptics?

Firstly you should really find out what experience they have with baby sign.  Most of the people who don’t believe baby sign will work have never tried it themselves.

Or, if they did it is very common to find out that all though they “tried using baby sign” what they actually did was copy a couple of signs they got told by a friend and after a few attempts at using them with their baby forgot about it and promptly claimed it didn’t work.

While baby sign is very simple to do the importance of repetition cannot be stated enough.  Baby’s learn through constant exposure to new things and soak them up like a sponge, but it takes time for baby’s to learn and develop new skills as their body develops.

What are the real facts about baby sign?

If you really want to know whether baby sign is worth trying with your baby then you need to know the real facts about baby sign.

1. Teaching a baby sign will take time.  Through repetition around your daily tasks however any baby can learn these simple signs.
2. You have to make it interesting for your baby by choosing signs they are interested in.
3. Using baby sign helps your child to develop fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination.
4. Baby sign language has been shown to help reduce frustration and toddler tantrums.
5. Research has shown that babies who were taught sign may develop a higher IQ due to increased synapses (connections made) in the brain.
6. Using baby sign language can help enhance your baby’s speech development as a very important step in using baby sign is saying the word as you perform the sign.
7. By using Auslan (Australian Sign Language) you are teaching your child a second language and a useful skill that can be developed further.
8. Baby sign language can be used to help introduce a range of things such as manners, toilet training, family values, reading books and developing your baby’s own ideas and skills.

These are just some of the main reasons why using baby sign can be so beneficial to parents and baby’s as it gives you an eye into your baby’s world before they are able to speak, helping you to bond even more with your child.

There will always be critics for anything but all the studies and research on baby sign have shown positive outcomes.

Beyond all the research the hundreds of stories we have received from some of our 20,000 parents to date around Australia who are using Baby Hands show the positive effect that baby sign has had on so many families around the country.

So get started with baby sign today and find out why using baby sign really is the best second language

The most common question I used to get asked was “Wont using baby sign delay my baby’s speech?”

Baby sign has now become very common since I first started Australian Baby Hands over 5 years ago (which is now in over 20,000 homes around Australia) and many people are aware of the research and studies that show baby sign actually helps to promote language development, not inhibit it.

Also many more people these days have a personal experience of baby sign and have seen the benefits.  The number of people these days who I meet who tell me about their friend, neighbor or relative who used baby sign with their baby and how they saw the benefits of communication that they received with that child baby sign has become much more mainstream.

Nowadays the most common question I get asked is “When will my baby sign back?”

This is definitely much harder question to answer since all children are different and will develop at their own rate.  There are some common developmental milestones for baby’s that can be used as a guideline for when they are physically able to sign.  However being physically able to sign and wanting to sign are two different things.

Last month we looked at 3 ways to introduce signing but this month I want to explain the importance of consistency and making sure you pick a sign that your baby is interested in.

I really thought about this because this weekend we had some friends of ours come over with their young son Max.

We hadn’t seen Max since he was around 4 months old and he is now 18 months so his parents were very proud to tell us how much of a great little signer he was and to show off his signing skills to us.

As we sat having morning tea Max used his signs consistently to ask for his toys, more to eat, his mum as well as signing a whole repertoire of words from his favourite books.

As he was signing from his book his Father told me how they had nearly given up on the signing as they had signed to Max from 5 months until 11 months of age and not seen any result until one day they realised how much Max liked books.

As soon as they started using the sign for book every time they read to Max he very quickly picked up the sign book and started to use it all the time when he wanted a book,  This quickly transferred to Max realising that when he signed for a book, he got a book and he very quickly picked up other signs.

Their personal experience of seeing the difference in Max’s temperament in comparison to other children that regularly tantrum as they cannot explain what they need made my friends extremely glad that they had been consistent and not given up on the signing.

Also finding that balance between motivational and practical signs for Max was critical to him succeeding in using sign once he realised that sign could be used to get things he was interested in, not just what his parents wanted.

So, back to the question of when will a baby sign?

The physical ability to sign begins at around 5 – 6 months, once they can hold a toy or rattle or wave their hands around with some control.

The most important thing is to be consistent and find signs for something that your baby is interested in, not just you.  Signing must be fun for them or they are just not as likely to take the signing on board as quickly so by using signs that they are interested in you are likely to see results much sooner.

The more consistency that you can keep to with your baby the better as well.

Start of with just a few signs so that you are not overwhelmed with having to try and remember to many signs to begin with.  That way you are much more likely to remember to use them consistently.  As these key signs become second nature you can start to introduce more.

If your baby is looked after by other people in childcare or relatives then try to get them to use the signs as well.  The more exposure that that your baby has to these signs the better.

Also do check if your baby is in childcare and they are already using baby sign that they are using Auslan and not American Baby Sign.  Most people are now aware that Auslan is the same sign language as the deaf community in Australia and the same sign language that all Australian Baby Hands products are accredited to but there are still some American baby sign products being sold within Australia.

Remember, every baby has the ability to sign.  It is just a matter of time if you keep with it and follow these simple steps.

Happy Signing

Jackie

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.

Something that a many parents don’t understand when trying to introduce baby sign is the  importance of ensuring that you have a balance of motivational and practical signs for your baby.

Practical words are the ones that will help you as a parent to understand what it is that your baby wants such as eat, drink, change, pain, sleep etc and reduce those toddler tantrums.

While these are great for you as a parent as understanding when your child needs to be changed or if they want to go to the toilet when you are trying to toilet train them or any other task that makes your life easier as a parent these words may not be so interesting for your baby.

Your baby obviously finds eating and drinking important but these might not be great motivators for them. So if you are trying to introduce baby sign to your child and not seeing a great response consider the following;

Are the words that you are introducing ones that you are interested in or is your baby interested in these things to?

If your baby isn’t really interested in food/mealtimes then trying to get them to sign the word eat is going to be a tough word to start with.

The important thing with baby sign is for your baby to initially make the connection between signing and results.

So if they like their Teddy and they do the sign sign Teddy make sure that you give them their Teddy and then they can connect the fact that their movement/signing resulted in them getting something they wanted.
This is the breakthrough you need if you find that your signing efforts are not paying off as well as you had hoped.

Once your baby connects their signing action with results it is far easier to introduce other practical words.
So make sure that you mix up practical signs that you want your baby to do with motivational signs that they are interested to start with.

Make a short list of the things your baby is interested in such as their teddy, blanket, ball or a book and make sure that you mix those words in with your practical sign words while following the 10 steps to signing success and you will see great results in your communication.

Happy Signing

While the popularity of Baby Sign is ever growing in Australia its much more common for Mums to be the ones who start using sign much more so than the Dads.

Now I do know that there are a lot of you Dads out there who do sign with their children so please don’t get upset, you Fathers should be proud of what you are doing and the interaction that you are enjoying with your baby’s through sign.

But, the reality is that for many families Mum is the primary carer of the baby and Dads are out at work all day, coming home later in the evening with little time to spend with their precious little one.

The idea of starting to learn something new to a lot of these Dads is that it is not worth it as they don’t have to deal with the day to day communication problems that are associated with a young baby.

But here’s the thing.  Learning to sign and having that extra bond with your baby does not have to be hard.

Here are some ways to help get your partner involved; but first make sure that they do want to be involved and start out by teaching your partner the signs that you have already introduced or are planning to introduce so that you are both working together as a team.

• Explain why you are doing baby sign;

The research and studies into baby sign have shown numerous benefits from enhanced vocabulary, higher IQ, reduced tantrums and a closer bond as a parent.

By talking these through with your partner and explaining why you feel that using baby sign will be of a great help to you in raising your baby your partner can understand your motivation and desire and work with you to support that.

• Reading with your baby;

While they may be out at work all day a lot of Dads enjoy the role of putting their baby to bed at night as this is some of the only time they get to spend together during the week.

A bed time story is a great way to send your baby off to sleep and reading with your baby is a great opportunity to introduce some signs to help animate the story.

• Get your family involved;

Baby sign is all about consistency and repetition so the more people you have signing with your baby the better.  Get Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and siblings involved.

Create fun easy games that anyone can play to help you entertain your baby like hide and seek where you hide your baby’s favourite toy and sign “Where is the Toy”.

The more people who are involved the more likely your partner will start to join in as well since nobody likes to be the odd one out.

• Teach your baby to sign “Dad”;

I’ve lost count of the number of mothers who I have spoken to who started using baby sign while their partners were sceptical only to become the most proud father of the playground the moment their child first signed “Dad” before they were talking.

• Take a baby sign class together;

Taking time to do activities with your children is an important part of the bonding process so doing a baby sign class as a family can help you all learn new skills while having fun at the same time.

If you’re a Father who has used baby sign with your baby please do leave us your feedback below or send us your story, I would love to hear from you.

When parents have to start dealing with toddler temper tantrums, the job of being a parent can turn from one of joy to one of hard work and frustration.

World famous toddler taming expert Dr Christopher Green, whose advice has been followed by millions of parents worldwide adopted a more holistic view on the way to deal with temper tantrums after he suffered a stroke.

Previous ideas that it was perfectly normal for children to misbehave and just dealing with the problem have been replaced by the idea that spending more quality time with your child can help to avoid the tantrums in the first place rather than having to deal with them.

Using the positive parenting skills outlined in my previous article along with baby sign can help you provide that bond with your child.

This feedback from Mary D, one of our blog readers outlines just how much baby sign has helped her deal with toddler tantrums:

“I’ve been signing with my 18month old for six months now and it’s really helped us understand what it is he wants.

He loves it when he signs for something and we can understand him so it definitley has helped avoid a few meltdown situations that I see with other parents so often.”

So let’s look at some of the causes of temper tantrums and how to deal with them.

What Causes Toddler Temper Tantrums?

The biggest cause of tantrums is frustration for your toddler.

This can arise from many things. As your toddler is developing very rapidly they want to do more and more and not getting their way or not being able to actually doing something that they think they can do can be really annoying for them sparking off a screaming and crying fit.

It’s also very frustrating for toddlers who want to communicate their needs as they want to share their new discoveries with you and tell you all about that bird they just flew by the window or be able to tell you that they are hungry or in pain.

Depending on where they are in their language development their verbal communication may not be good enough to explain what it is or what the problem is and again causes frustration for your toddler.

Without the verbal language skills to express their emotions children can resort to tantrums as a way to express the emotion and let you know that they are really not happy!

Using baby sign language with toddlers is a great way to help bridge that pre-verbal gap. Even though toddlers have generally started to say a few words or can at least be understood for certain words, their vocabulary skills are still developing and the frustration that arises from not being able to communicate verbally can be the launch pad for an ear piercing screaming fit.

Dealing With Toddler Tantrums:

If they do arise and you child is in a full blown tantrum then there are a few things to do so that you do not make the situation any worse.

1. Firstly make sure your child is safe.
   If they are screaming and thrashing around on the floor just make sure there are no sharp edges around that they might hurt themselves on.
2. Don’t argue with your child while they are in the middle of a tantrum.
   Be firm but calm. If you toddler is already upset being upset right back at them will not help the situation at all and will likely make it worse.
3. Don’t allow your toddler control you with their tantrums.
   It’s certainly hard to have to deal with a child in the middle of a full blown tantrum right in the middle of a shop but your body language can go a long way to influencing the outcome. Keep neutral and remove yourself and your child from the situation in as calm a manner as you can. If they sense your stress it will only add to theirs increasing the intensity of the situation.

If your baby is upset and distressed getting them to sign in this situation to let you know what is wrong may be difficult.

Depending on the level of the tantrum or the situation you may want to sign “Help” to them to see if you can find out what is wrong or if they are being disruptive through their tantrum signing “Stop” can break their tantrum mode.

Make sure that you have previously introduced these signs and that they already know what they mean as introducing signs while your child is upset in any situation is not a good time to try and teach them a new sign.

Avoiding Toddler Tantrums:

While there is no suggestion that baby sign will completely stop toddler tantrums being able to communicate with your toddler and understand their emotion without full verbal language is a great way to help avoid these meltdown moments.

It also offers a great way to bond with your toddler and see inside their world because everything is so new to them they don’t understand that you already know all about the birds in the tree. But communicating with them on their level about what interests them makes your toddler happy that the person they love most understands them and also finds all these new things fascinating and wonderful.

There are a few key areas that you can focus on to help try and avoid tantrums before they even start.

• Learn To Spot Tantrum Triggers:

Preventing a tantrum from occurring in the first place is a great parenting skill.
Learning to spot the signs that your baby is about to have a tantrum and distracting them into a new activity can help remove their thought process from the current situation and give them a new task to focus on.

If they have a favourite game or toy that they love, teach them the sign for it and get them used to the fact that if you sign that thing that you will provide it for them so you can distract them before the yelling starts.

For example if they love their teddy and you can see that they are about to have a tantrum use the sign for “Teddy” and offer them their teddy to help distract them.
Using Routines & Transitions.

Toddlers get upset when they are in the middle of something that is taking all their concentration, only to get pulled away to do something else that YOU want them to do. If they understand that mealtime is followed by bath time you can start to prepare them for the end of one activity and the beginning of another with some transition signs.

Talk to them and explain what is going to happen and use the sign for the new activity. This works best if they already understand what the sign means (don’t try this with a brand new sign they do not know).

• Teach Your Toddler About Choices:

Wanting one thing and getting another is a common tantrum initiator. If you can teach your baby some of the common signs for different items you may offer them, then they can learn about choice and consequence.

This is a key part in their stages of development and the path to “growing up”.

• Bonding With Your Baby:

As outlined by Dr Christopher Green in his Toddler Taming book having a closer bond with your toddler can help them feel more confident so when challenging moments do arise they do not get as stressed and frustrated.

There are lots of ways to bond with your baby through play and early learning games.

One of the best ways is reading with your baby.

Reading helps you to connect on something common that you focus on together as well as the added benefit that reading books encourages speech and vocabulary so you are helping to improve their speech development.

• Support Them Through Challenging Moments:

There will always be challenges for your toddler as they grow and explore.

Helping to support them through these little challenges in life in the right way can enhance their confidence as well.

Challenge them to grow with age appropriate games and puzzles and work with them to complete them. Ask them questions about pieces of the puzzle and where they think the piece might fit and move it around for them to different places and see if they can pick where it should go.

There are also times when you just need to stand back and watch. Let them go as far as they can themselves.

Sometimes it’s hard when you can see they are struggling to do something and you might have the temptation to do it for them but if they are happy and working at getting that last block on the tower they have been building while staying happy and calm, then the best thing might be to just let them be.

Remember to always give lots of praise and cuddles when your toddler achieves these little goals so they know they have done well.

• Avoid Junk Food & Sugars:

This is an important one and relates to toddlers and the way that they process food. Too much sugar in their diet can mean that they are hyped up for hours and just have to run around. If they want to run around the house and you don’t want them to, you will probably end up in a confrontational situation with the big NO word being thrown out there.

You can get some great ideas for healthy toddler food here:

If your toddler does have a lot of tantrums, keeping a food diary and tantrum diary can help you to identify patterns and whether or not certain foods are a contributing factor.

Final Words:

Avoiding temper tantrums and using baby sign for pre-verbal communication is a much better alternative to taming your toddler.

The research and studies into baby sign language have shown numerous benefits for using baby sign with toddlers.

Having a calmer more confident child will certainly help them in their development process and if your child is happier and calmer, that is definitely a great thing for you as a parent.

When it comes to baby sign language things have changed a lot since I first started Baby Hands over 5 years ago.

In the early days virtually nobody in Australia had heard of baby sign language and most parents assumed it was something for Deaf babies and not something they needed to bother with.

The great thing is that over the last 5 years we have really started to catch up here in Australia and now when I speak to people about baby sign many people ask me “So does your system use Auslan?”

So what is the difference between Auslan and ASL or even using made up signs?  Does it make any difference to you, your baby and the end result?

To answer these questions lets just take a quick step back and see where the idea of baby sign language really stemmed from and how and why it became popular.

So what is Baby Sign Language?

The basic principal behind baby sign language is the use of simple gestures to communicate with pre-verbal babies so that you can understand what it is they want before they can actually talk.

The research and studies into baby sign were mostly done overseas in the United States in the early years when it was noticed that Deaf parents who taught their children sign language were able to communicate with their children prior to them developing the ability to actually speak.

Early adopters of this method of teaching sign to babies were the US and the UK who use ASL (American Sign Language) and BSL (British Sign Language) respectively.

Now its a surprise to many people that sign language is not universal but I have written about this before here in The Evolution of Sign Language.  But, it really should be no surprise to people that the language of the Deaf community varies from country to country just as the language of the Hearing community varies from country to country.

This gives us many variations of sign languages the world over, each one having its own variations of dialect and uniqueness.

Why use AUSLAN?

From my point of view there are many good reasons to use Auslan if you choose to to use baby sign with your child.

1. First and foremost its the established signed language of the Deaf community in this country.  Using Auslan as a communication tool with babies is a great way to promote this wonderful and unique language.
2. Using Auslan shows a respect for the Deaf community of this country.  Coming from Ireland originally I learned ISL (Irish Sign Language).  Living in Australia now for the last 10 years I think it is important to support the Deaf community and realise that they have their own language in this country that we have no right to try and change or overwrite with something different.
3. Consistency throughout the learning environment. If you learn Auslan with your child and they go into childcare or any other environment and they use Auslan then there is more chance that a childcare worker or other carer may be able to interpret their wants and needs through sign.
4. Actually learning a second language.  Auslan is its own beautiful language , made up of many interesting signs and gestures and by starting out with the basics of Auslan through baby sign you are opening yourself up to the possibility of having more open communication skills with a wider group of people.

But these are just some key points that I believe in and these are what drove me to start Baby Hands several years ago.

If you are in a different country to Australia then I would encourage you to find out more about the sign language for that country and try to use the appropriate language for the country you live in.

But how important is it to stick to official Auslan?

I always try to get the point across that using baby sign should be fun

It must not be hard work for you and your baby because if it is then your baby will not enjoy the process of signing if they pick up on the fact that you are stressing because you are trying to remember if you need to cross your left hand over your right or your right hand over your left.

So at some stages because of the practicality of the situation maybe you need to substitute some words in your baby sign for something easier.

One simple example of this is “Milk”  In Auslan this is a two handed sign but if you have a baby in one arm and your trying to get a bottle ready with the other even sparing one hand free might be difficult so modifying this two handed sign into a one handed substitute might be the easiest way to go in this situation.

Also as your baby first starts to sign they will invariably make some mistakes but interpreting your baby’s first signs is all part of the fun of baby sign and just like their speech you can correct them and praise them as they go.

So to wrap up.

Each sign language for each country has its own unique and beautiful origins and even using your own made up gestures can help parents bridge that communication gap if you are consistent with the same made up sign.

But using Auslan helps to introduce a part of the Deaf culture into our own and respect and enjoy what Auslan has to offer across the hearing community as well, while offering our children and you the parent the opportunity to learn a valuable second language.

Auslan allows consistency across the board in Australia.  If you use ASL (American Sign Language) then it is only adding to the confusion that surrounds sign language anyway and the products on the market.

Also if you are using made up signs while this may work well for you and your child what about if they are in another situation where someone does not understand that “baby Jo’s” frantic hand slapping means he needs to go to the toilet.  Many people understand some basic Auslan, especially in the care environment and using it can be so beneficial to help encourage your child’s speech development.

Don’t stress if you or your baby or not getting things 100% correct to start with.  Practice makes perfect and encouraging your child to co-ordinate their signs properly is really easy of you follow the simple steps to signing success.

Encouragement and consistency are the keys  and learning to communicate with simple baby signs using Auslan will be both fun and rewarding for you and your baby.

While baby sign language is a fun and useful tool just to help bridge the communication gap with your child it can also have very real advantages when used with children who may be at risk from some sort of developmental delay such as premature babies.

While many premature babies grow develop extremely well as they grow they are in a category that can be considered higher for having speech delays.

Premature babies are generally assessed developmentally against an adjusted age for important milestones but when compared to other babies by their chronological age, they may be slightly disadvantaged with their speech improvement.

The main question this really raises though is “When should I start signing with my baby?”

Now usually you should start to sign with your baby once they can hold a rattle or other toy and they start to have some movement and dexterity with their hands, which is around 5 – 6 months.

In a premature baby this may be 7 – 9 months depending on how early your child was born.

The interesting thing is that the reason to generally wait to start signing to your baby  only when they can begin to sign back is because most parents need to see results or they will not continue with baby sign.  The fact is your baby is taking in everything and even though they may not be physically capable of signing their ability to understand signs develops much earlier.

It’s the same with talking.  Even though babies cannot talk for around the first 18 months of their life most parents will happily chat away to their baby, this is how they learn and baby sign is no different.

So if your baby is premature you may want to begin your signing a little bit earlier to allow them to start absorbing the signs.

Remember to be patient and always say the spoken word with the sign and in context, follow our signing steps to success for more information.

While baby sign has been shown in many studies to have benefits including accelerated speech and advanced IQ levels this cannot be expected of every child.  If your baby is premature then baby sign may be just the thing for you to help them catch up with their chronological age group and provide a great foundation for early learning.

As a parent of a pre-verbal baby, how do you connect with your little one? You and your baby can make special, real connections by consistently using your own unique ways of communicating which will affirm the love you have for your baby.

There are plenty of ways you and your baby can communicate. It can be through speaking, making sounds, facial expressions, cuddling, and playing games to name a few.  Early learning activities and physical activities such as cuddling or lulling your baby to sleep are a way of telling him that you love him and that you are there to take care of him. This healthy bonding with your baby is actually in itself a form of language learning. Studies show that connecting with your baby helps him feel safe and accelerates his development.

Building relationship with your little one takes time and the determination to grow that relationship and special connection requires a good method or tool designed to help bridge the gap of communication between you and your pre-verbal baby.

The best proven method when it comes to building conversations with your little one is baby sign language. It helps bridge the gap of communication for parents by enabling pre-verbal babies to communicate using basic sign language. No matter if you are a first time parent of a pre-verbal baby or nth time parent, baby sign language can benefit you and can strengthen the bond between you and your baby.

Getting Started

Excited and getting ready to communicate with your pre-verbal baby using baby sign language? Before engaging your baby on this learning process, keep in mind that this adventure of learning with your baby simply means enjoying your time with each other. It means you’re having fun together!

The best time to introduce Auslan (Australian Sign Language) to your baby is within he first eight months of his life, which is an important time in their learning process. This is when they start paying attention to their environment and may even have social interactions with other people. There are particular milestones in your baby’s speech development and when they begin to develop socially and emotionally and this is a great stepping stone towards improving their communication skills. Even activities that we think are babyish and just for their enjoyment are actually important tools in teaching them how to connect with others.

Babies are wired to respond to people with smiles and warmth and everything they do is deemed as fun which is the perfect way to introduce them to learning. Remember though that every baby is unique. What works with one baby might not have the same result with another. Listen to your instincts and find that rhythm that you and your baby both enjoy.  When your baby enjoys communicating with you, he starts to feel secure and ready to learn.

Babies don’t have to know any words to start communicating. Facial expressions can indicate whether they are happy, excited, or sad. Crying can be a way to tell you that he’s hungry or that something is irritating him. Babies coo when they feel good. They may also use signs that are associated with motivation and happiness.

Aside from listening to the voices around them, they also start listening to their own. They may play with sounds by squealing, grunting, cooing, etc. A baby between six to ten months of age can start discovering that sounds can be joined together and they may start babbling. When babies reach nine months of age they start to make gestures to get their message across.

It might seem so simple. After all, communicating with your pre-verbal baby is something that you as parent do. Keep in mind that the most important message to get across is that you love your baby.

If you’re up to building conversations with your little one, then here are simple guidelines you need to know as you get started:

• Observe your baby’s mood and try something that matches it. If he is fussy, respond with a soothing voice, a kindly face, and signs that are calming. If he is cheery, put on a vibrant face and voice in response and do signs that are exciting.
• Get your baby to look at your face and listen to your voice. Match your signs with facial expressions and change your voice pitch. He will want to look at you if your facial expressions are varying and if your gestures are exciting. You may vary your voice patterns to get him to listen to your voice.
• Pay attention to your baby’s first signs. Respond to these signals and make sure to have a reaction to your baby’s idea.
• Have fun with your baby. Talk to other parents who use baby sign language and find out things that they and their babies do together. Having fun with your baby makes parenting a rewarding vocation.

Recognise and Respond, Your Baby is Talking

You may see that your baby will use different ways to express himself. Look closely at your baby and start paying attention to how he communicates without spoken words. Think of what he is trying to say. Is he asking for attention or does he need help with something? Does he want to point something out? Remember that babies’ gestures and cries may have different meanings. Try to notice things such as his gestures, sounds, body movement, facial expressions, eye contact and sign language and figure out what each one means.

Here’s exactly what you need to know and follow to help you and family members build an open communication with your pre-verbal baby.

• Recognise your baby’s signals. Each day, you will notice that your baby is discovering ways to express herself. Take time to also learn her discoveries by observing your little one. You need to recognise every single movement of her hands and eyes. You also need to recognise the vocal sounds or whines your baby is making as signal for you to respond.
• Respond to signals. The next step is responding to your baby. This encourages him to keep communicating with you. You are telling him that you understood what he was trying to say and that will make him try to do it more. You are showing him that conversation is a two-way activity. Each person involved gets a turn. Since you are using Auslan to communicate to your baby, you would want to stay in his line of vision and try to see what he is looking at. Use signs and gestures that are simple and easy to understand.  You may emphasize your signing with facial grammar. Your eyebrows can go up for a yes-or-no question. They may furrow for a WH question (who, what, where, when, etc.) as you lean your body forward. The way you sign is also a message in itself. Are your signs flowing while you are discussing a happy topic? Or are you doing sharp, frantic signs as you stop your baby from playing with something they should not? One important thing to keep in mind when starting to communicate is that you let your baby know that you are responding to him. This will teach him to anticipate your response in the future and makes the conversation an exciting activity for both of you.

Now you’re on the right track in building exciting and rewarding conversations with your little one.

Observe and Follow your Child’s Interests

Most parents make mistakes when responding to baby’s communication. Yes, they love to respond to baby’s signals but when it comes to the kind of response to make, oftentimes the response brings confusion to babies. If you’re not sure of how to respond to your baby, the best thing to do is to follow his lead.

When it comes to responding to baby’s communication, this is what every parent of pre-verbal babies should know:

• Curiosity is inherent in babies. They continuously explore their surrounding. When we try to talk about our ideas with them, we might be distracting them from thinking of things that are interesting to them. It might even be confusing to them that the topic they are thinking of is different from the one that we are trying to talk to them about.
• Babies like to communicate their interests. So parents of pre-verbal babies should be good observers to be able to see and know what your baby is attending to and be sure to communicate about that. This way you are teaching your baby to respond and start a conversation with you and learn. Joint attention is important to make sure you and your baby understand each other and enjoy your time together.

Talk About Your Baby’s Interests

Your baby lets you know of things that interest them by looking, touching, or chewing on objects that they like. They reach out and try to grasp objects that appeal to them. They like seeing things that are attention-grabbing and new.

Here are some things to keep in mind when talking about your baby’s interests:

• Avoid providing too much information about the topic.
• Wait for your baby to decide on what he’s going to say next.
• Don’t change the subject.
• Encourage taking turns.

You are the one who knows the words that describe your baby’s interest and curiosity. Now that you know how to converse and maybe even read your baby’s mind, you can start guiding the conversational turns too. Turns should be responsive, while adding information at the same time. You know about important and exciting objects and you know how to start a conversation about them. Playtime with your baby may be a good time to point these out.

You could guide your baby through activities such as eating, dressing up, or getting in the car. These things happen in steps and you can have a conversation about every step. What are the things that your baby notices in every step?

Affirm to Support Turns

Communication should show that the other person’s ideas are something of interest to you. Conversations can continue by encouraging your baby to take another turn. It is possible that you won’t understand the first time. It is possible that the sign your baby created do not fully resemble the sign that you are using. At times you may not really know how to respond but you just have to let your baby know that you are interested and that you approve.

There are many ways to show this through positive parenting skills. You can keep your eyes on the baby while talking or signing to him. Smiling and nodding works too. Your facial expressions can also show your approval and affirmative words such as “yes” and “okay” may also be used. It may not always be easy to understand them but the important thing is to show your approval.

Keep it Short and Simple

A conversation with a baby is different from a conversation with an adult. Talking with young children means that we have to make our face and voice easy-to-read, we talk about things that are interesting to them. We also use words that are simple to understand and we keep our sentences short.  It may be necessary to repeat a lot because we are not just trying to get a message across, we are also trying to get them to understand what we are saying.  Signing with your baby means that you may have to repeat a couple of times to clearly state your message. Your signs should be kept short and simple.

Signing Families, What’s Next?

Congratulations! Now that you have decided to use baby sign language in building conversations with your little one, you need to make it work for you and your pre-verbal baby. To make it work, you will need a communication tool to implement baby sign language effectively. Australian Baby Hands has been developed as a communication tool for you and your pre-verbal baby. Australian Baby Hands products have been developed using the national sign language of Australia. Auslan is currently the only accredited baby sign language company in Australia. Implementation of Auslan to babies is shown to be easy and most beneficial to all who use it. So what are you waiting for? Start building conversations with your pre-verbal baby using Auslan.

Baby’s learning process takes place mostly in the presence of their parents and families and in environments where they spend most of their time. These people and places take an active part in their development and give them opportunities for exploring. You may find it challenging to create the right type of learning environment for your baby. Here are some ideas that might help you along the way.

Having Daily Routines:

Routines are things that we do on a regular basis and in almost the same way each time. There may be slight variations but they are very few. Because of this, routines are predictable and present wonderful opportunities for you to build your babies ideas through sign. Every family has different routines. A family in a city would not have very similar routines to a family in a farm. But some common things are present. Eating, dressing up, going for a ride, and changing nappies are examples of activities that every parent does with their baby. Routines naturally get more complex as your baby gets older.  Developing his eating habits or teaching him to play more games will lead to more complicated routines. Be aware of routines where you can incorporate baby sign as this would help your baby to learn faster and practice those that he already knows. He will find it easier to learn new signs if it is associated with something that he does regularly.

Family Experiences:

Experiences can be familiar or fresh. They can be things that are done regularly like going to the beach or visiting relatives. They can be new ones like going on a family holiday. You may have some experiences that are familiar to you but are fresh to your baby. These activities can give you a chance to watch and see what draws your baby’s attention. Is he fascinated by the decorations when visiting a new place? Is he drawn to the special clothes worn during cultural holidays? He might even be engrossed with the new faces that he sees.

These things may seem common for us adults but your baby is not ready to learn everything quite yet. It would take him a couple of years to fully learn about family traditions; learning something new each year. These traditions will become important to him as he gets older. Visiting family and friends and using positive parenting techniques will give your baby a chance to meet new people who will be important later on in his life. You are also giving these people an opportunity to get to know your baby better. Even minor experiences such as going to church or to the mall are still changes in your routine and are wonderful conversation-starters with your baby. He will let you know that these things are new and interesting. Take note of the new things that your baby is fascinated about and add them in your list of signs to learn.

Family Communication:

Conversations are present in every family. Some could be usual ones like telling stories about their day while having dinner. Some may be unexpected such as worrying over a sick family member. These conversations let your baby see how people communicate with each other. If you use baby sign even while communicating with other people, there is a greater chance that your baby will develop this skill. Other family members also have to sign clearly to each other while in the presence of the baby and not just when they are directly talking to him. Interpreting your baby’s first signs may not always be easy as their co-ordination may not match their enthusiasm.

Polite Conventions:

Being polite helps us make friends and belong to society. Oftentimes, the first social communication a baby learns is a greeting. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a verbal “Good morning!” from your baby, even the smile that you get when you pass by his crib in the morning is a greeting in itself. Using similar greetings often makes them a part of a greeting routine. Exchanging greetings with other people will encourage your baby to do the same thing.

You can teach your baby later on to start his communications with a greeting. Saying goodbye is also a social routine that your baby will naturally learn. He will be able to wave “Bye-bye” even before learning any vocal greeting. Other types of polite conversations are appreciation and apology. They are both a lot like learning to greet people. Your baby can see or hear whenever you have these conversations with other people. He has to know the reasons why one particular social language is used so that he’ll know when to use them. Be aware of the social languages and routines that you use. Make sure to include signing as part of them so that your baby can practice this even at an early age. Signs for “good morning”, “thank you”, “I’m sorry”, and “goodbye” are useful baby sign language manners that you could teach your baby.

Creativity and Art:

Small babies love to look at stripes and patterns. There are researches saying that babies who have exercised using their eyes for information can develop a bit more attention and interest in visual things. You can build this up by reading to your baby and having interesting things for your baby to look at such as colourful books, pretty pillows and stuffed animals, and bright-coloured toys. As babies get older, they start enjoying making things on their own.

They will begin making shapes with play-dough or put together colourful blocks. These early leaning activities can help your baby express his feelings better. His drawings or creations may not be easy to recognise at first but eventually he will want to tell you what he created.

Family Values:

Babies learn about family values from how their parents treat them and other family members. The values of sharing, respect, and communication are basic family values you may want to surround your baby with. You can do this by teaching your baby the signs for those values so that he can use them more often. Your baby will learn more about values later on in his life but starting early is a good foundation for that.