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

After all the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Expos that we have done over the years we are finally coming to Perth

This years Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo in Perth will be the first one that we have ever attended so I hope that you will come along and say hello.

I will be on the stand all weekend as well as our Albany based baby sign teacher Karina.  So if you would like to come along and have a chat to me or Karina and find out exactly what Baby Hands classes are all about then this will be a great opportunity.

We’ll be on stand E40 which is pretty much in the middle of the main hall. Just follow the signs at the top of the stands to read the numbers.

To make sure that you can come along you can get free tickets the Perth PBC Expo from their website here or by clicking on the image above.  Make sure you get these and print them out as tickets are $12 on the day.

When is it on?

Friday 13 to Sunday 15 August 2010
Open: Friday 10am – 4pm (last admission 3pm)
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm (last admission 4pm)

Where is it at?

Claremont Showgrounds Exhibition Centre, Claremont
click here for more details

What can you do there?

The Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo always bring together a wide range of the latest pregnancy and parenting related products all under one roof so you can get the answers to everything you need.

You will get expert advice and free family entertainment for the kids with Dorothy the Dinosaur on stage at 11am, 12pm and 1pm daily as well as a baby animal farm and activity areas by Gymbaroo.

Your free ticket will allow you to re-enter the expo for the whole weekend so you can come along and take it all in and decide waht you would like and make a second trip back on the Saturday with your re-entry to pick up any items you would like.

Hope to see you there.

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

Come along and see us at this years Brisbane Pregnancy, Babies and Children Expo at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, South Bank.  (See below for your FREE tickets)

From Friday the 18th of June to Sunday 20th the PBC is the place to go to find out everything you need to know about your baby.

There will be lots  of fun things for the kids to do as well as the latest products and innovations related to pregnancy, babies and children all under the one roof.

We will be there at stand C22, just in on the left hand side near the rest area and parents room.  We would love to see you there and for anyone interested in becoming a baby hands teacher this is a great opportunity to come along and have a chat with us face to face and find out what our baby sign classes are all about.

When:

Friday 18 to Sunday 20 June 2010
Open: Friday 10am – 4pm (last admission 3pm)
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm (last admission 4pm)

Where:

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, South Bank
See here for more details

Tickets:

(This is the cost on the door on the day, but you can get free tickets from the link below so make sure you print them out and bring them along.)

Adults: $14   Pensioners: $10
Children under 14: FREE

Download your free tickets from here – Admit One Adult Free

Hope to see you over the weekend

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.

We just got emailed today about an interview I did while at The Baby Show in Sydney last September for CNN en Español.

Check out the video clip below, I’m featured at just slightly over halfway through and completely dubbed in Spanish so I’m not exactly sure what I was saying.

If anyone who speaks Spanish and can understand my interview section could put a translation in the comments below I would really appreciate it.

Jackie

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.

Come along and see us at this years Sydney Pregnancy Children’s and Baby Expo in Rosehill. (see below for free tickets)

Running for 3 days from the 30th of April to the 2nd of May it’s the place to go to get good advice and information on pregnancy and parenting.

We will be on stand number K50 for the weekend along with Lena our Northern Beaches Baby Sign Teacher and Catherine our Inner West Baby Sign Teacher.

Come along to meet them and me to find out more about baby sign and our baby sign language classes.

When:

Friday 30 April to Sunday 2 May 2010
Open: Friday 10am – 4pm (last admission 3pm)
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm (last admission 4pm)

Where:

Rosehill Gardens Event Centre
James Ruse Drive, Rosehill. FREE PARKING. More info on venue

Tickets:

(This is the cost on the door on the day, but you can get free tickets from the link below so make sure you print them out and bring them along.)

Adults: $16   Pensioners: $12
Children under 14: FREE

Download your free tickets from here – Admit One Adult Free

Along with hundreds of stands and exhibitors you will find expert advice along with a huge range of products and FREE family entertainment to keep the kids occupied.

Look forward to seeing you there.

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.