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.

It was a really good show in Sydney and we expect this event in Melbourne to be just as good with wide range of attractions and speakers.

I will be speaking on Friday 5th March at 3.30pm and again on Saturday 6th March at 2.40pm, about Baby Sign Language and Auslan, visit here for full details.

We also have free tickets worth $20 for all our blog readers.  Just click here to download your ticket and print out a copy to bring along with you on the day.

We are at stand 161, just inside the door on the left near the baby feed and change area so I hope to see you there.

If you are not in Melbourne but live up in North Queensland Emma our Cairns baby sign teacher will be at the North Queensland Baby & Childrens Expo this weekend as well.

Our Cairns Baby Sign Teacher Emma will be there this weekend, the 6th – 7th of March so pop along and take the time to say hello and ask Emma any questions you may have about baby sign.

We also have discount voucher to save $5 of the admission of 2 adults and up to 3 children which you can get by clicking here and downloading.

The exhibition runs from 9am to 4pm both days with a host of activities for the kids as well as some useful talks and information for the parents.  For a full list of the weekends activities visit here:

We will also be exhibiting at the Baby Show in Melbourne at the same weekend from the 5th – 7th of March so if you are Victoria I hope to see you there

For those of you that missed it you can watch it below here, I’d recommend pressing play and letting it buffer for a few seconds (this will also allow you to skip over the ad at the beginning).

Thanks very much to Katica and baby Marley for coming in with me.  They have been attending classes with Catherine, our in Inner West teacher.  Marley did really well under the bright lights and pulled out quite an impressive array of signs.  If you watch closely you will even see that when he is first asked to sign “cat” he signs “where” as he is looking for the cat.

If you would like to attend a class on Baby Sign then please contact one of our teachers.

If you can organise a group of 5 or more then, as the organiser, you will get the class for free.

Happy Signing

Jackie

This was supposed to be getting recorded tomorrow morning but now we’re going live instead so hope you can tune in

* The Morning Show
* Channel 7
* Friday 5th Feb
* 11:05am Sydney time

Hopefully I wont look to nervous, I still find it a bit scary going on TV, especially live.

See you tomorrow….

Jackie

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.

It’s been a wonderful year for me personally to look back on, with a definite highlight being getting married to my partner Gary back in March.

I hope that you get to take some time to reflect back on your year and look at all the good things that have happened.

I know that many of you will have become parents for the first time and also many of you will become parents for the first time in 2010 which is very exciting.

I look forward to hearing more of your baby signing stories next year and hope that you and your family’s have a safe and happy festive season.

Happy Signing and best wishes

Jackie

If you enter “christmas09” into the discount coupon section of the shopping cart then you will receive 10% off your order of any Australian Baby Hands product.

(see here for instructions if you have any trouble)

This includes our great big cuddly Sammy the Signing Bear who we have just got back in stock just in time for Christmas.

He makes a great present for your little one and will provide lots of fun on Christmas day as they unwrap their new toy and then you can make Sammy magically come to life by placing your hands into the special sleeves of his jumper.

Hurry up and get your orders in quickly as we only have a few days left to be able to get your order out in the post to try and ensure that you receive it in time for Christmas.

Happy Signing

Jackie

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.

I love sharing the joy of Christmas with others.  I’m always one of the first to put up my Christmas tree each year and I start the Christmas carols from early December to help get us in the Christmas mood.

So for this reason, I thought I would share my love of Christmas with you all through our NEW Christmas themed baby sign language class.  This one off class where you combine the FUN of Christmas and the benefits of play with baby sign language is available from all our teachers now.

In or new Baby Hands Christmas class you will:

• sign and sing your favourite Christmas carols
• learn signs for your favourite Christmas things
• get a sheet of Christmas signs for you to take home and practice
• meet other baby signers  in your local area
• share in the Christmas spirit

Also, with our special offer if you can get 5 or more of your friends together to attend a Baby Hands Christmas class, as the organiser you will get the Christmas class for FREE!

All you have to do is arrange a class with one of our teachers and bring 5 people from your mothers group, playgroup or other friends and you will get the class for free. Talk to one of our teachers to make the arrangements and they can even come to you if it is within a reasonable distance.

If you are a childcare centre, our teachers can come to you and spread the Christmas joy to your staff and children.  The class will introduce staff to a range of Christmas carols which they can continue to share with the children in the run up to Christmas as well as lots of FUN Christmas activities.

Classes are booking up fast so contact your nearest teacher today.

Apologies to those who are to far outside the current areas that our teachers are in to travel to a class.  We will be starting classes in new areas in other States in the New Year.

If you are interested in becoming a Baby Hands Teacher then please contact us and let us know why you would like to become a Baby Hands Teacher and we will get back to you shortly.