Nice article from Babies and Sign Language
Almost all babies try to use gestures to communicate, but many parents/caregivers tend not to notice because of the focus on the speech part of communication. If you observe closely, your Baby will even create his her own gestures until s/he can vocalize the word in English.
Almost all babies try to use gestures to communicate, but many parents/caregivers tend not to notice because of the focus on the speech part of communication. If you observe closely, your Baby will even create his her own gestures until s/he can vocalize the word in English.
Your baby easily grasps the hand motions for hi/bye and head shakes or nods to mean yes or no. Most parents stop here, not realizing that their child is capable of learning many more signs and gestures, thereby making communication a smoother (and earlier!) process.
Hearing children will learn to speak and talk eventually, but why wait until they are only able to pronounce words when you can have amazing conversations with them even before that physical process happens?
First off, learning a few basic signs for your child is not hard. Some signs are just as easy to learn as waving, clapping, and pointing. If your baby can nod her head yes or no, she is in essence, already using signs! You do not have to command the entire ASL language to begin communicating earlier with your child. Just a few signs incorporated into your daily routine is all it will take to reap these delightfully amazing benefits!!
