According to Kids Health, your infant or toddler relies on imitation as she learns to master language. Having conversations with your child is one of the most effective ways to encourage her to learn to communicate. Sign language can be combined with the spoken word to provide your infant or toddler with an additional way to let you know what she needs or wants. Many children use gestures to signal what they want anyway, and teaching sign language will encourage your child to develop her language skills.
Function
Communication is an essential skill your child will learn in order to survive. As an infant, he cries when he is hungry, tired or uncomfortable. As he gets older, your child will begin to use spoken words and gestures to let you know what he wants. Sign language serves the purpose of giving your child a way to communicate his needs even if he cannot verbalize them yet. Karyn Warburton, author of "Baby Sign Language: For Hearing Babies," reports that infants and toddlers who are exposed to sign language have advanced language development as older children, including larger vocabularies, comprehension of more words and an increased ability to verbalize needs and desires.
Considerations
Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, authors of "Baby Signs: How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk," recommend that parents consider using sign language as one way to reduce tantrums. Acredolo and Goodwyn write that an inability to effectively communicate causes anger and frustration that lead to behavior problems and tantrums, which will ultimately get in the way of healthy language development. Teaching sign language to your infant or toddler will give her the ability to communicate her needs and desires in a way that allows you to respond. In turn, your child will be able to develop her language skills as her mind is nurtured to allow for communication, say Acredolo and Goodwyn.
Benefits
The most important benefit to using sign language with your infant or toddler is his increased ability to use language to communicate. Teaching your baby or toddler signs that correlate with needs and desires will give him the confidence to communicate. Acredolo and Goodwyn report that infants and toddlers who are taught signs enjoy the ability to communicate and immediately have their needs met by a caregiver. This encourages him to continue using his sign language skills and will eventually lead to an increased development of spoken language skills.
Potential
Acredolo and Goodwyn write that using sign language has the potential to increase your child's interest and comprehension of books when she is older. Warburton adds that children who are exposed to sign language as infants or toddlers are more likely to understand the nuances of the English language and have an enhanced ability to communicate as well as understand what others are trying to communicate. As your child grows, she will be more likely to increase her cognitive development correlated with language development so she may do better in school, say Acredolo and Goodwyn.
Expert Insight
Trained as pediatricians, Acredolo and Goodwyn have done extensive tests on how sign language encourages language development, and have developed a program called Baby Signs that enables you to introduce signs to correlate with different words while your child is an infant or toddler. Warburton discusses a government funded study conducted by Acredolo and Goodwyn that reveals that sign language does boost language development by enabling infants and toddlers to build their vocabulary base, understand language sooner and convey wants and desires in a communicative way.
References
- Kids Health: Communication and Your 4-to 7-Month Old
- "Baby Sign Language: For Hearing Babies"; Karyn Warburton; 2006
- "Baby Signs: How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk"; Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn; 2009
