At what age should I introduce signs to my baby?

Babies can be taught and recognise signs from 8 months.

My toddler is 15 months is this still a good time to start signing?

At this age children learn signs very quickly, frequently signing back after just a few days. They are already learning to talk, and signing reinforces the spoken language development. It's a great age to start.

When should I expect my baby to sign back to me?

Does baby smile? Yes? They are signing. Baby can do this very early. Signing back more complex ideas is normally seen between 8 and 12 months. However, babies as young as 4 1/2 months start signing one or two key ideas such as "milk" or "nappy change". It's not unusual for a baby of 6 months to have a few signs but mostly we expect their first signs about 8 to 12 months.

Many babies happily recognise and respond to your signs a long time before they sign back, they are getting the benefit.

How many signs should I introduce to my baby?

It's best to start with just a few, try basic needs first, what we call "survival" signs. The things that are most important for your baby to survive day to day e.g. "milk", "nappy change", "food" (if old enough), "sleep", "mum", "dad". Each part of their lives needs a "label" to help give reference and understanding to their lives.

Having said all this, we also recommend when introducing signs that you don't restrict the number of signs for your baby. From the moment baby is born we don't restrict our spoken language so why should we restrict our sign language. However, as sign language is a new concept for most families in order to give confidence and success to the parents or caregivers we recommend introducing the number of signs that you can be consistent with. Consistency with a few is better than lots of signs signed occasionally.

What if my baby signs back different to what I sign?

When you sign with your baby always be consistent with your sign. Your baby may sign back different than what you show it. It does this for many reasons. This variation of sign is called "approximation" where the baby does what it is able to do. Sometimes a baby will gradually learn to "correct" the sign, other times it keeps its own version. Babies babble. They cannot always form the word they hear. Ma ma ma, not mummy but you know what they mean. Why should signing be any different in it's early stages?

Do I always have to sign and say the word at the same time?

Our recommendation is ALWAYS SIGN AND SAY THE WORD. Baby signing is about assisting language and speech development and communication. We want our babies to talk and to talk well. So we must sign and say the word at the same time. Many families find that they naturally slow their speech as they sign, helping baby to hear the word more clearly.

However, if you want to check if your baby actually understands the sign rather than the word association or object association then it is no harm to occasionally try a sign without the word.

There are also many times as your baby grows and develops into a young child that a silent sign is more appropriate eg when you are correcting behaviour in public and you don't want to embarrass your child, or for potty training or if your child is a distance away looking at you and you want to communicate something like "I love you". These can then extend signing into something private and special.

Is it wise to sign in a bilingual home?

Yes. It seems that the child can associate the sign with the word in both languages one from each parent. The evidence from the children in my classes in this circumstance is it helps. Some parents wonder if adding a "third" language would just be too much. The opposite is in fact the case. Imagine Dad signs "food" then he says "food", then mum does the same and says "mange" (eat in French). Baby hears 2 different sounds or words but the sign or gesture is always the same. This sign is,in fact, the bridge between the 2 languages.

With Baby Signing we are not teaching a whole new language, we are introducing "key words" to assist it's grasp of spoken language. Some families wish to extend their use of signs - this goes beyond Baby Signing.

I am the only person who signs to baby. Is this ok?

Don't worry. This is not unusual. For many families, Dad is not around during the day so mum signs most. The fact that one carer is signing gives baby the benefit. It is important though that the other family members can recognise baby's sign when it makes them, lest baby feels its attempt to communicate is being ignored.

In our classes, we not only have families where Dad is not at home all day but also where mum has returned to work. The principle signing carer is often the grandma or a nanny, but mum and dad sign with baby at bedtime and when then can. Everyone wins.

My baby signed for a few months and suddenly has stopped signing. What do I do?

Many babies experience this. They are very keen to sign early on then have a period of a few weeks and sometimes even a month or 2 and just don't sign. During baby's first year or so it is going through rapid changes and enormous developmental leaps. Sometimes baby puts lots of it's energy into language then other times crawling or walking takes over for a while. Maybe baby is going through a "clingy period". This time will pass. Keep your signing consistent as always and you may just be surprised when baby signs again there will be a flood of new signs.

Good luck with signing and remember have fun and enjoy,

The Jumbos Team