Now that you have decided you are going to teach your baby sign
language you may anxiously want to see results and progress
quickly but let's not forget some brief but important key points
to succeeding.
1. Take It Slow:
Begin with one sign a week so as to not overwhelm and confuse
your baby with too many signs too soon. Once you baby has
learned that first sign move on to the next sign. The time will
fly by before you know it.
2. Begin With Important Signs:
Begin with words that will help you decipher what your babies
needs are and then their interests. Start with words such as
food, milk, drink,more, done,hurt (or owie as my daughter calls
it) and so on. As they grow turn you signing towards words that
will be useful when playing games or any other interest they may
have such as cars, trucks, or ball, etc.
3. Keep It Fun:
Chances are if you are not enjoying learning and teaching sign
language to your baby, you won't keep at it. If you are
frustrated with it, likely your baby will feel that frustration
as well. One thing I love to do is sing with my children
(although I'm not a good singer my babies never seemed to mind).
I learned and taught my babies signs for farm animals. So, when
I sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" I use the signs for the farm
animals and they picked up on that and do them when we sing.
It's fun and just becomes second nature to do while singing. Use
the signs when reading to your baby or playing with a ball (sign
"ball").
I've even noticed my children sign even when I am not signing
back to them. They sign animal names when watching or listening
to things like "The Wiggles" and "Sesame Street" or "Blue's
Clues".
4. Don't Expect Perfection:
Don't expect your baby to be able to perform the signs correctly
at first. In fact, they may use the same sign for more than one
word but you will figure out what they mean don't worry about
that. You may even decide to use a modified version of the
American Sign Language (ASL).
There are a lot of products and books available to help you
along http://babytalk-learn2sign.com/books.html whether you
choose to teach ASL or a modified version of it.
5. Be Patient:
Signing like any thing else you learn takes time and practice.
Don't expect to learn it all and teach it all in a few days or
even weeks.
6. Be Persistent:
As the saying goes "Persistence pays off". Keep trying at every
opportunity to use sign language and soon it will just become
second nature to both you and your baby.
7. Involve Every Family Member:
Make it a family affair. Not only will this help your baby learn
the signs by repeatedly seeing the sign when the word is spoken
but it will also build a bond between all family members.
Sharing and signing together.
Keeping those key points in mind, start now building a special
bond with your baby and opening the so important line of
communication.
