Signing With Babies: Bridging the Gap

Stephen and I took a Baby Sign Language class last night taught by a local speech language therapist in conjunction with the hospital we’ll be using to deliver Olivia in a few short weeks.

Both of us have different experiences with sign language.  Stephen’s mom teaches special education in high school and, as part of her training, learned sign language in the event any of her students were deaf or had a language need in which signing would be helpful.  I taught myself some sign language starting in high school and continued it a little bit into college.  I simply found the language to be beautiful and artistic and was attracted to it just anyone would be attracted to any other foreign language.

By using the phrase “foreign language” I refer to any language that is not your own.  By this definition, American Sign Language (ASL) falls into that category.  Yes, it is a young language and was borne out of necessity and research as a way to communicate with and among those who cannot hear and/or speak.  But it is a language nonetheless.  It’s an invaluable communication tool for thousands of people.

When I first found out I was pregnant nine months ago, this is something I immediately began researching and reading about.

Two quick points:

1) You may see the phrase “Baby Sign Language” referring to a modified version of ASL for use with babies.  This is not what we will be using and is actually not really advocated for many reasons.  Quite simply, as our teacher put it last night, why reinvent the wheel?  ASL is used in its standard form for deaf and mute children from birth so there is no reason not to use it for hearing children as well.  By using and reinforcing the proper sign with your child, you’re helping their development.  It’s the same as when they are learning to speak.  If they call their bottle a “ba-ba” do you always say “ba-ba” when you refer to their bottle?  Nope, you say bottle.  And you keep saying bottle and, one day, they go from saying “ba-ba” to bottle.  Same with signs.  Sure, their sign for milk may be a flapping hand instead of a squeezing one at first, but, with you reinforcing it, it gradually morphs to the correct sign.

2)  Baby Sign Language may or may not be a fad – and I’m referring to the dumbed down, easier version of ASL specifically developed for hearing infants.  Only time will tell.  Part of me hopes it is for the reasons stated above.  However, ASL is not a fad.  At one time, sure.  But, at one time, this “email” thing was  fad.  Keep in mind, we aren’t talking about clothes or hair styles.  We’re talking about a proven method of communication developed for a specific community and now being used in far more applications than it was ever foreseen.  Think about it, the internet was originally developed to just transfer files on a college campus.  Who would have thought then that it would be what it is today?  Same with ASL.  It was originally developed for just the deaf and mute community but is now used with hearing infants, people with speech problems and children with learning disabilities.  The applications for ASL are growing constantly and this particular application may seem like a fad right now but who knows what the future holds.

*pulls out soap box*

Bear with me.

ASL is not a crutch.  Humans desire communication and we seek it out and figure it out in any way that helps us get our point across.  ASL is the method of communication for those who either cannot hear and/or cannot speak.  It is most often used in conjunction with lip-reading and speech therapy (if applicable) and is wildly successful.  It saddens me when I hear about people feeling it will hinder their child in some way or it is a crutch.  Not so!  You would teach your hearing child every possible method of communication, wouldn’t you?  So why not your deaf or mute one?  It’s a tool just like any other tool your children need to grow, develop and go out into the world and make a life for themselves.  It doesn’t mean anything bad if your child speaks with their hands.

I realize every child’s situation is unique and there are many different levels of hearing loss.  There’s also a lot of research out there regarding ASL and speech therapy applications.  I am not a doctor.  I am not a speech therapist.  I only know what I know based on my reading, my experience and my conversations with those in this field.

I just hate it when ASL is viewed as something “lesser” or a “crutch” because then you are looking down on those that use it or feeling pity for them whether you mean to or not.  You may not maliciously but that is what comes across.

*puts away soap box*

Back to using it for hearing babies.

As it was explained to us and as I’ve read about it, babies can use larger muscles sooner and easier than they can smaller ones.  Makes sense, right?  You can flail and wave far before you can babble and talk.  So, a while back, people fluent in ASL started using simple signs for key words in everyday sentences with their babies who could flail but not talk.  After many months of repetition – always signing the word “milk” when you talk about feeding; always signing the word “bath” at bath time; always signing the word “toilet” for diaper changing – around 6 months of age, roughly 6 or so months before they would speak, many of these children began roughly signing the words back.  Sure, they were baby versions (which led to the aforementioned Baby Sign Language) but they were signs and they were communication.

A lot of the frustration that stems from infants in the 6 month or so range to about a year or more is the inability to communicate properly.  They can’t tell you “my tummy hurts” – all they can do is cry.  And you don’t know why they’re crying and they keep crying and you get frustrated and they get frustrated and it all goes downhill from there.

The development of speech in infants is still quite the mystery.  No one really knows when that lightbulb flickers on signifying the complete understanding that that specific word means that specific object.  Some are grasped sooner such as Mom, Dad, Dog, Bottle, etc.  Some are more conceptual and that’s where the signing comes in.

The biggest difference I can stress between using ASL for hearing babies versus deaf or mute babies is that you are not teaching them another language in the sense that you are not signing every single word in a sentence.  There is very little finger spelling.  You are only signing key words in sentences that you use every day.

Examples:

• Milk
• More
• Yes
• No
• Mommy
• Daddy
• Dog
• Cat
• Bath
• Water
• Diaper Change

By signing these key words in your normal speech, you are giving your child options for communication, giving them something to focus on and watch, and giving them something they can mimic a LOT sooner than speech.

Does mimicry mean they actually understand it?

Hard to say.  That’s why it’s conceptual.  They understand that signing this squeezy motion gets them milk.  They understand that shaking their fist a certain way signifies diaper changing.  It’s all about understanding concepts and communicating those simple concepts to mommy and daddy.

But does it delay speech?

That’s a tricky question with an equally tricky answer.  There is no magic date that your child should be talking.  There’s benchmarks and ballparks and bell curves that doctors will show you to say “This is roughly about maybe where they might say one or two words.”  Every child is different.  Some will talk your ear off at 10 months.  Some stay completely silent until almost 2.  I’ve heard stories of younger siblings taking much longer to speak simply because older sibling spoke for them.

The best answer I’ve heard was from our teacher last night.  Humans are “path of least resistance” creatures.  We will do whatever is easiest, most convenient, gets it done quicker – hence all our foods in a box, fast food drive-thrus and the like.  Children are the same way.  If a quick sign gets the point across, you’ll see a sign.  If a sentence differentiating which particular cookie they want is easier, you’ll get the verbal version.

Keep in mind that children are also mimics.  They will mimic what adults and older kids do all the time so the more you speak, the more they will.  They see that mommy and daddy speak, they will too.  They see that mommy and daddy read, they might, too.  They see that mommy and daddy clean, they might, too.  Kids are little professional mimes and are damn good at it.

In most cases.

The main point to stress here is that with any development of any sort – crawling, walking, speaking, reading, counting, etc. – every single child is different and will develop at a different rate.  Just because your child doesn’t start speaking when one of his playdate buddies does, it doesn’t mean the sign language you use made that happen.

All in all, Stephen and I are tremendously excited about using this.  It’s been shown to help improve communication which helps in overall frustration, it promotes bonding, and it is just something to improve hand-eye coordination and interaction.  Plus, it’s fun.  We talk with our hands normally, why not throw a little learning into it as well?

Some resources.

• http://www.littlesigners.com
• http://www.sign2me.com
• http://www.signingsmart.com
• http://www.lifeprint.com
• http://www.signwithme.com
• http://www.signingbaby.com
• http://www.handspeak.com
• http://www.babysigningtime.com