Baby sign language

[4] Some common benefits that have been found through the use of baby sign programs include an increased parent-child bond and communication,[5] decreased frustration,[5] and improved self-esteem for both the parent and child.

[1] The main reason that parents use baby sign is with hope that it will reduce the frustration involved in trying to interpret their pre-verbal child's needs.

[5][6][9] It can be considered a useful method of communication in the early developmental stages, since speech production follows children's ability to express themselves through bodily movement.

Writing on the topic, Jane Collingwood states that "Infants from about six months of age can begin to learn the basic signs, which cover such objects and concepts as "thirsty", "milk", "water", "hungry", "sleepy", "pacifier", "more", "hot", "cold", "play", "bath", and "teddy bear".

[10][11] Since gestures are part of normal speech, teaching baby sign allows infants to learn an aspect of communication that is used with language.

[16][17] Therefore, those who learn these simplified signs may enhance their cognitive development by gaining language skills through both visual and auditory modes.

[5] Overall the parents did not express feeling heightened stress or frustration from the baby sign training process but rather they reported a greater ability to understand their child.

This richer communication was found to lead to a more positive interaction with their child which overall benefits the establishment of an earlier parent-child bond.

[10] Improved symbolic gestures may contribute to language development by providing children with increased knowledge of concepts by explaining the functions of the objects that they are exposed to.

[21] Some of these areas included communicative, cognitive, social, adaptive behavior, physical, and fine motor skill development of children.

Doherty-Sneddon also states a key issue is ensuring that sufficient and appropriately designed research is available to back the claims made in relation to baby signing.

[20] These underlying mechanisms of baby sign are proposed to create benefits for the infant such as; enhancing vocabulary, advancing cognitive development, reducing tantrums and frustration, and improving the parent-child relationship and communication.

More specifically language development is improved by advancing comprehension, promoting literacy and successfully allowing the infant to express their needs so the parent becomes more responsive and observant of their baby.

[20][24] Researchers have suggested the possibility of parents and experimenters being overly liberal in attributing sign or word status to early attempts at communication by children.

[7] Kirk and colleagues have found that the results of their study with hearing infants provided no evidence to support that a child's language development would benefit from learning baby sign.

It is suggested that participating in baby sign may be an unnecessary effort with infants when being motivated by the hopes of advanced language learning for the child.

[16] The results of multiple studies regarding baby sign have found that the advantages provided do not go beyond children over the age of two years old.

Teaching baby sign outside of research settings does not allow for the parent to raise questions or concerns to trained individuals.

[3] Infants in the study used eye gaze, body position, and vocalization to attract and direct their target audience's attention, while gesturing to items.

[28] A natural association occurs between signs and items, allowing infants to explore and express new ideas prior to language development.

[10] It is suggested that learning signs happens over a period of time, inferring the importance of caregivers being patient with children as it takes more than a brief interaction between parent and child.

[11][28] In 1998, a program was conducted at A. Sophie Rogers Infant-Toddler Laboratory School in Ohio State University by Kimberlee Whaley.

[30] Based on this study, learning baby sign appears to be a beneficial tool for children if implemented in schools and day cares.

Over 90% of the information referred to opinion articles or promotional products encouraging parents to sign, with little to no basis in research.

Researchers examined whether results claimed baby sign encouraged developmental, social, cognitive, and language skills while achieving a greater bond between parent and child.

Individuals looking for information regarding the pros and cons of using baby sign should ensure they are accessing sites backed by research and not opinion.