Benefits of Baby Signing

Having gone to school for education and worked with many young children I already knew that teaching our children some sign language was something that I wanted to do!! Before Kaelyn was born we had already even received the "Baby Signing Time"dvd as a baby shower gift...which I couldn't be happier about! Kaelyn watches that dvd several times a week and her little face lights up every time. Even if I just start singing one of the songs from it...she turns towards the TV anticipating for it to start.

Just recently Scott and I both started noticing that Kaelyn was starting to understand much more of what we said than she has in the past. You could tell that she was starting to learn who certain people were as well as things. It's so neat to see their little minds working...they're SO incredibly smart!! Anyways...around this time it became aparant to me that some of the signing that we've been practicing and watching on the dvd had sunk in. One day while feeding her I said "Do you want more Cheerios" and she put her hands together (almost like a clap, but she was wanting more). Her fine motor ability to put her finger tips together isn't quite there yet, but it's SO neat to see her trying. Just having her put her hands together lets me know what she needs and that's the whole point.

As time goes on I'm really starting to see the benefits of baby signing. It's a great way to eliminate the stress of not knowing what your baby wants, or your baby not knowing how to communicate with you what they need. Having a young child who has very few words be able to tell you that they need something is incredible. As a teacher I also know that it's a great way to start language development skills. I could go on and on with the benefits because there are so many. Do you sign with your baby? How do you like it?? If you never have....it's definitely worth trying. My mom always says little ones are like "little sponges" and soak everything in...and she's absolutely right. That's why signing works so well. It's honestly as easy as teaching your baby to wave "bye bye"!

The following is a clip taken of Kaelyn as she signs for "more"at 8 1/2 months old....