Do any of you sign - with your toddlers?

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: Is this the big thing now? I never really thought of it until we had some of our friends visit two weekends ago and their daughter who is about a month younger than Wil was signing "more" and "drink" and all sorts of words! Wil only says mama and dada and the occasional DOG. I felt guilty! My friend's daughter goes to daycare, so she says that she learns there...so it made me think, am I missing out? They have signing classes, but I'm wondering if it's too late for Wil and is it really beneficial? My friend did say that she's heard the opposing side of it which is that it can actually cause kids to talk later. But I would say her daughter was doing pretty good!!

So I picked up the book Baby Signs today at the library and I may learn a few basics, but all I can think about is the silly baby in Meet the Fockers who makes the thumb in fist sign for "poop"!!! I'm not sure I want to go there....

Now I don't mean for this to turn into a heated debate. Everyone's opinion is of course their own...but I'm sorta thinking that my mom didn't sign with me and I certainly turned out okay! So I may just say...Nah, skip it. Wil will be fine. What do you think?

~Roo'sMama~ replied: I think it's kind of cool, and probably beneficial, but not necessary. Wil will turn out fine if you don't go for it. But if you want to take the time and try it, it might be fun.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
Yeah, but do you ever feel like you should be doing whatever everyone else is doing...because god forbid something terrible happen because you didn't? I'm not paranoid or anything!!! I just worry that Wil isn't saying much. He doesn't even wave goodbye.

Do you do it? It is cool!

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Yeah I feel that way a lot - like I'm not doing enough by comparison to other moms I see doing all kinds of stuff that I never even think of doing.

I'm not doing it with Andrew. I didn't know you could start this early - but I suppose you could I just haven't thought of it. Honestly I most likely won't be doing it even though I think it's kind of neat. But, I do want my kids to learn sign language someday. I never did and I feel like I missed out.

coasterqueen replied: My girlfriend does it with her boy. I wanted to do it with Kylie but she caught on to talking too quickly by the time I really started studying it.

I was going to do it with Megan, and still may, but I am kinda reserved about it. My girlfriend who does it said that she's noticed her boy would rather sign then talk and i've heard that from many others..that it takes them longer to actually talk because they would rather sign. I could see that happening, too.

mom2tripp replied: We've been doing it with Tripp since he was born--he only does one or two signs. I just think it's a neat thing to learn

mom2tripp replied:
It hasn't delayed Tripp at all, he actually does more talking that signing. I have heard this also but it's just a good way for them to communicate when they don't know how to say something like "light" which is a new one that Tripp is doing. He looks up at the light and signs for it. It's not to late to start doing it even if they are talking. The benefits are great because they are learning another language

coasterqueen replied:
I agree there are still benefits and are learning a new language. I'd be interested, though, in seeing studies of how long those who sign attain that new language or do they forget it at some point, kwim?

MyLuvBugs replied: I do some signs with Lorelei. She's learned Milk, Bye Bye, food, and we're working on Thank you, Mommy, daddy, and kitty. She does some of her own also. If you say "All Done" she'll tip her hands upside down and say "AhDa". It's helped a little with understanding what she needs. But I'm not doing it enough to make a huge difference I think.

Boys r us replied: I can see where signing with an infant would be GREAT! But a toddler knows how to communicate, so I guess that doesn't seem to interesting to me. Of course it would be great for a child to grow up learning sign language...but as far as the purpose it's intended for, I think it would benefit infants and their parents more.
Both of my kids had pretty advanced vocabularies as toddlers.

PrairieMom replied: I started sigining with The Boy at 6 months and he used his first sign with us at about 9 months. It was really helpful expecially at meal time. I didn't have to play that guessing game, you know? He would just tell me when he was done, or wanted more.
We had a bunch of signs, I don't remember all of them, i have them written down somwhere, I should look it up.
ANYWAY, I loved it. It may have caused him to talk later, I don't know, but i didn't mind, becuase i was communicating with my child way more effectively way earlier than any other mommy in our play group.
I am deffinately going to do it again with the next baby.
I don't know if it would be as beneficial to an older child because he is already communicating with you in his own way. I would still read the book tho and see what the experts say! good luck!

booey2 replied: Well I have mentioned this before, we didn't specifically start signing with boys for their sake, we had to start teaching them at a young age because my FIL is deaf and in order to speak with him they need to know some basic signs. I was blown away the other day as we were driving to swimming Thomas who will be 4 next week did the sign for thank-you and said mommy this is what the big man showed us at school. Apparently they had someone in for a kinda of show and tell to explain different disabilites and being deaf was one of them. It never hurts for children to learn another language be it spoken by mouth or hands.

sunrosejenn replied: i've been slacking on this. i bought a book back when Eliana was 3 months old. She does her own sign for when she is hungry. She sticks her hand in your mouth not hers. Doesn't matter who is near her she'll do it to anyone. i need to get reading on my book and watch a video i found online...well kinda video you click on the word and it signs that word for you but it's not a real video.

ian'smommy replied: We did it with Ian as well. We started it probably when he was about a year old. I had heard that it can cut down on tantrums because they have a way to communicate what they want when they can't form words. Ian said please and thank you, more, cup, and a few other things. Many were concerned becuase they thought he would choose to sign instead of speak once he COULD speak, but that wasn't the case at all. He never signs anymore. But it came in handy when he couldnt communicate with words. A temper tantrum for Ian is rare because he knew how to communicate.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: We are working on basics for Logan. Mommy, Daddy, drink and eat. He is still more of a point and whine boy though.

kimberley replied: i did with Jade because of the nightmares i went through (and still go through) with James and his inability to express himself. he was never a talker and just got mad instead of telling me what he wanted. we just taught her the basics.. diaper, milk, sleep, hungry, bear, up, all done etc. there are many websites if you google it that will show video of how to do the signs properly. i dont know if i'd call this a new "fad" because moms have been using "signs" for years.. just not ASL.

1girl1boy replied: When my daughter was about 5 months old I bought a general sign book and picked out the most common ones we would use and I made a tape of me doing the signs and saying what they mean. She watches them over and over and uses them alot...she also started talking at 9 months. My son just starting watching them. I don't think it hurts...

PhiMuMommy replied: my cousin signs to her kid but i don't to mine. i don't see the need in it i would much rather have him vocalize himself and use words. on another note my cousin's child stopped signing at 5 because "no one else knew how and she felt left out" when she got to school.. soooooo,,,

ian'smommy replied:
Well, like i said, now that my son HAS words he used them.. The sign language was good for when they couldn't vocalize yet. My son never uses it anymore now that he can talk. But it cut down on the whining and fits when he wanted something and couldn't tell me with words what it was he wanted. People were concerned that he would always sign instead of use words when he could, and that hasn't been an issue. In fact when he learned how to say thank you with words, he said it as well as signed it. Now he doesnt use it at all. But it sure made the time when he couldn't use words, much more pleasant.

PrairieMom replied: We just recently phased out our last sign. (Thankyou) We actually found that it was easier for friends and family to communicate with The Boy once they learned his simple signs too. I think it made him a happier boy becuase everyone knew what he was trying to say. When he learned to speak, the signs naturally faded away. ( I still use "Stop" with him, it works well in church and other quiet places when he is missbehaving!)

julesmom replied: My dd gets speech therapy for a delay. Her ST actually uses some signs with her. She knows eat, want, I, see. I think that's it. DD loves it and it seems to remind her to use her words. She starts signing and then will say the word.

This same ST worked with my oldest ds. She used the sign for yellow and off with him because he was having alot of trouble pronouncing those words correctly. It seems to make my kids focus on saying the word correctly.

DS doesn't remember the signs, but I do.