Signing Times

**Ginger's Mom** · 03-27-2008, 04:17 PM

I am pretty sure that Lobodeb did this with Hugito. I think it worked pretty well for them. I think it is a great idea.

**sparks19** · 03-27-2008, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Ginger's Mom

I am pretty sure that Lobodeb did this with Hugito. I think it worked pretty well for them. I think it is a great idea.

A friend of mine did it with her son that has Down Syndrome and he learned 350 signs... WOW.

And my cousin through marriage does it with her little boy. I didn't know they did it until we were there around Christmas and I saw him when he was eating doing things and she was responding and I was curious if it was sign or not.

**Grace** · 03-27-2008, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by sparks19

A friend of mine did it with her son that has Down Syndrome and he learned 350 signs... WOW.

I volunteer at our local elementary school. There have been a couple of kids with Downs - and all of them learned Sign before speaking.

**Cataholic** · 03-28-2008, 09:10 AM

I didn't do it with Jonah, but, had a friend that did it a fair amount with her children. I think it is kind of more work than necessary. I could usually tell Jonah's signs of hunger, thirst, more, down, up pretty easily. He was what I would call a late talker, too.

I have heard some people say signing helps with the frustration that comes with not being able to articulate. Fortunately, Jones has a pretty high frustration level.

**lizbud** · 03-28-2008, 04:35 PM

I never heard of teaching sign to toddlers, but I'm sure most would
learn quickly. Children aren't given enough credit for their learning abilities.

**sparks19** · 03-28-2008, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by lizbud

I never heard of teaching sign to toddlers, but I'm sure most would
learn quickly. Children aren't given enough credit for their learning abilities.

Yeah they say that they can use sign earlier because they learn to master their hand movements and coordination before they learn to speak and master the use of their vocal chords I guess.

I just think it is a cool opportunity to start a second language that not a lot of people get the chance to learn in school or elsewhere

both for her and I

**Lobodeb** · 03-29-2008, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by Ginger's Mom

I am pretty sure that Lobodeb did this with Hugito. I think it worked pretty well for them. I think it is a great idea.

Yes, we did try this with Hugito. He learned the sign language quite well. Too well. Once he learned a sign for something, he stopped trying to say it! To this day, I can't get him to make a sound for "more." We had to stop with all sign language completely because of that and we also found that he was making up his own signs instead of talking. His pediatrician is now concerned that he may be a little speech delayed. Hugito is supposedly the exception, though. We have a friend who has 2 nieces, one of which is deaf therefore they are both fluent in sign language. Both of their babies learned sign natrually and didn't have any adverse affects. They also learned it in both English and Spanish!

I think it depends on the baby. Hugito can name sounds of 15+ animals, but I can't get him to say please. He says "zzz."