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A friend of mine is teaching her hearing child to sign, as she read a book somewhere where the authors found with their own child that the child could sign and understand signing much earlier than a speaking child. Her child is 13 months old, and she finds that since about 10 months, her child was able to communicate that she wanted a drink or to sleep or so on, much earlier than she could speak. My daughter is now 21 months old, and only in the past few months has she been able to tell me she wants juice, or something to eat, so surely this is a good thing?
Has anyone else done this with their children, and what was your experience?
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i just posted something similar on another site!
busy doing this with the little boy that i look after - he's just turned one year.
we go to a signing and singing class each monday - where we spend 45 minutes singing songs that most of the children are familiar with, only adding the BSL signs as we go along. max really seems to enjoy it, and it's a good alternative to just singing along.
as for the benefits... we'll, and as is noted on the other site, it's debatable. some say that you stunt the child's ability to verbally communicate, while others, as you friend has noted, can understand what their child is trying to communicate to them. i guess, it's each to his/her own in the end.
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My sister-in-law has been teaching my nephew to sign. He's now 21 months old & is signing very well. However, the rest of my family are complaining that he's only able to communicate in this way with his mom or dad (my brother) & becomes very frustrated because other people can't understand him. I also worry because, in a way, signing is his first language rather than English.
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Although my baby has not been born yet... just a few weeks to go... I'd love to find out where I could go to learn and teach my child signing. The way I see it, he will definately learn English, becasue we all speak it, and it is on the TV and it will be at the nursery, but to be able to communicate just with me and hubby to tell us what he wants is great. I have heard many good things about signing and babies.....
Beans
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I have read many people say that their child doesn't speak orally though till much later, but all the literature I've read (on the internet) has been very positive ... in fact I haven't found anywhere the experts feel it is detrimental. I'll provide links to the sites soon.
It did lead me to wonder if perhaps the reason for the delay in speaking is something to do with that the child is in fact learning to 'speak' two languages ... spoken and signed.
I wonder if any parents here on the Buzz are bringing their children up in a dual language home? Do they find that the child favours the one language over the other naturally?
Perhaps the child naturally chooses the language spoken by its mother? (but since the child hears spoken and signed language... what then?)
what are your views?
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My sister-in-law is into all sorts of "experimental" things with Alexander, my nephew.
Click here for a link to her website. Under "Stuff" she describes all the things she's doing with him & she provides links to other sites.
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Wow, Venus ... she is one tough mother! I am impressed your nephew can sign so many words now, but did notice he is starting to speak as well.
In the reading I did earlier, the experts do say that signing children do tend to have higher IQ's....
Who tunes into "something special" on CBeebies during the day?
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Dudette, my sister-in-law is very intellectual & seems to have the same route planned for little Alexander.
But, it's easier to do all these things when you're fortunate enough to have a very involved husband, like my brother & a full time Supermaid.
Danny & I watch Something Special. It's excellent & am pleased to see that Danny is trying to do the signing too. :thumbs:
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