spinoff to baby sign

I didn't want to hijack the other thread.

I'm totally interested in the classes and I'm definitely NOT trying to stir up anything, but am curious what your response to the question of sign slowing the child's speech development is. There's so much conflicting info out there, it's just really confusing for a 1st time mommy. I figured since you teach it, you may have a better idea of how it affects or doesn't affect speech development. TIA

Re: spinoff to baby sign

I totally agree that there is so much conflicting information. However, the research that has been done, has shown no adverse effects on speech development. It does more good than harm.
When parents have a deaf child, many refuse to use ASL because of this same reason, the fear they will never be able to speak. this is a totally different case, but research once again showed no effects on childs speech development.
Check out this article: http://faculty.virginia.edu/childlearninglab/documents/baby-sign-msnbc.pdf

Re: spinoff to baby sign

I don't teach it, but Alex has been signing since she was about 1 year old - this was a concern of mine, but everything I read stated that although there may be slight delays, once they start speaking, they catch up very quickly. And, in fact, with my daughter, she has no delays whatsoever. When she first started signing she could speak a few words, but in the last month her language skills have exploded, and she's learning a new word about everyday. She's 16 months, and at this point, she rarely uses the sign language because she prefers to speak.

Re: spinoff to baby sign

thanks for the info ladies. I'd love to hear from other mommies with positive experiences. This site always seems to ease my mind of worries!!!

Re: spinoff to baby sign

I'm a speech pathologist and I can tell you that teaching sign won't hurt speech and language development. Infants have a desire to communicate, but haven't developed the ability to verbally express themselves yet. Signing gives them a bridge to verbal communication. In fact, I've used sign language with a lot of the language delayed kids that I've worked with to help improve their speech and language skills. Just remember that you're not replacing words with signs, you're enhancing your speech with the signs. You should ALWAYS be saying the word as you sign it. I've been signing with my DS since he was born. At 10 months he really started to pick them up and he also is trying to say the words as well. IMO, signing can only help improve communication. Just think if you were trying to learn a new language--any extra cues that you could get whether gestures/signs or pictures would help you learn more easily too.

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Re: spinoff to baby sign

I'm so glad you asked this! This has been my concern too, especially since with twins I hear speaking is delayed as it is. It's good to hear that it won't delay talking, I would love to look into this further!

Re: spinoff to baby sign

thanks again for all the replies. Signing is definitly something I'm going to look into now