WHAT IS BABY SIGNING?

Baby signing is the use of hand gestures to signify keywords such as objects, emotions and desires, prior to spoken language development.

From a very young age, infants learn to use their body language, eye gaze and hand gestures as a way to communicate with their caregiver. Infants are also very good at recognising when their caregiver uses these methods of communication too.

Almost all babies will learn to wave hello and goodbye, hold their hands up to indicate they want picking up and start pointing out objects around them. As they get a little bit older, they will also start doing the actions in nursery rhymes.

Baby signing introduces a range of signs that when used regularly by the parent to communicate with their child, can be learned by even very young babies and used to communicate before they can speak.

Baby sign language differs from traditional British Sign Language (BSL) in that while the signs are the same, baby signing follows the same language, structure, grammar and syntax as spoken English, whereas BSL follows its own. In baby signing we also always clearly speak the word alongside the sign as this aids language development. 

What are the benefits of baby signing?

Once you and your baby have mastered a few signs, you can start to hold two-way conversations about what you can see or hear, what you are doing, where you are going and even your wants, needs and emotions. Imagine the reduction in both of your frustration levels as you start to understand each other so much better!

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It is recognised in the world of child development that babies that communicate using signing appear much less demanding and frustrated than non-signing babies, as they can more easily express their thoughts and needs.

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Research has also shown that signing can actually help your baby learn to talk far earlier and with a much larger vocabulary than their non-signing peers.

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There is evidence that learning communication skills at an early age can help your baby’s long term mental development and even increase their IQ.

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With baby signing, you can open a window into your child's world. We promise you'll be amazed by the things they notice! It really is magical to share in their discoveries!