teaching babies signs

[Judith Becker Bryant]

Brian suggested that I try to reprise my response
to the inquiry about suggestions in the book Baby
Signs.  I talked with one of the book's authors, Linda
Acredelo, at SRCD in DC when my son Sam was about
8 months old.  She suggested that this would be a
perfect time to start teaching him sign.  My husband
and I read the book and decided to teach Sam some ASL
rather than made-up signs so that he might potentially
be able to communicate with others.  Neither of us
knew ASL, but we got a book designed for parents and
teachers and consulted colleagues in Communication
Sciences and Disorders here.  Sam picked up a variety
of signs very easily (tho he never quite mastered an
adult version of "bug," which is manually a little
tricky).  Well before he said his first words, he was
able to communicate many desires and perceptions.  For
example, he often went to the door from the kitchen
into the garage and signed "spider" when he wanted to
see the toy spider I'd hung from the ceiling.  Had he
not had this sign, he would have just stood there
and whined.  He also was able to tell us about sounds
he heard (e.g., "hear motorcycle" or "hear airplane")
which we might never have heard ourselves.  When he
began preschool at 17 months, he even picked up a few
signs from a hearing classmate whose parents are deaf.
We have long since stopped modeling signs, but Sam still
spontaneously uses some of them and is able to produce
those he learned when we ask him to.  I obviously have
no way of knowing whether or how it may have affected his
oral language acquisition, but Sam's current language
skills at nearly 2 1/2 years are terrific.  My husband and
I are planning to teach some sign to our second son, who
is due in May.  (and, by the way, we are still hoping to
learn a sign for "hedgehog"  -- does anyone know one?)
A final somewhat trivial benefit of Sam knowing some
signs is that it was wonderful entertainment for friends
and relatives.
    Judy

                 Judith Becker Bryant, Ph.D.
                 Associate Professor
                 Department of Psychology, BEH 339
		 University of South Florida
		 Tampa, FL  33620-8200

		 (813) 974-0475     fax (813) 974-4617