Use of baby signs in children acquiring sign language

Tue Mar 9 01:48:23 UTC 2010

Hi all! Because I know that Linda Acredolo has something to say on this
issue, I asked her if she wished to respond.  Please if you wish to dialogue
with Linda write directly to her as she is not on this list-serve.
Roberta Golinkoff

Linda Acredolo writes:

I would be delighted to communicate with anyone interested in the research
foundation upon which the “signing with babies” movement is based.  The main
study, funded by NIH, was published in the peer-reviewed *Journal of
Nonverbal Behavior* (2000, 24, 81-103) and provides a solid basis for our
conclusion that signing facilitates language development.  (A detailed
critique of the Johnston & Bloom paper is available upon request from
lpacredolo at ucdavis.edu.)

 More generally, here are the factors we believe account for the
facilitative effect:

   1. *The experience of signing teaches babies useful lessons about how
   language works--lessons that speed up the process of learning to talk once
   words are finally available.  *By enabling a baby to practice learning
   and using symbols to label objects, express needs, and describe feelings,
   and also by helping babies differentiate concepts, signing creates the
   mental framework which makes it easy to incorporate words as soon as a
   baby’s articulatory abilities enable him/her to do so.

   1. *The natural reaction by a parent to their baby’s use of a sign is to
   “bathe” the child with words, and, as we all know, the more words a child
   hears, the faster he or she will learn to talk. *For example, when a baby
   signs “BIRD” while strolling through the park, parents automatically respond
   with something like,  “Oh, you see the bird!  Yes, that’s a bird—and there
   are some more birds over there.  Oh, look, the birds flew away.  Bye bye
   birdies!”.  This exposure to words is exactly what children need to learn
   how to say the words themselves. What’s more, the sign has enabled the baby
   to *choose the topic*, making it very likely that the baby will pay
   attention to the words the parent says. Support for this belief comes from
   Mike Tomasello’s work with word learning which showed that babies learn
   language more rapidly if parents follow a baby’s lead. Using signs results
   in children hearing lots of words and sentences directly relevant
to the*topic they have chosen
   *.

   1. *Just as babies learn to crawl before they can walk, signing gives
   them a developmentally appropriate way to communicate before they can talk.
   *Once children learn to crawl, the excitement they feel at being able to
   get around on their own provides motivation to get around even better—and
   that alternative is walking.  Similarly, once children experience the joy of
   communicating with signs, they are extremely motivated to find even better
   ways to do so—and that alternative is through words.

   1. *Signing increases interest in books, and books expose children to new
   vocabulary.  *Because signs enable a baby to take an active role in
   book-reading at earlier ages (by labeling pictures with signs), babies who
   sign tend to really enjoy book-reading, thereby engaging them in a very
   helpful, language-rich activity.

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

University of California, Davis,

On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 4:09 PM, Peter Gordon <pgordon at tc.columbia.edu>wrote:

> It seems that there is a separate issue about whether young infants can
> learn to communicate with a simplified sign system (which seems to be the
> case) and whether that helps (or hinders) normal language learning (which
> seems to be more controversial).   Probably shouldn't throw out the baby
> signs with the bathwater, just because it doesn't help with regular
> language
> if some parents find it useful for understanding an infants needs.
>
> Peter Gordon
>
>
> On 3/7/10 4:01 PM, "reilly1 at mail.sdsu.edu" <reilly1 at mail.sdsu.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi Laura,
> > Karen Emmorey has done work on gesture in ASL if you are interested.
> > Cheers
> > Judy
>
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-- 
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D.
H. Rodney Sharp Professor
School of Education and Departments of Psychology and Linguistics and
Cognitive Science
University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
Office: 302-831-1634; Fax: 302-831-4110
Web page: http://udel.edu/~roberta/
Author of "A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the
Evidence" (Oxford)
http://www.mandateforplayfullearning.com/
Please check out our doctoral program at
http://www.udel.edu/education/graduate/index.html
The late Mary Dunn said, "Life is the time we have to learn."

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