hearing parents signing to hearing infants

[Tane Akamatsu]

Hi Mark and Thomas Alexander,

This is purely personal anecdote.  This is not data, not a linguistic study.

I am hearing and a fluent signer.  I also am conversationally fluent in
 Japanese,
and speak English natively.  When my now six-year old son was an infant, I
 signed
and spoke with him.  Sometimes just signed, sometimes just spoke, sometimes
 signed
and spoke.  Because I work at a school for the deaf, he was exposed to deaf
 people
on a regular basis, and in fact, spent one day a month from the age of 6-14
 months
in a grade 8 class as part of their family studies program.  The kids played
 with
him, fed him, changed him, and generally learned about babies from him.  Of
 course,
they signed to him,  and shared books in sign.

His earliest vocabulary (say, first 50 words) was a  mixture of English,
 Japanese,
and sign.  I found that he was able to make himself understood (to me and other
signers) earlier through the gestural mode than through the spoken mode.  Did it
"enhance" his language or intelligence?  I don't think so.  He comes across as
 on
the "bright" side of average, but he certainly is no genius.  As his English
developed, the sign dropped off.  He now can remember a handful of signs (no pun
intended), which he uses when there is a particularly noisy background.

He started Japanese in earnest when he was four, and now can function in an
immersion setting.  His Japanese is well pronounced, but the grammar is off.
 His
vocabulary is also weak, but he makes himself understood.  He can read and write
the hiragana syllabary.

His English?  Fine.  Well developed for his age.  He is learning to read and
 write.

Do I think sign did this for him?  By itself, no, other than lessening
 frustration
very early on.  So I'd say, go ahead and sign with your baby.   It won't harm
him/her, it might lessen frustration during the terrible two's, and who knows
whether it will help?

All the best,

Tane Akamatsu
trilingual hearing mother of bilingual hearing son

P.S.  A hearing trilingual (ASL, English, German) friend of mine had a Deaf
babysitter for her hearing daughter for the first six years of the daughter's
life.  This child signed to the babysitter and spoke English to the mother -- a
real separation of language and function.  The kid now (age 17) has a real
 "feel"
for ASL, although she no longer signs, per se.  She can make herself understood
gesturally, and is comfortable around signers.  I believe she has taken both
 French
and German, and found them difficult, mostly because she just doesn't have the
opportuntity to live those languages.

For what it's worth.....

Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com wrote:

> This question came to me via a friend, but I am not qualified to answer it.
 Any
> advice for this person?
>
> -- Mark A. Mandel
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 06:42:46 -0400
> From: Thomas Alexander <Thos at compuserve.com>
>
> Dear Mr. Mandel,
>
> My wife and I are expecting a child in early December.
>      We plan to use "baby signs" with him.  (Are you familiar with
> the book BABY SIGNS by L.Acredolo and S.Goodwyn?)  I'd be curious if
> you have a special opinion about using gesture communication with
> children too young to speak.  I also wanted to make a connection now,
> in case I had a question about ASL later.
>      The particular theme which interests me, and for which I haven't
> found a lot of information, is how does the use of gestures with babies
> in a multilingual (spoken) environment affect their learning of spoken
> languages.
>
> Thomas Alexander