Baby sign language programs are becoming popular these days. Many parents are choosing to use signs with their babies, even when both baby and parent are hearing.

Creators of sign language programs say that signing is easier for your baby to learn than spoken language. They also claim signing can reduce the frustration that may occur around a child’s first birthday when they try to express themselves but don’t have the words.

But more research needs to be done before we can say for sure if using sign language with your baby is a good idea. Whether signing will help or hinder your hearing child’s development has not been studied well enough to say.

If you do want to try sign language with your baby, classes, books and videos are widely available. The signs used in many of these programs are similar to those used by members of the deaf community.

Parents usually choose just a small number of phrases or words to sign with their child. To try to make early communication easier, they often pick words that come up in everyday family activities, like “milk,” “more,” “Mom,” and “Dad.”

Whether you choose to use sign language or not, interacting with your baby and spending time together doing activities you both enjoy is important. One thing is for sure, your baby will benefit from spending time with you one-on-one.

Content Provided By: