Baby Sign Language Works

We've been pretty faithful in trying sign language with Finn since he was about 6 or 7 months old. Now he has over 50 words he signs. We think that it has helped a lot in reducing his frustration in not being old enough to speak much, though he does say "ball" almost constantly and says bubble and recently picked up the words "turtle".

We realized how well he communicates in sign language the other night while we were out on or patio. Another resident came out while I was holding Finn and Finn started to talking to him. He explained that Jim could expect to see "trees", "birds", and "airplanes" while I translated. Jim mentioned that maybe a helicopter would come by and then Finn made that sign as well. That type of desire to share and explain would be impossible for him if he didn't have sign language.

To teach him sign language, we've tried to find objects that he takes particular interest in or that stand out in our daily life. When they appear and he notices them, we show him the sign we looked up on www.aslpro.com. That opens the door to many more signs than provided for in traditional baby sign language books. For example, we have many ambulances and firetrucks that drive by each day. He always stops what he's doing, looks at us, and signs "ambulance".

While many of his signs are foods, his other favorite category is animals. They are usually used used during book-time. It seems that all kids books are filled with varied animals and that expands vocabulary.

When we were in DC a couple weeks ago, we took Finn to the National Zoo where he really put his learning to use. One of his favorite places (maybe going back to his Wisconsin roots) was the farm exhibit with the a nice Holstein cow. In the above picture he was doing his best cow impression.

Here he turned to show everyone that he knew it was a cow. He's doing the sign for cow while saying "mooooo". Not that he gets every animal right. For a while all inside animals were cats and all outdoor animals were dogs. Now there seems a pretty even split between horses, dogs, cows, cats, and the occasional mouse (often a chihuahua).

One of his favorite animal signs is "monkey". He has a favorite pair of pajamas with a monkey of the shirt that allows him to sign monkey. He had a blast while at the DC Zoo with all the monkeys and the giant ape house.

One of his first signs was "light" since he saw it each time he woke up and went to bed when we turned it on or off. The other day he got one of our little flashlights and was fun running around the house playing and telling me how much fun he was having. This game continued until he decided that shoving the light in his eye would be great fun too; then he lost his flashlight.

It was tough at times and seemingly futile, but he picks up new signs almost daily now. The new challenge is to keep adding to our vocabulary as fast as he can learn. I always figured that babies used sign language only to communicate needs or wants, but seeing that he wants to participate in a conversation or relate experiences is amazing.