Playing With Words 365

Educating, inspiring, and empowering parents & professionals in supporting young children's overall development

  • Home
  • About
    • About Katie
      • Credentials, Training and Philosophy
      • How I Got Here
    • About This Blog
  • Blog
  • Child Development
    • Speech & Language Development from Birth to Five
    • Speech and Language 101
    • Toy Recommendations for Speech & Language Development
    • Sign Language 101
  • Speech Therapy
    • How to Help Your Child Talk
    • What You Can Expect From Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents}
    • How to find an SLP
    • Speech Therapy Tips & Activities
    • Materials & Product Recommendations
    • SLP Forms, Charts, and Data Sheets
    • How To Elicit {Teach} Speech Sounds Series
    • Freebies!
  • Resources
    • for Parents & Caregivers
    • for SLPs
  • About My Life (Blog)

Baby Sign Language: When to Start

May 9, 2012 by Katie Filed Under: Sign Language and Baby Sign 6 Comments

If you are a parent of a baby or toddler (or currently pregnant) you probably have heard of “baby sign.” But what exactly is it and why would you want to use sign language with your child? How? Where and when should you start? This is one of many posts I am writing this month on the topic of sign language and why I think it’s awesome for babies and children of all ages to learn it!

This week, I shared the definition of sign language and why I am thankful I am using it with with my 16 month old son Ev. I also shared the many benefits of teaching sign to your little ones. But when to start?

Sign for "when" thanks to Lifeprint.com

When should I start teaching sign language to my infant or young child?
I get this question very often. The good news is that there is no right or wrong age to start teaching your infant, toddler, or young child sign language! You can start at any age. However if you are looking to reap the benefits of early communication and decreased frustration and tantrums…you can start signing as early as birth! Yes, you can start as early as birth, however don’t expect your little one to sign back for a while. If you choose to start at birth, you just have to keep in mind that it could be 8-12 months (or longer) before he signs back to you, though it can definitely happen earlier.

So when is the best time to start? Most experts recommend starting to sign to your infant around 6 months of age for the earliest benefits. I have talked to parents who have started as early as birth and others that didn’t start until close to the first birthday. I recommend starting as early as you feel comfortable. I feel like right around the 4 month mark, your baby really starts interacting with others and his routine has started to solidify…which means you are getting more sleep! Your more-rested self may finally feel ready to add sign language to the daily routines around this time, especially if this is your first baby or at least the first baby you are signing with.

When can I expect my child to sign back to me?

Just as there is a huge range of “normal” for when a child will produce his first spoken word, there is a huge range for when a child will produce his first sign. Many factors are at play including age of exposure to signs, frequency of exposure to signs, motivation and interest in signing, developmental progress (i.e. cognitive, motor, visual skills), etc. Most experts in the field say the average age of first signs is somewhere between 8 and 12 months. I have known a couple babies who started signing at 6 months!

Wondering which signs to start with? Wondering how exactly do you teach your child sign language (and yourself?) Worried that teaching your child sign language will delay his speech? Check back!

If you have signed to your child, when did you start? When did he/she sign back to you first? What was his/her first sign?

About Katie

Katie is a licensed, credentialed and certified pediatric speech-language pathologist and mom to four (8, 6, 3 and 6 months). Her passion for educating, inspiring and empowering parents of children with all abilities led her to start her blog playing with words 365 where she shares information about speech & language development & intervention strategies, parenting, photography and a little about her family life too. Katie has been working in the field of speech pathology for 12 years and is certified in The Hanen Centre’s It Takes Two to Talk ® and Target Word ® programs and holds a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In addition to blogging and being a mommy, Katie works part time in her small private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Comments

  1. Kristy says

    May 9, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    I started signing with my 1st daughter at 6 months of age. I would teach her 1 sign at a time, and she 1st started signing back to me at 9 months of age. Her 1st sign was “milk”. When my 2nd daughter came along, I started signing with her at 1 month of age, and she 1st started showing receptive language skills at 4.5 months of age, and produced her 1st sign at 5.5 months of age. “Milk” was her 1st receptive sign, and I believe her 1st produced sign was a tie between dog and horse. Actually, dog, then horse. Funny enough she has turned into the biggest animal lover:). So, it’s true that regardless of which signs you show your children, they will sign the ones back to you that have the most meaning to them based on their need or interest:).

    Reply
    • Katie says

      May 10, 2012 at 3:42 pm

      Kristy that is AMAZING!!! Thanks for sharing your story!!

      Reply
  2. Renee Miller says

    September 16, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    I started signing with my son at birth using Signing Time videos. He started using the milk sign at 3 months old. By the time he was a year old he knew about 65 signs. You can see him signing on Youtube. He was almost 2 years old in the Video.

    Reply
  3. Lexy says

    October 28, 2013 at 9:00 pm

    I am excited about signing with my baby.She just hit 6months and is currently only signing milk. I am thinking about teaching her “dog” because she LOVES dogs. =]

    Reply
  4. Julia says

    April 27, 2014 at 3:29 am

    We started signing early on and while Lottie is not signing back yet, now at 5.5 months she understands “milk”, “mom” and “dad”. When she is fussy and I ask her if she wants milk she smiles and wiggles her hands and feet because she is so happy that I understood that she was hungry!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Baby Signing Time Giveaway! says:
    May 22, 2012 at 11:41 am

    […] Baby Sign: When To Start […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Looking for something?

Popular Posts

  • Top 10 Summer Top 10 Summer Activities to Encourage Your Toddler’s Speech Development {A Summer Challenge}
  • Feed Clover Collage Freebie Friday: FEED The Old Lady Who Swallowed the Clover
  • How to Elicit the k&g sounds How to Elicit (Teach) the K & G Sounds {Part One: Elicitation Techniques}
  • My Tricks to Teaching the R Sound My Tricks to Teaching the /r/ Sound
  • The Night Before St The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day: Make a Leprechaun Trap!
  • Five Playful Ways to Work on Listening and Following Directions
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Child Development
  • Speech Therapy
  • Resources
  • About My Life (Blog)

Copyright © 2023 · Swank WordPress Theme By, PDCD