Benefits

Families who use the Baby Signs^® Program know first hand that there are many benefits to using signs with their babies. Using the Baby Signs^® Program:

• Reduces tears, tantrums, & frustration
• Allows babies to share their worlds
• Increases respect for babies
• Strengthens the parent-infant bond
• Boosts self-esteem and self-confidence
• Makes learning to talk easier
• Stimulates intellectual development

Over two decades of Baby Signs^® research has shown that these proven benefits affect different areas of a child's development. 

Benefits for Cognitive Development:

Using the Baby Signs^® Program Stimulates Intellectual Development!

Baby Signs^® babies are busily using their signs to learn about the world while their non-signing peers are still waiting for the words they need to do the same. For example, a Baby Signs^® baby may label a piece of broccoli with a sign for "flower" while smiling quizzically, essentially asking, "It looks like a flower, but what is it really?" We now know that all this early learning pays off down the road. When Linda and Susan revisited the children from their government-funded study of the Baby Signs^® Program after the children had finished second grade, they found that those who had used signs when they were babies had higher IQs than those who had not!

Benefits for Language Development:

Using the Baby Signs^® Program Makes Learning To Talk Easier!

Some parents worry that encouraging their child to use signs might slow down learning to talk. Actually, the opposite is true! With the help of a large grant from the federal government, Linda and Susan were able to show that using the Baby Signs^® Program actually helps babies learn to talk. Just as a child who learns to crawl is more, rather than less motivated to learn to walk, so also a child who learns to sign more, rather than less motivated to learn to talk! The groundbreaking research completed by Baby Signs^® authors Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn showed extensive benefits for language development including:

• By the time they were 2 years-old, Baby Signs^® babies had significantly larger vocabularies than their non-signing peers.
• By the time they were three years old, their language skills were more like that of their four year-old peers.

Benefits for Social-Emotional development:

• Reduces tears, tantrums, and frustration.

By the time babies are 9 to 10 months old, they are quite capable of knowing what it is they need or want. What they don't know is how to tell us with words - which leads directly to frustration for baby and parent alike. All this changes when a baby is able to use signs. With signs like "thirsty," "hungry," "hot," and "cold" - and many, many others- at their disposal, babies can make their needs known quickly and quietly without resorting to tantrums and tears. No wonder "Decreased frustration!" is the answer we most frequently get when we ask how using the Baby Signs^® Program has changed daily life.

• Allows babies to share their worlds.

Just because babies don't talk doesn't mean they aren't paying attention to the world around them. Babies are seeing things, thinking things, even remembering things -- and with signs at their command, all this needn't remain their secret.

Parents of Baby Signs^® babies quickly learn to see the world through their baby's eyes and appreciate in a whole new way what an amazing world it is!

• Using the Baby Signs^® Program boosts self-esteem and self-confidence.

What good self-esteem boils down to for any of us is the sense that we are perceived as competent and praiseworthy in both our own eyes and in the eyes of those we love. And that's just what the ability to use signs yields. Because they can communicate effectively with their caregivers, and because their caregivers respond so positively to these communications, Baby Signs^® babies develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments that is wonderful to see.

• Using the Baby Signs^® Program strengthens the parent-child bond.

Because Baby Signs^® babies are able to communicate effectively with their caregivers, the number of negative interactions goes down and the number of positive interactions goes up. In other words, being together is a lot more fun when baby and caregiver can truly understand each other.

With signs, even very young children can "tell" their caregivers that they just saw a caterpillar, that they hear a dog barking, or that a bird just flew away.

They can let their caregivers know whether they are happy, sad, or even afraid.

In other words, life with a Baby Signs^® baby becomes a shared life --and with greater sharing comes a stronger, sweeter caregiver-infant bond.

Research

Proven Benefits from Two Decades of Scientific Research

Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, the authors of the book Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, have conducted over two decades of academic research on the use of signs with hearing babies, including a long-term study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Their ground-breaking research describes the proven benefits of the Baby Signs^® Program.

Research Highlights:

Participants

More than 140 families joined our study beginning when their babies were 11 months old. Each family was randomly assigned to a Baby Signs^® group or a non-Baby Signs^® group. The groups were equivalent at the beginning of the study in terms of the following characteristics: sex and birth order of the children, their tendency to vocalize or verbalize words, and the parents' education and income levels.

Assessments

The children were assessed using standardized language measures at 11, 15, 19, 24, 30, and 36 months. In addition, as many children as could be reFind an Instructord at age 8 were assessed using the WISC-III IQ test, the most commonly used measure of children's intelligence.

Results

At 24 months, the Baby Signs^® babies were on average talking more like 27 or 28 month olds. This represents more than a three-month advantage over the non- Baby Signs^® babies. In addition, the 24 month old Baby Signs^® babies were putting together significantly longer sentences.

At 36 months, Baby Signs^® babies on average were talking like 47 month olds, putting them almost a full year ahead of their average age-mates.

Eight year olds who had been Baby Signs^® babies scored an average of 12 points higher in IQ than their non-signing peers.

Conclusion

Using Baby Signs^® helps children develop both language and cognitive skills.

Read more about Linda and Susan's extensive research

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Starting the Baby Signs^® adventure is a very exciting experience for parents and caregivers. You may also feel like you have some questions. Here are some of the most common questions we answer about the Baby Signs^® Program.

Does Baby Signs^® use American Sign Language (ASL)?

Since the publication of the our book, many people have asked us how using the Baby Signs^® Program relates to American Sign Language, the official language of the deaf community. The simple answer is that the Baby Signs^® Program incorporates the most useful, "baby friendly" signs from American Sign Language and combines them with signs that babies and parents have created themselves and found particularly useful.

When we first began our Baby Signs^® Research, we feared that parents of hearing babies would find ASL too overwhelming to learn in the short time their baby would use signs as a bridge to speech. We also knew that young babies, with their limited motor coordination, are not be able to master many of the complex "hand shapes" of ASL. Since for hearing babies using sign language is simply a temporary bridge to speech, our goal has always been to do what is easiest for babies and their parents. Our focus has not been to teach hearing babies a second language but to provide them with the signs that they can use most easily to express their needs, thoughts, and feelings until they have words. Research has shown that signs are easiest for babies-and for parents-when they involve simple gestures and when they resemble the things they stand for (e.g. fingers to lips for eat, arms out straight like wings for airplane). The signs featured in our books and products, whether from American Sign Language or not, have been selected based on what has worked best for babies and their parents.

In revising the Baby Signs^® Dictionary, we asked parents to help us make a list of 100 things that their babies need and want to "talk" about. Using our knowledge of babies' motor development and the advice of our colleagues, we carefully evaluated the motor complexity of the ASL sign for each of these concepts. As a result, our Baby Signs^® Dictionary now includes many ASL signs that both express important concepts and are easy enough for babies to do. In many cases the Baby Signs^® Dictionary itself includes more than one sign suggestion so you can choose which works best for your baby. The Baby Signs^® Dictionary can be found in the revised edition of our book, "Baby Signs: How to talk with your baby before your baby can talk."

We strongly support the importance of American Sign Language for the deaf community and certainly understand its value for hearing children who will be communicating with deaf relatives or friends. Other parents of hearing babies may choose to opt for signs primarily from American Sign Language should they wish to teach their children this vital and rich language. By clearly indicating in the revised Dictionary which Baby Signs^® are also ASL signs, we are providing these families, too, with an easy way to get started on the road to successful communication.

Most important of all, however, is that you do what works most easily and joyfully for your family. Using the Baby Signs^® Program is about communication, understanding, and intimacy between you and your baby. In the end, whatever signs you use, you are opening the world to your baby and opening your baby's world to you.

Will baby signing discourage my baby from learning to talk?

Absolutely not! In fact, in a long-term Baby Signs^® study funded by the National Institute of Health and conducted at the University of California, we found the exact opposite to be true: Using signs actually makes it easier for babies to learn to talk.

When we compared children who had been encouraged to use signs with children from the same areas who had not, we found that the Baby Signs^® babies consistently scored higher on standardized tests of both receptive language development (how much they understand) and expressive language development (how much they can say).

• Brain development

Communicating requires thinking, planning, and decision-making (e.g., "Hmm, is that a bird or a duck?"). Each one of these activities stimulates the developing brain in important ways that benefit the child the next time around. Because signing enables children to communicate at remarkably young ages, Baby Signs^® babies enjoy a "jump start" in the development of the neural substrate of language.

• Baby Signs^® babies "pull" verbal language from adults

When babies use signs to call attention to things, adults quite naturally respond with lots of appropriate words (e.g., "Oh!You see a kitty! That's right! That is a kitty! That kitty looks just like our kitty, doesn't it!"). And we know that the more language a baby hears, the faster language acquisition proceeds.

• Baby Signs^® babies can pick the topic

We all find it easier to learn about things in which we are really interested. With signs at their disposal, babies can direct their parents' attention to objects they find fascinating rather than just listening to labels for things their parents think are important.

• Using the Baby Signs^® Program is fun!

Just as learning to crawl is so exciting that it inspires babies to learn to walk, signing whets a baby's appetite for even better ways to communicate. In other words, the motivation to learn to talk actually increases rather than decreases when you encourage your baby to communicate with signs.

When should I start Baby Signs^® communication by modeling signs?

Whenever you'd like, but certainly by 8 or 9 months. Some families begin as soon as their baby is born just to get into the habit, and that's fine. After all, we talk to babies from the day they're born (or even earlier); we just don't worry when they don't answer!

When will my baby begin actually using signs?

The answer varies enormously from baby to baby depending on a child's interest in communicating (some babies prefer climbing bookshelves to reading books), development of related skills (e.g., memory, imitation, attention), and the frequency with which parents model the signs. The most typical age range for first signs is between 10 and 14 months.

It's important to keep in mind that the younger the child is when you begin modeling - even within this age range -- the longer it will take for those first few signs to appear. After that it's "off to the races!"

Linda's son, Kai, for example, didn't produce his first sign until he was 12-months-old. However, once the proverbial "light bulb" came on, he added new signs very quickly -- about 14 new signs within 3 weeks. Eventually Kai had a repertoire of over 40 signs which he used very productively until he hit his "verbal spurt" at 19 months (from 7 to 74 verbal words in a single month!).

My baby is 20 months old and has quite a few words. Is it too late to start the Baby Signs^® Program?

Even babies with 50 to 100 word vocabularies still find some words too hard to say (e.g., hippopotamus, crocodile). As long as that's the case - no matter what the child's age - we've found that sign equivalents are welcomed.

Testimonials

"I just wanted to let you know how happy I am with the Baby Signs^® Program. Breanna is now 14 months old and knows 20 signs. My husband and I are so amazed and so is my family and of course her baby sitter....It's so nice that she can come up to us and tell us she wants more of something even though she doesn't have the words for it. Anyhow I just wanted to let you know how well Breanna is doing with her signing."
Tammy, Ontario

"Faith is 11 months old and she and I were with my mom about two weeks ago. I was planning to leave her with her grandmother while I went out to run some errands. I had nursed her about half an hour before and would have thought she was more than full.
I went into the other room to get my purse and when I came back, my mom said Faith was signing milk so she was sure she was hungry. I said 'No, she should be fine'. But she looked at me and signed milk so I did nurse her and sure enough, she was still hungry.
I hate to think of how upset or hurt Faith could have gotten when I left and didn't nurse her. My mom would never have known what she needed and it could have been a tough time for the two of them.
Thankfully, Faith could communicate with us and I was able to run my errands knowing she was happy. My mom was able to spend quality time with her as well.
Only one of many great things that have happened to us since we started signing."
Monica, British Columbia

"Anastasia just loves the video and has been signing like crazy... At home this week she signed love, hat, flower, eat, stars - and I am working on more. I just love this program... What a wonderful thing for our kids to be involved in. Thanks."
Trista, Québec

"The First Fun Signs DVD is really great. My 14 month old picked up the BATH sign from the DVD and used it the day he watched it."
Karen, Ontario

"As a language teacher, this new 'way' of opening the lines of communication earlier for my little Jakob is fantastic...I believe in the program. I may even be interested in becoming an instructor."
Marnie, Québec

"We started signing with Nolan when he was a little over 2 years old, but he was still completely non-verbal due to Apraxia. A few weeks after I had taught him the basic daily signs, 'milk' 'more' 'juice' 'sandwich' he started doing a new sign that I didn't recognize. He was putting his thumbs and fingers together in the shape of a perfect circle. He kept pointing into the kitchen and doing this sign, so I brought him over to the counter to show me what he was trying to say. He immediately grabbed an apple. So, that was Nolan's first home-made sign. He had several more but that was the most memorable. When I taught my twins to sign, I did teach them the correct sign for apple, which Nolan now uses with them, but if he is signing to me he will still use his own sign."
Karleen, California

"We taught our first son Sam to sign and it was a great experience for him and for us. We are big believers in the use of baby signs to encourage life-long links of communication between parents and children and to instill in children a sense of what they have to say matters. We have now begun to work on signing with our second son who is currently 6 months old. I would love it if other parents were inspired to talk with their children like we have with Sam."
Gabriela, Ontario

Media

October 2006 – Article in Oh Baby! Magazine written by director Lisa Smith of Stettler, Alberta. 

September 4, 2006 – Online article at www.steinbachonline.com featuring instructor Jody Arsenault of Steinbach, Manitoba. 

August 30 to September 8, 2006 – Radio interview on Mix 96, AM 1250, CHVN, and CFRY featuring instructor Jody Arsenault of Steinbach, Manitoba.

August 24, 2006 – Article in The Carillon featuring instructor Jody Arsenault of Steinbach, Manitoba.

June 21, 2006 – Television interview on Shaw's The Daily featuring instructor Layla Cochrane of Victoria, BC.

June 16, 2006 – Article in the Penninsula News Review featuring instructor Layla Cochrane of Victoria, BC.

May 2006 – Television interview on Channel 7 featuring instructor Stephanie Hadley of Grand Prairie, Alberta.

April 21, 2006 – Television interview on A-Channel News featuring instructor Layla Cochrane of Victoria, BC.

March 2006 – Newspaper article in Cranbrook Daily Townsman featuring instructor Mickey Buck of Cranbroo, BC.

February 23, 2006 – Television interview on Rogers Cable – Daytime Show featuring instructor Monique DeBrouwer of Whitby, Ontario.

February 13, 2006 – Newspaper article in Daily Herald Tribune featuring instructor Stephanie Hadley of Grand Prairie, Alberta.

February 2006 – Article in What's UP Kids magazine featuring instructor Melisa Barnard of Grimsby, Ontario.

January 2006 – Article in Oh Baby! Magazine featuring the Baby Signs^® Program written by director Lisa Smith of Stettler, Alberta.

July 2005 – Radio interview on CFRB featuring instructor Melisa Barnard of Grimsby, Ontario.

April 2004 – Television interview on CFRN News at Noon featuring director Lisa Smith, of Stettler, Alberta.