Essential Questions

Tumblon has a history of encouraging baby sign language. This guest post from Mey Lau of BabySignLanguage.com continues that tradition:

Vocabularies and Happiness
You may hear parents who use sign language for babies in their household talk about the wonderful vocabularies their children developed, but it is likely their testimonials about averted tantrums that raises the most interest. The research proving benefits to a baby’s language development and gross motor skills is reason enough to give a head start by teaching your baby to sign. Yet, even if the research wasn’t available, it is hard to believe someone would pass up on the ability to communicate with their child better and sooner.

Teaching baby to sign allows those early forming opinions to surface through fun signs rather than demanding vocalizations. Toddlers quickly develop likes, dislikes and opinions on everything from when and what they feel they should eat to what toy they prefer. They have messages to send, but a limited means to communicate them without the assistance of baby sign language. BSL bridges that gap while keeping tot’s tempers to a minimum; when you have a sign at your finger tips, there is no need to resort to the tantrum to make your message heard.

Clearer Communication
Even when your little angel does start talking, “ba-ba” may be used to mean blanket, bottle, bye-bye and even used for calling the dog... whew, thank goodness the sign is different for each of these. Imagine being able to ask your pre-verbal child “Are you thirsty?” and not only is the
answer “yes”, but baby specifies a want for “milk.”

In almost a blink, your baby has moved from newborn to toddler! And before you know it, your toddler will be talking, but you don’t have to wait for such a milestone to bond through the activity of signing. You can have confidence that you and your tot can understand one as early
as possible. Most children will start signing back to you within two months if you start when they are 8 months old.

Getting Started
Starting sooner can help too, but remember to start slowly. Pick no more than five signs rather than jumping right into baby sign language flash cards and an advanced vocabulary. You and baby will soon be ready to expand once you both see how fun and useful this pre-verbal
communication resource can be! And when your toddler calmly signs a request for a sippy cup of juice, you may find yourself dishing out your own testimonials of prevented tantrums to the future parents in your circle of friends.

Contributed by Mey Lau of BabySignLanguage.com