I’m attempting baby sign language again with my child. I wasn’t consistent, and he wasn’t interested when he was an infant, but now that he gets frustrated when he can’t communicate we might actually get somewhere with sign language. This is a very timely guest post about the benefits of baby sign language mom can use to engage communication with baby.
Taking care of a baby’s health is very important; but equally important is focusing on your baby’s intellectual development. One possible way to boost your baby’s brainpower is to teach your baby sign language.
Benefits of baby sign language
When thinking about sign language and babies, thoughts come to mind of genius children who can speak multiple languages and play the piano before they are hardly out of infancy. Many people associate teaching their babies sign language with greater chances of boosting their child’s “smarts”. While there is no concrete proof of this, overall it has been seen that babies who were taught sign language do generally have some level of academic and development advantages compared to the babies who were not taught to sign.
Teaching sign language to a baby is often associated with overachieving parents. This is not true, teaching babies sign language just means that you are giving your child an added advantage. It also helps increase language skills overall when it is time to learn to talk.
Potential for greater IQ
Research on babies who use sign language has shown that they might develop IQs higher than those of their non-signing peers. However, this boost in IQ may not be a result of baby sign language alone. Higher IQ in these children could be attributed to other factors involved.
Parents who teach their babies sign language are normally the types who take a great interest in their children’s education and academic progress. Such parents may encourage and emphasize education greatly in their homes; the added emphasis and encouragement does contribute to higher IQs.
Teaching babies sign language has advantages other than a significant increase in IQ. Baby sign language contributes to your baby’s wellness and does in their development. It also helps in certain situations when you want your kid to be more confident and overwhelm like on a result day, reaction to a surprise, or getting over the fear of the doctors.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Greater Self Expression
Baby sign language allows babies to better express themselves. Babies who can sign can begin to convey their feelings and thoughts much earlier than non-signing babies. This may allow for greater personality development far earlier than the norm because babies who can sign are eventually more outspoken and confident. By teaching your infant to sign you may enable them to have a better understanding of the validity of their feelings earlier and also the fact that expression of these feelings is acceptable.
Multilingual Skills
Teaching a baby sign language has the same advantages as that of teaching a new language. Studies at the University of Washington have proven this fact. Since babies get the same benefits from sign language as that of learning a second language it means that such babies reap the advantages of being multilingual. By being multilingual you get a better understanding of language in general which helps develop stronger comprehension, writing, and reading skills.
Many bilingual families have experienced that teaching their baby sign language led to a noted improvement in their child’s comprehension of the languages spoken in their home.
Did you enjoy reading about teaching babies sign language benefits for the littles and the family?
Author:
Zyana Morris is a passionate health and lifestyle blogger who loves to write about prevailing trends. She is a featured author at various blogs in the health and fitness industry. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Angela K. Hill says
The first thing that Jack ever really communicated to us was through sign language that he learned from school. We were sitting down for dinner and he moved his hands together in a very specific way. I don’t know how we figured it out, but he was asking for more! It was the coolest thing!
Julie says
That’s awesome that Jack learned that in school! H just gets mad at me when I try to show him a sign with his hands. He’s like “AHH don’t touch me with that communicating mumbo jumbo. I want to yell, not use language” – totally what he says.
Angela K. Hill says
Hahaha! He’s got the right idea!