Using Baby Signs to Communicate With Your Child

When you begin teaching baby sign language to your child, remember that you can’t start with complex ideas, no matter how deceptively simple the signs themselves appear. In everything else, you’re already aware that the baby is beginning very simply, learning every new movement, food, and even each new skill from scratch. Teaching baby signing must progress in the same way, as the child’s motor skills and intellectual capacity both gradually increase.

Not surprisingly, the first baby sign language will pretty much inevitably have to do with eating. Since eating, sleeping and being comfortable are the main preoccupations of babies as they start their life journey, learning baby signing will occur most readily with signs that relate to those things. So you might start your instruction by using a sign for “eat,” placing your fingers together and moving them toward your mouth while simultaneously saying the word “eat” out loud. Remember that the signs are meant to transition into speech eventually, so it will be helpful to associate the signs with the vocalizations.

When “eat” is comprehended, the signs for various foods could then be added. You could demonstrate signs for things such as “milk” for instance. After you add solid foods, such as cereal or carrots, you would incorporate the signs for those.

Take note that you don’t necessarily have to use something such as American Sign Language, that is to say, ASL baby sign language, but can create your own signs to help the baby realize what the symbols are referring to. Your little one may even begin developing their own signs for certain things, and if you comprehend them, you can use them too.

Remember that you’re starting with the most basic, concrete baby sign language and working up from there. When it’s clear that the baby has grasped the initial word, perhaps related to food or sleep, you can add other words that go further and build on it. At this point, for example, you might expand outward from “food” and start adding names of particular foods as they are progressively introduced into the baby’s diet. Baby signing will progress gradually, in much the same way as all other experiences in the child’s life.