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Swan Valley BearsDid you know you could teach babies sign language? They can communicate with you before they learn to talk.
My daughter started to teach Sullivan signs when he was 3 months old. He had pain in his eyes from the infant glaucoma and she hoped that she could teach him to let her know when he was hurting. Now, at 9 months he is communicating with her. After she thought she was done nursing this morning, he signed "more" and "milk".
She talks about this in her latest blog entry where she also has links to a website about baby signing. She is an amazing writer and I so enjoy reading her blogs.
http://theviewfrommybranch.blogspot.com/
By the way, Sullivan was featured in a newspaper article as a sucess story for infant glaucoma. Here's a link to the article.
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/i … ml?ID=6731
I can't resist another picture of my amazing boy: (I know, sorry, but I am a proud Nana)
Whoops, couldn't resist adding this one.
Hi Patty! 
I've heard about this before but not known anyone personally who's tried it. As a soon to be Nana, I'm educating myself on all sorts of things that we didn't know about when we raised our own children. I ordered a Dunstan Baby Language CD so I can try to decipher the different cries a baby makes. I'll have to look more into the sign language as well. Isn't all this stuff wildly fascinating?!!!
Your precious grandie is just cute as the dickens!!
Warmest and biggest Nana bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Swan Valley BearsThanks, Aleta. I think he's pretty stinkin' cute too.
All this new baby stuff is quite amazing. I think Tracy tried the baby language to decipher the cries too, but the signing has prooven to be quite successful.
How fun is that !?!
I forgot, here's a link to the baby sign web site: http://signingbaby.com/main/index.php
Doodlebears(I know, sorry, but I am a proud Nana)
And rightly so, just look at that beautiful boy.
Now I'm off to read the links.
Hugs, Jane.
Sullivan is a little sweetie and you must be a proud Nana.
Hugs
Carolyn
Newcastle, OntarioPatty,
Your grandson is adorable! I love them at that age - sooooo cute. I am aware of the signing because I have a friend who taught American Sign Language. Our old neighbour's daughter, Rebecca, was autistic and they were trying to teach her means of communicating and they decided to try ASL. My daughter and I used to babysit Rebecca so we took the classes that our friend taught. It was amazing to see Rebecca learn to sign and what was even more astounding was that once she had learned to sign a word, then she would try to say it. She eventually learned to talk normally and is now finishing high school. I can still remember a lot of signs and all of my alphabet. We taught Corson some of the basic signs and he still remembers the "more cookie, please". 
One thing I would caution your daughter about is that it sometimes delays speech in toddlers if they use signing a lot, because they find no reason to try and talk, when they can communicate with signing. My friend who taught ASL, also taught it to her toddler daughter and they had a terrible time with her speech. She would sign for what she wanted because speech was too much effort. They had to abandon the signing completely to force her to talk. I will say it comes in very handy in public places when your kids are misbehaving! You can stop kids in their tracks when they know what you are saying, even if it's silent. :crackup:
hugs,
Brenda
My daughter who has a daughter 15 mos old taught her to sign for thinks like milk, change my diaper, put on and take off shoes etc. It was really cute but I had not thought about the possibility of it delaying her speech. Will have to make my daughter aware of this
Hugs
Gail :hug: :hug: :hug:
Swan Valley BearsThanks for the heads up, Brenda. I hadn't thought of that either. I'll let Tracy know.
I taught Madison to sign. I started her at 6 months and she signed her first "word" milk at 8 months. She and her little boy friend both learned together. His Mom and I taught classes to other Moms. He spoke very early and still has an advanced vocabulary. My child naturally is a quiet child, not making coos or babbling noises and she flourished with sign, but was slower at saying words, but still hit all milestones.
I think when they speak may not be directly affected by signing, but if they are naturally quieter, they may seem to be slower to Speak. I LOVED signing, she did not get frustrated easily or cry or whine, because she'd sign "please, more, drink, food, mommy, daddy, dog, cat, horse, pig, dirty, thank you, sleepy, hungry, bath, dance, music, share, friends, cracker, cheese, book, drive, play, fly, cookie, apple, flower, beach" All way earlier than she'd be able to say those words, so we communicated so much better so much sooner - I loved it and once she learned to say the word, she stopped signing it. - except she will still sign and say PLEASE when she REALLY wants something!
Swan Valley BearsKirsten, that's awesome ! ! ! I'll make sure my daughter sees your post.
