Children's Health Newborns and Toddlers

Hearing Babies Learn How to Communicate with Signs

Summary & Participants

Sign language may help your little one communicate before he can talk.

Medically Reviewed On: August 11, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Gregory has been signing since he was 10 months old, even though he’s not deaf.

ALINA, GREGORY’S MOTHER: It was particularly helpful between the ages of twelve months and eighteen months where he had some words, but they all sounded the same. For instance, the words "book," "bath" and "block" were all "bon." It was very helpful to have the signs, because "bon" with a sign would be more clear.

ANNOUNCER: Now his baby sister is learning too. Parents like Alina are finding it helps their little ones communicate before they can speak.

LORA HELLER, TEACHES SIGN LANGUAGE: The oral motor mechanism is really complicated. There's so many muscles involved, the lips, the teeth, the tongue, the palate. The children learn to use their hands at a much earlier age. So if they know a sign for what they want, their hands are ready.

ANNOUNCER: Classes that teach hearing parents how to sign with their babies are growing in popularity. Research suggests these kids may develop speech faster than those who don’t learn to sign.

LORA HELLER, TEACHES SIGN LANGUAGE: It motivates them and enhances their interest in and their ability to communicate with speech. It really gets them ready for it

ANNOUNCER: There may be other benefits as well.

LORA HELLER, TEACHES SIGN LANGUAGE: Research does show that, down the road, children who have signed as babies have a higher IQ than their peers. And there's a lot of research that shows that using sign language with hearing children as they're learning to read can benefit their reading development and their understanding of new vocabulary.

ALINA, GREGORY’S MOTHER: There's also the fact that you can discipline them from across the room. If somebody is doing something they shouldn't be, you can sign "stop" without having to scream it across the playground.

STEFANIE, MOTHER: It was really fun to learn and, you know, for the whole family. It's kind of like a secret language. You know, and we still use it for that when we don't want to say certain things out loud.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily.