I have a story on Babble.com today about baby sign language. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts, either here or on the Babble site. I am running out the door soon to do Talk of the Nation on NPR.
I have a story on Babble.com today about baby sign language. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts, either here or on the Babble site. I am running out the door soon to do Talk of the Nation on NPR.
We did some sign language with our older kids and will probably do it with our youngest. But we did it on our own around the house with cheap resources (like stuff from the library).
Spending a bunch of money to learn a handful of signs seems silly unless the child has a reason to need to use sign language long term. But spending a few minutes a day to play with your kid at home with sign language is cool.
From the article it seems more like you are complaining about the paying for the class and the pressure to educate infants in general rather than there actually being anything wrong with sign language itself.
I was listening to past Talk of the Nation shows. Just heard your interview today. I very much enjoyed it.
I did find your comments on baby sign a bit disappointing. I would agree that we don’t need lots of expensive classes to “better” our children. But don’t dismiss the whole idea.
We too did it ourselves. We kept it simple and used signs that were part of our day to day lives. When we discovered snails in our garden we invented a sign for it and then talked about what they were doing: eating, sleeping, hiding – signs that we already used.
My wee one is now 2.5yo and verbal. It is most interesting to occasionally see her make the sign when she’s speaking. I wonder if it’s conscious or not. I wonder when she’s 20, will she unconsciously sign “more” or “help” when speaking.
Thanks,
Chrystal