Signing Stories-An Update on Ted Using Baby Sign Language at 20 Months Old

What a difference five months make. We first introduced you to baby Ted & his mom Cam on this baby sign language video featured as part of our signing stories.

What we love the most about Ted & Cam is how they wonderfully incorporate baby sign language into daily activities. In fact, baby sign language has become second nature to the way they communicate. At 20 months of age Ted is already verbal but baby sign language adds a great deal of emotional and expressive nuances to the way Ted communicates the way he perceives the world, his needs and his wants.

Ted’s baby sign language vocabulary is extensive and it includes objects, emotions, colors and everything else in between. In this video you will see Ted sign words such as elephant, bus, fish, flag, hot,help, ice cream, kiss, little, monkey, nose, on, open etc.

Ted Signing

In Cam’s own words, here is the latest update:

“Ted’s first sign was “more,” and he kept true to his word. By the time he was 20 months and started transitioning to spoken English, he was consistently using about 200 signs. I was a little worried he might give it up as his language skills developed, so I tried recording as many signs as I could. Unfortunately, Ted is not the performing type. As soon as he sees a camera, he bolts or stops doing whatever it was I hoped to record. That’s the reason why the videos are shaky. Most often than not, I had to set up a situation, turn the camera on behind my back, and hope Ted would walk into my “trap.” He did. 170 times!

That was half a year ago, and his signs are still going strong. He’s picked up a few more, including some made-up ones (like the “pig” and “rabbit” in the video – if I’m too slow in providing a sign, he comes up with his own), but the rate at which we’re learning now has slowed down considerably. He’s just such a chatterbox! I credit sign language for that. He meets the world with unwavering enthusiasm and confidence that come from the knowledge that he’s going to be heard and understood. Best of all, ever since we started using signs in earnest, we haven’t had a single tantrum. It would have never happened without you. Thank you so very much!”

Cam’s teaching strategy reminds us that is it super important to constantly stimulate little ones with new concepts. Ted surprised Cam by creating his own signs in order to meet his need to communicate new concepts and ideas. If you are the parent of a curious toddler your opportunities for discovery and expanded verbal and non-verbal vocabulary are endless!

Thank you Cam & Ted for this lovely update. If you want to share your video & baby sign language story with us you can learn more about it here.

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