Benefits of Baby Sign Language
Bonding. I remember when my daughter was born that I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking. I just could not wait until she was two years old when she would start talking. I didn’t want to miss anything that was going on in the interim. So I came to Baby Sign Language as an activity we could do together to start communicating.
Baby Sign Language gives you an sneak peak into the head of your baby. It allows your baby to show you some of the things she is thinking and let you share some of your thoughts with her. All that plus a healthy dose of fun, helps you and your baby grow even closer.
Research on baby sign language has confirmed that signers enjoy a stronger parental bond. In fact some early childhood education programs have started teaching baby sign language to infants and their parents to help get their relationship off to the best possible start.
Reduced Fussiness. A lot of fussiness is caused by a baby wanting something but not being able to communicate his need to you. When your baby can’t communicate, he gets frustrated and has little fussy spells. This can leave you frustrated because you want to help but don’t know what to do. When your baby can tell you when they are hungry, thirsty, need a diaper change, or are hurt you can help. Even when there is nothing you can do – like if your baby’s leg hurts – it seems to soothe their pain if they can just share it with you. A lot of parents report that signing babies have a much easier time with the terrible twos.
Research confirms that signing babies have fewer temper tantrums. Perhaps not surprisingly, the adults feel better too – with the parents of signing children reporting feeling more positive about their child.
Development. Baby sign language is a good structured activity to help babies develop mentally. Baby sign language acts as a stepping stone to full speech, giving your baby an opportunity to exercise her communication muscles before she can fully vocalize.
Studies shows that babies who have early exposure to signing, have larger speaking vocabularies earlier. They even do better years after they have stopped signing. One study showed that eight year olds who learned baby sign language as infants had an average IQ 12 points higher than non-signers.
If you found this information useful, check out our award winning baby sign language kit. It includes more than 600 signs, covers advanced teaching methods for faster results, and includes fun teaching aids like flash cards.
The Deluxe Baby Sign Language Kit, bundles together everything you need to get started with signing in one box, at a steep discount. The kit includes: (1) Baby Sign Language Guide Book; (2) Baby Sign Language Dictionary: (3) Baby Sign Language Flash Cards; and (4) Baby Sign Language Wall Chart.
Baby Sign Language Guide Book shows you how to teach your child how to sign. The book begins with a Quick Start Guide that will teach you your first signs and having you ready to sign in 30 minutes. As your baby progresses, you can delve into more advanced topics like combining signs to make phrases, using props, and transitioning to speech. (Regularly $19.95)
Baby Sign Language Dictionary contains over 600 signs including the most common words, the alphabet and numbers. The dictionary helps you expand your child’s vocabulary, and has the breadth of coverage that lets you follow any child’s natural interests. Each sign is illustrated with two or more diagrams, showing you the starting position, the ending position, and intermediate motion. This makes learning new signs easy. (Regularly $19.95)
Baby Sign Language Flash Cards include 52 sturdy board (4×6 inches) flash cards, covering a variety of basic signs. The flash cards allow you to teach words, such as animal names, that Baby is not exposed to in everyday life. The face of the flash cards shows the word and image for the child. The back of the flash cards show how the sign is performed, a handy reminder for the adult. (Regularly $24.95)
Baby Sign Language Wall Chart includes 22 basic signs, and makes a handy reminder for caregivers. The Baby Sign Language Wall Chart covers basic signs, like eat, drink, and sleep. Hang the poster in Baby’s Nursery to help babysitters, or other occasional caregivers learn and decode the most commonly used baby signs. (Regularly $9.95)
100% Signing Guarantee
Your baby signs to your complete satisfaction, or you get a full refund.
No questions. No time limits. No regrets.
Baby Sign Language Guide Book
Learn the best techniques for effectively teaching baby sign language. Including:
• Quick Start Guide – learn the first 10 signs and the basic principles required to start teaching your baby to sign (Chapter 1).
• Advanced Teaching Methods – use teaching aids like books, flash cards, and toys to keep lessons interesting and challenging (Chapter 5).
• Phrases – teach your baby to combine signs and communicate more complex thoughts (Chapter 6).
• Taming the Terrible Twos – reduce frustration and tantrums by enabling your toddler to communicate (Chapter 7).
• Transitioning to Speech – use sign language to expedite and improve speech development (Chapter 8).
Sarah learned her first 10 signs at six month and it made our lives much easier. Instead of screaming, she could tell us when she was hungry, thirsty, or tired. She learned another 50 signs by nine months and that was a blast. Now she is talking much earlier than the other children in her preschool and we think it is because of her signing.
We can’t imagine missing out on all the little things she shared with baby sign language. Thank You!
- Bennett & Melissa Z., CA
Pediatrician Approved
“It’s easy to see why so many parents swear by it, why child care centers include it in their infant and toddler classrooms, and why it has become so commonplace as an activity of daily learning … we approve.”
Heading Home With Your Newborn (Second Edition)
Dr. Laura A. Jana MD FAAP & Dr .Jennifer Shu MD FAAP
American Academy of Pediatricians
Baby Sign Language Flash Cards
52 high quality flash cards (4 x 6″). Featuring:
• Clean Images – real life pictures, isolated on a white background to make learning easier.
• Signs on the Rear – diagrams on the back illustrating the signign motion in case you need a reminder.
• Baby Friendly – printed on thick stock so little hands can play with the cards and they will live to play another day.
I was thrilled to see how easy the signs were for Abigail (3) and Eden (21 months). Much to my surprise they could figure out many of the signs from the flashcards on their own.
- Carrie P., TX
Study: Signing Enriches
“The Sign Training group told us over and over again … [signing] made communication easier and interactions more positive.”
“these data demonstrate clearly that … [signing] … seems to “jump start” verbal development”
“can facilitate and enrich interactions between parent and child”
Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early Language Development
Dr. Susan Goodwyn, Dr. Linda Acredolo, & Dr. Catherine Brown
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
Baby Sign Language Dictionary
The Baby Sign Language Dictionary includes :
• Words (500+) – learn signs for nearly every topic of interest.
• Letters – sign the alphabet and teach basic spelling.
• Numbers (0-10) – introduce counting and basic mathematics.
Nicholas loves his signs and it lights up our lives every time he shares one of his little secrets. He is so observant, and we would miss it all without the signs.
- Donald Family, NY
Baby Sign Language Wall Chart
The full color wall chart (24 x 36″) includes 17 everyday signs. Use the wall chart for:
• Caregivers – help babysitters and other caregivers learn the basic signs so they can understand baby’s signs.
• Family – teach family the basic signs so they can join in the fun.
Everyone thought I was nuts when I started. A month later, all my friends saw Michelle’s first signs. Then they wanted to know how they could start.
Michelle is talking now and doesn’t sign much anymore, but it gave her a headstart over other children her age. Everyone says she talks like a three year old. Now she is helping me teach her baby brother Jordan how to sign.
- Adelaide S., CA
Study: Better in School
A group of second graders who signed as infants, performed better academically than a control group six years later. The signers had a 12 IQ point advantage.
Longterm Impact of Symbolic Gesturing During Infancy at Age 8
Dr. Linda P. Acredolo (Professor, U.C. Davis)
Dr. Susan W. Goodwyn (Professor, California State University)
100% No Regret Guarantee
Your baby loves signing, or a full refund.
As you can tell, we love Baby Sign Language. It transformed the way we interacted with our children, and we want every family to have the opportunity. Baby Sign Language will make a difference for your child. Give it a try.
If for any reason you aren’t completely blown away, we will cheerfully give you a complete refund, including standard shipping. No time limit. We are that confident!
Subscribe to Baby Sign Language
Subscribe via RSS and be be notified when we post new blog updates!
Share This Page
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi…just want to thank you for the awesome information on your site.
Also want to say that though I don’t know her (your?) name….the woman who is in the video clips is such a pure joy to learn from….so natural and enthusiastic that one can’t help but get excited about signing. I am so eager to start with my grandbabies- and hope to involve, inspire and encourage their parents (my own children!) to start signing now!.
Thanks for this wonderful site.
This is a WONDERFUL site! My daughter is 22 months and I started signing with her at 4 months. I took an introductory class from a lady in our community and I started signing to my daughter that day and haven’t stopped. She did her first sign (water) at 9 months, but she was understanding at 6 months. It has been the best thing EVER! We both enjoy it and people are amazed. I know for a fact that it helps her feel more in control and more a part of everything that’s going on, plus it gives her great pride to see us get excited every time she learns a new sign or practices an old one. I only wish I had known about this when my son was little!
Thank you for being a great resource for vocabulary and a place where I can send people who have questions or are a bit skeptical.
And…the videos are great!
Thank you!
This has been a very useful tool in helping the communication between us (Mom and Dad) and our beautiful little boy. We learned about this through a program offered in our area that helps new families get started and have been using it since our little man was about 9 months old, I was skeptical at first but as I started seeing the results I was completly hooked. Thank you for provideing this education for families. We need to find a way to get the word out more so that other people can use this tool.
Just found your site! I’m a pediatric SLP and this is a wonderful resource for families who want find signs to use with their little ones! :)
What a great resource! Thank you so much for putting together such a wonderful website on baby sign language. My daughter is 4 months old and we can’t wait to get started. The videos are excellent learning tools for parents/family members.
Love your site! I’m a librarian and will be sharing this site with the moms of my babies and toddlers during our weekly programs. I signed with my son and it was a fantastic experience. He was able to tell us with signs what he needed before he could say the words, which cut down on his frustration level AND ours. Most of his first words were of those things he learned to sign (milk, eat, more). People marvel at his communication skills at 2 years old and I attribute much of that to his early language experience with signing. We’ve just started introducing signs with our 6-month-old daughter and I’m optimistic the experience will be just as successful!
If I teach my baby sign language, I am scared that it will take them a longer time to talk and instead of speaking they will revert to only using sign language.
ADMIN – Hi Daniella,
That is a common concern, that learning BSL will lead to delayed verbalization since the baby can get by with signing and does not want to put the effort into signing.
The research that has been done all seems to suggest the opposite. Babies that learn to sign speak earlier and develop bigger vocabularies faster. In fact, BSL is now commonly used by speech pathologists with children having difficult speaking to help them progress to speech.
When a baby signs it is a bridge to full speaking that helps them develop some of the mental processes that will be used when they speak. In much the same way that crawling helps a baby to walk, baby signs helps a baby understand the basics of communication. When they start speaking they will sign simultaneously, which lets you figure out what they are saying and avoids frustration. When their word pronunciation is good, they naturally drop signing and just use speech because it is quicker and faster (in the same way that a toddler that can walk with stop crawling).
Hello, I love your site. My grandson was just diagnosed with Autism PDD and he is not speaking yet at age 3 YR. the Therapist suggested we start signing and I needed to learn the basic signs to begin with him. the only thing I think would help your site is if you could print the entire flash card series in a group instead of printing them one at a time. Again Thanks
I am from Australia and we have AUSLAN but the resources available here are very expensive. i love this web site, and was amazed at the amount of information on the site. i have two children, my daughter is 2 and half, and son 10 months. when my daughter was about 6 months i had heard about baby sign and the benefits. I wanted to learn it with her but i didn’t know what resources were available, and i didn’t want to spend a lot of money i didn’t have. But i have started teaching both my children from your site and my daughter loves it. Thankyou so much for putting up the site and i can’t wait till your BSL kit is available, and i would like to know if it would be possible order it from Australia. thanks again.
ADMIN – Hi Sam,
Thanks for the kind words. We do plan to offer the kit internationally.