Step Three: Encourage All Effort
1. Introduction
With all your repetition, you will start to notice that your baby starts signing back after a couple of months. Congratulations! The next step is to reward any effort to sign back with lots of encouragement. You want to reward your baby for signing so that she will be motivated to keep developing her signing skills. At first, learning to sign is challenging for a baby, and little encouragement from you is needed to keep them engaged.
We being this section by discussing approximation and how to recognize the initial signs. Next we look the three stages of signing, as a child progresses from merely imitating your gestures to actual understanding, and then active communication. We then show you some techniques for providing the calm encouragement that is most effective.
2. Approximations
At first the signs your baby makes will only be an approximation of the proper baby signs. Babies don’t have the motor skills to do the signs perfectly, so they will make approximations. These approximations are usually a less detailed version of the full sign. At first they will be barely recognizable, and parents often miss these first attempts at signing if they aren’t on the look out.
Approximations tend to involve the gross motor muscles, but will be missing a lot of the fine detail. For example, the sign for daddy is properly performed be tapping the thumb on the forehead. Your baby’s first approximations will usually look more like they are just flailing their arms up and down. The baby may also use both hands instead of just one hand.
Timing of the initial signs is often delayed. The baby will often sign back as much as 60 seconds after you initiated signing. It takes a lot of effort for baby to control their arms and hands, and so you will often see a look of intense concentration as the baby thinks about signing, followed by a burst of hand movements.
In the video above, note how Kennedy signs more (at the 0:30 mark), she uses only one hand instead of both. The movement is much too big and uses the gross motor muscles in the arm, and not the fine muscles in the fingers. And, Kennedy’s signing is a few seconds delayed. But, it is still quite clearly an attempt to do the sign for more, which her mom is rewarding by acknowledging the attempt and giving her what she wants.
These approximations and delays are perfectly normal. They are the way that all babies start to sign. With practice signing will become more precise and more prompt as their fine motor skills develop. You encourage your baby to improve their signing by recognizing and rewarding their approximations.
3. Three Stages of Signing
You will usually see three stages of progression when starting with baby sign language:
Stage One: Imitation
The first step toward signing is that your baby will start copying your signs. A normal part of a baby’s development is to copy the gestures of the people around her. So when you are regularly performing the signs, your baby will naturally copy you and make the signs right back. While she does not understand what her signs means at this stage, she is learning how to perform the signs making this a useful first step.
Your baby will think this is grand fun.
Stage Two: Association
In the second stage, your baby will start to associate the sign with some concept. She may start making the right sign when something triggers the association. For example, she will sign dog whenever the dog is nearby. At this stage your baby has made the connection between the word and the concept.
Stage Three: Communication
The last stage is when your baby starts using the signs to communicate something to you. For example, if she is hungry, she may sign milk. In this last step, your baby has learned that she can use the signs to communicate her needs and feelings to you. This is the stage where signing really starts to get useful.
4. Motivating Signing
When you see baby signing, particularly those initial attempts to sign, you want to encourage their effort. There are many ways you can reward the signing as follows:
Acknowledgment
The most powerful thing you can do to reward your baby for signing is to acknowledge their attempt to communicate. Knowing that you understood what they are saying is a tremendously rewarding experience for a young child. So if your baby attempts the sign for cat, give them your full attention and repeat back to them the word cat as well as the sign cat.
Emotion
Respond to baby with enthusiasm, showing that you are excited about their signing. Show emotions, and make exaggerated sounds and gestures to show that you are happy. You want to project a calm positive energy to show baby that they are doing something important. In much the same way you work hard to get a giggle out of your baby, your baby will want to work hard to keep getting this emotional reaction from you.
Gratification
Where possible, if baby makes a request via sign language, you want to gratify the request. So if baby signs water, get baby some water. This will not always be practical – but where it is possible give baby what she wants.
When you can’t get baby what she wants, still provide acknowledgement and emotion as positive reinforcement – it is rarely a good idea to ever ignore an attempt to sign. This creates more frustration for baby, because not only are they not getting what they want, but they are also not feeling understood
Next Page: Step Four – Expand Vocabulary
Previous Page: Step Three – Encourage
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)
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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)
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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.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I am originally from Quebec and currently live in Miami with my husband and 7 months old son Ryan. We are about to get Ryan started on baby sign language. We plan to move back to Quebec in a few months. I know that there is ASL and CSL. I would like to know if there are different versions of baby sign language too?
ADMIN – Hi Valentina,
Baby sign language does not have any official language, and different teachers will use different sign languages, and some will even create their own sign language.
Baby Sign Language as taught on this site follows American Sign Language (ASL). Nearly all the signs we use are purely from ASL. We do this primarily because most of our audience is American – so if you do want to go on with signing in the United States then ASL is the best way to get started. And secondly, ASL is the most widely used English based sign language so there are lots of resources available to help you teach your child (videos, flash cards, etc). Finally, ASL is the most commonly used for baby sign language so is what most babysitters, nannies and pres-schools use.
Other English speaking nations use other sign languages, the British uses British Sign Language (BSL). In Quebec, a french based sign language (LSQ) is the dominant sign language. (English speaking parts of Canada tend to use ASL)
My advice to parents in choosing their sign language is that if you live or plan to live in another country and you want your child to continue with their signing beyond childhood, you might consider teaching the local sign language. If you don’t intend to go on with signing, ASL is a good choice because of the abundance of resources. And whatever you choose, don’t stress the decision, your child can easily switch later on.
Ladies, thank you so much for this incredible service you are providing. It makes so much more sense to see the signs via video! I can’t wait to try these out with my son. Many, many thanks.
I am mightily impressed. This is good stuff. It is logical. Kids OUGHT to communicate with mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, with baby sign language prior to being able to do much with their voice. I think this is SO important that I plan to start pestering Florida school districts that the districts need to find a way to encourage baby sign language at the earliest possible age…with the district’s main goal being the improvement of the child’s spoken vocabulary. This is SO logical that I kick myself for not having suggested baby sign language with my first 2 granddaughters. I started looking at your websites and other related sites only after granddaughter #2 used the “more” sign when, at age 1.5 she wanted more food, at times when I was the babysitter! NOW grandpa will be using every opportunity to teach baby sigbn language to granddaughter #3 who is about 10 weeks old. Grandma and I will spend New Year’s Eve with her, doing some baby sign language as part of the celebration…while all the other adults are gone. (Now…on what I think is a related subject…I do think there are other examples where we teach things in the wrong order. Just as we should recognize that a child normally can probably sign before speaking…I think we should also teach typing, aka keyboarding, prior to making the poor kid hold a pencil and attempt to draw difficult shapes. Signing should come before speech. Similarly typing should come before printing.) From doting grandpa, Andy Johnson, Jacksonville
oops. P.S. When I was a member of the legislature, I was often involved in issues relating to the hearing impaired. (I was the sponsor of legislation which created the Florida Council of the Hearing Impaired back in 1979.) I think we waste lots of energy in Florida schools with sign language as the completion of the language requirement. BUT if one purpose in learning ASL in school could be for people who want to work with infants, baby sign language, then ASL in school would take on a better justification than merely serving as the easiest way to kill the language requirement.