Speaking of benefits of signing with your baby!
The Benefits of Signing
Signing at Home
• Signing allows your infant to clearly communicate specific thoughts.
• Signing reduces frustration for your baby – and for you!
• Signing gives you a window into your child’s mind and personality.
• Signing won’t delay verbal language development – in fact, it may accelerate it. Research shows that
babies who sign usually start to talk sooner and develop larger vocabularies than non-signing babies.
• Signing reinforces verbal language by adding visual and kinesthetic emphasis to auditory input.
• Signing children tend to be more interested in books.
• Signing builds on babies’ natural tendency to use gestures.
Signing in Childcare Settings
• Signing helps to lower noise levels in preschool classrooms by reducing frustrated screaming and
crying.
• Signing minimizes stress and frustration for caregivers who are responsible for meeting the needs of
many children at once.
• Signing reduces the “guesswork” in meeting each child’s maintenance needs resulting in more
available time for positive, developmental interactions.
• Caregivers report that signing significantly reduces problems with biting. Take away the frustration
and biting goes with it.
• The use of American Sign Language gives children with special needs the opportunity to interact in
a meaningful way with typically developing children. General acceptance of children with special
needs is greatly enhanced.
