Welcome to Signing With Your Baby!
If this is your first time here, I would like to show you around a little bit. To your left, under Learn How, you will see the various sections of the site - from getting started signing to our wonderful photo gallery full of real signing babies.
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Signing with babies -- is it the new fad? Something only power moms who want superbabies do? A sure-fire way to form a speech delay?
You may already know that the answer to all of the above questions is a resounding NO.
People have been signing with their babies for years. The most common reason for doing so is an intense desire on the part of a parent or caregiver to find out exactly what is going on in a baby’s mind -- what does she need? What does she want? What does she observe? What does she think about and remember?
It is a fact that infants develop the fine muscles in their hands before they develop those required for speech, so they’re equipped to communicate with you before they can speak.
Most babies will invent their own "signs" to get their meaning across. A baby may learn to wave bye-bye, for example, or point to his or her nose when it needs a wipe. How many of us for years have asked, "How big is baby?" and watched them fling up their arms in glee at the proper moment? These are symbolic gestures that are one form of communication used by pre-verbal infants and toddlers. In addition to pointing and grunting, a baby has the potential use of his hands and body to aid in communicating his thoughts, wants, fears, needs and memories.
