Baby Sign Language & Behavior
Modern day research performed at Gallaudet University, the National Autistic Society and University of California at Davis indicates that teaching your infant sign language leads to a decrease in behavioral problems. One reason for this reduction is that a baby that can converse with his parents is less likely to throw a tantrum due to lack of communication. Babies that can sign have an easier time bonding with their parents and peers and have higher self esteem than infants who do not learn sign. Sign has even been used to help autistic children to communicate.
Other People Are Reading
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Communication Help
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Babies develop their ability to understand speech long before the ability to speak, according to a graduate in the Linguistics of American Sign Language at Gallaudet University. However, motor ability is one of the first skills a child develops. Therefore, teaching a baby to speak using his hands is not a fruitless endeavor, even if the child cannot say a word.
According to the National Autistic Society, sign language has been used as a form of communication for children with Autism for years. Autistics have trouble communicating verbally and sign language helps them to speak using their motor skills. Studies indicate that autistic children who are taught sign have fewer of the behavioral issues associated with autistic children and their lack of ability to communicate.
Extensive Vocabulary
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Teaching a baby sign language not only increases his ability to speak using non-verbal cues, it also helps to increase his spoken vocabulary. According to an article published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior in 2000, children who learned sign language developed a more expansive lexicon of expressive and receptive words than children without signing abilities. Instead of communicating
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Rapid Bonding
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In an article entitled, "Temperament in Late Talkers," published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry in 1997, Dr. Paul Kellogg suggests that children who are late talkers are more timid and have trouble bonding with peers later in life. A similar article by Doctors Irwin, Carter and Briggs-Gowan entitled, "The Social-emotional Development of 'Late-talking' Toddlers," which was published in 2002 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, states that late-talking toddlers also had parent/child relationship issues later in life.
However, infants who are taught sign language have an easier time bonding with their parents, because they are able to communicate their desires and feelings. This belief is based on a book chapter by Doctors Acredolo, Goodwyn, Horobin and Emmons, entitled, "The Signs and Sounds of Early Language Development," which was featured in Child Psychology in 1999.
High Self Esteem
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It makes sense that a child's ability to communicate with those around him would increase his sense of self worth. In more than 17 years of assessments and studies conducted by doctors Goodwyn and Acredolo at the University of California at Davis Center for Child & Family Studies, teaching hearing children sign language increases a child's self confidence and self-esteem. Children with great self esteem are less likely to bow to peer pressure or become bullies and trouble-makers later in life.
Advanced Mental Capacity
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Teaching your infant to sign also increases your child's IQ. Doctors Goodwyn and Acredelo tested signing toddlers and their non-signing counterparts, and found that toddlers who signed tested an average of 12 points higher on IQ tests than those who did not sign.
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References
- Photo Credit baby image by Olberto Mejia. from Fotolia.com
