Give your child a head start in language development

If my baby signs will he still learn to talk?

Yes, of course he will!  If your baby crawls he will still want to walk.  It’s just the next step.  Communication works the same way.  Your baby is desperate to let you know what he wants.  We always say the word as we sign. Signs are never used alone and your baby will be encouraged to communicate verbally.  In actual fact, baby signing encourages you to talk to your baby more.  The use of gesture is a natural form of early communication and will only boost your baby’s vocabulary.

How soon will my baby begin to sign?

Other signing organisation will tell you that you should start to sign with your baby once they can hold a rattle or other toy and they start to have some movement and dexterity with their hands, which is around 6 months.

The interesting thing is that the reason other signing organisation tell you to wait to start signing to your baby only when they can begin to sign back is because most parents need to see results or they will not continue with baby sign.  The fact is your baby is taking in everything and even though they may not be physically capable of signing, their ability to understand signs develops much earlier.

It’s the same with talking.  Even though babies cannot talk for around the first 18 months of their life, most parents will happily chat away to their baby from newborn, this is how they learn and baby sign is no different.

When will my baby start signing back to me?

As a rule babies may make their first attempt at signing at about 8 months old and then have a signing explosion at around 13 months old where they start making lots and lots of new signs.  Some sign sooner and some later, but there's no rush, your baby will sign when he or she is ready. 

What happens to the signs as my baby starts talking?

Your baby will use signs and immature speech together for a while.  As speech improves, signs drop away until they are probably dropped altogether. 

My baby is 18 months old, is this too old to start signing?

At 18 months your toddler is probably already saying all sorts of things, in gesture and in words.  However there are probably quite a few spoken words that all sound the same, or are unclear or there may be lots of words that are not being used yet, so using signs can be very helpful at what can be a very frustrating stage for your toddler.  Signing is fun and can be a great encouragement, so increasing your toddlers vocabulary with a few signs is a very good idea.

How much will it cost?

Classes are £5 per session. There are 2 courses stage 1 and stage 2 which are each  11 weeks long and are payable in advance.

So, come along, meet other mums and have a lot of fun.

For more details please contact Tracy on 07768 447657

or email babysign@btinternet.com

© 2009 Tracy Baker Singalong Baby Sign