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Baby Hands SA, sign language academy for hearing babies
What is Baby Sign Language?
It’s about communication, it’s a simple and effective way of communicating with your baby until they find the words. It is a loving and valuable tool to teach your baby to let you know she is hungry or tired - she can share what excites her, what  she is thinking or feeling.
Will signing delay my child’s speech?
One of the common myths is that if a child learns Sign Language that they will be less likely to speak, but the opposite is actually true. With signing, babies are exposed to the concepts of language at a much younger age, they are able to define concepts and should they sign the word ‘cat’ for dog they are likely to be corrected and the correct concept will be reinforced. Their attention is brought to the different characteristics of animals such as the long neck of the giraffe, the cat’s whiskers or the beak of a bird. Not only is it exciting for the parents but babies love the visual movement and shapes of the signs. Generally babies love to mimic and will learn to wave good bye and blow a kiss. Unfortunately the amount of signs they will use is limited without our help. While teaching your child to sign you are also motivated to “pour language onto them” and it motivates you to bathe them in the richness of language.

What are some of the benefits of signing?
It’s been proven through more than two decades of research that children who learnt signing as babies, have a larger vocabulary, better understanding of grammar and sounds, better literacy and more sophisticated play, it builds their self esteem, enhances the baby’s memory, increases IQ levels and reduces frustration between parent and child. Frustration will always be a part of growing up and parenting, but at least the frustration will not be due to a lack of communication. Another very important benefit is the fact that it promotes multilingualism. The concept of a word is represented by the sign and the sign can be applied to different languages. This is extremely beneficial, especially in a country that has 11 official languages.

The entire signing process is fun and easy to incorporate into your daily routine. As baby starts understanding the signs she will begin to use them to help her be understood. Gradually as baby’s’ fine motor skills develop, which is needed for speech, she will move over to verbal communication. While teaching your baby you always have to say the word while showing the sign, after all our ultimate goal is spoken language.

What amazed me is how much babies and toddlers know long before they can actually speak.  They have a much better understanding of what goes on around them than what we give them credit for. It’s not about rushing them to speak either, each baby develops at their own pace but imagine how much they see and experience everyday that they would love to share with us?. My little boy would read me a story, getting very excited as he used the signs of the animals and their different characteristics. It is such precious time, giving you a glimpse of what goes on in your baby’s mind.

Baby Sign Language is there to help, to assist our babies until they are able to find the words. It’s a natural process and we are building on what comes naturally to our babies. Teach your baby to sign and be amazed and surprised to find out what they are thinking and feeling.

Baby Hands SA is South Africa’s leading Academy of Baby Sign Language and  facilitates parent workshops. We cover everything you need to know in order to learn to sign to your baby.  For more information visit our web site: www.babyhands.co.za where you can find Baby Hands instructors who offer parent workshops or you can contact Clea 021 948 2740, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .