04/10/03: Sign Language
 

I've been doing some reading on parenting lately, and I came across this comment on slashdot. It reads, in part:
<blockquote><i> The most important thing I can say that won't help you right now is teach the child sign language. Learn some basic sign language (eat, drink, sleep, ouch). Start at around 6 months. By 9 months they will be able to tell you when they are hungry. This is wonderful and simplifies your life.</blockquote></i>
I find this idea fascinating. Of course. It makes sense -- children learn to move and manipulate their hands long before they're able to speak. And children not being able to speak is a great cause of frustration for early parents, because you have to play the "guessing game". I.E., what's wrong with you this time? If they knew sign language, they could just tell you! And in order for them to tell you what's wrong with them, they don't need to know 1000 signs. Just 3, 4, or 5 signs could be a great relief in "guessing game" situations.

I told Kathy (my wife) about this and she said she knew a friend of the family that had actually done it. We e-mailed the woman and she told us that her child was signing by 5 1/2 months. I found that to be really surprising, as the typical date I see given is around 9 1/2 months. I guess as with anything in child development, it depends on the child.

She also sent us this link (uses quicktime), which seems interesting. Kathy already has a good book on ASL, though, as she learned it herself a while back. So I think we're going to go for it when the time comes. Could be interesting.

Of course, Kathy's still in her first trimester (8 or 9 weeks I think). So all this may be a bit premature as women are supposedly at a higher risk for miscarriage during the first 12 weeks. Everything seems okay so far, though.

james learned some simple signing. more, eat, please, thank you, all done, and a couple other things. we taught him early on to point when something was hurting (usually teeth, but occasionally stomach or ear), and while i have no basis for comparison, it did make our job much easier. the thing he did not learn, was how to use those to respond to audible prompts. i could ask "whats wrong?" or "what hurts?" but i would generally have to wait until he decided to let me know. im not sure how that would be taught, but if you figure it out, i imagine that would help too. james was signing by 6 1/2 to 7 months, but i really dont see why he couldnt have learned a bit earlier if we had thought to try.

~james

Couldn't you use the signs to ask the question? I guess it might be kind of hard if they only know a few signs. But you could just do each of the signs they do know in the hope that they'll respond in kind.

It makes sense that if they don't understand English but do understand the signs, then asking the question in English won't get much response.

This is very encouraging, though. How early did you teach him the signs?

i tried that, and he would repeat each sign i would make. he could understand some things, like "bed", "cookie", etc., so i imagine that he would learn to understand other prompts. he may not know exactly what things mean in english, but more like a dog understands "sit". i hate to use that as a comparison, but its the best i can come up with right now.
repetition. once i figured out what was hurting him, i would help him point at it and say "owie". if i gave him more food, i would say "more" and show him the sign language for it. our babysitter actually did most of the teaching, so i imagine she did some things that i dont know about. i have no idea how to teach a 5 month old the concepts of please and thank you, but sure enough, he knows them. but basics like "eat", "more", shouldnt be too hard with a bit of persistence and a *lot* of repetiton.

~james

i also think that teaching him sign language prompted him to start learning to speak sooner than average. he started talking quite a bit sooner than his "peers", and picks up new words every day (which has forced me to be more careful using more colourful language).

one thing ive noticed is that he usually lets us know when hes ready to learn something. out of the blue one day, he developed a massive obsession with books. constantly wanting to be read to. hes learned about half the alphabet and can distinguish between capital / lowercase in many cases.

of course, im really looking forward to the day when he lets me know its time to potty-train. man i cant wait to stop buying diapers.

~james

It all sounds very interesting. I've read accounts from other people about sign language facilitating earlier verbal language as well, so it's good to get confirmation from you about it, too. I'm for anything that encourages quicker learning.

So, at what age did you begin teaching James signs?

I've been taking ASL through the <a href="http://www.clatsopcollege.com/">local community collge</a>, to fill foreign language requirements at <a href="http://www.uoregon.edu/">UO</a>. The <a href="http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm">previously posted link</a> seems to be the best way to pick up the specific shape of a sign. I'm not certain about grammar, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0062716085/qid=1050023725/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-5213823-4256048?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">Martin L.A. Sternberg's ASL Dictionary</a> has excellent definitions of signs and, for a dead tree, good descriptions of them.

Man, I really should have done this to fill my foreign language requirements. I'd already have graduated by now!

5 1/2 months. so it did take a good 1 1/2 months before he caught on, and he was a good 9 months on before he really figured it out.

~james

Just got an article in my email about teaching sign to babies