Teaching toddlers sign language, the benefits even if they can hear.

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INresponse

INresponse

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I didn't find a better place to post this so I figured this will be close enough.

I just posted this information for someone else and thought I would share it for everyone else who has a little kid or grandkid. These are ideal for ages 1 and up to teach them to tell you what they want even before they are able to speak.
Kinda pricey now but Signing Time volumes 4, 5, and 6 are what we used with our kids when they were little and it let them learn how to communicate before they could speak. We got the DVD's back then but it doesn't look like they do DVD's anymore. This digital pack is rather pricey but if they are affordable they are well worth it. I think when were buying the DVD's they are about $20+ each so I guess the package price for the digital versions are not out of line. Don't bother with the "Baby" version, we bought the first 3 "Baby" videos for our second born and they were not worth the money. Volume 4 was the original first one they made and is ideal for any toddler to begin with. It teaches them to ask for water or milk, how to say if they are tired or hungry or thirsty, how to say thank you and please, and many other helpful things. The 3 videos we liked the most are My First Signs, Everyday Signs, and Family Feelings And Fun. Playtime Signs and ABC Signs were also very good. All of these mentioned are in the collection I linked to below, plus many more.
Rachel explains how they learned sign language helped eliminate the Terrible 2's. Her daughter was born deaf and when they finally figured out she was deaf they taught her and her younger cousin sign language the the results were awesome.

If you don't have a toddler and little grandchild you could mention this to others, as I said it was very helpful for all 3 of our kids when they were little.

https://www.signingtime.com/signing-time/
 
I have heard of using sign language with children. I think that it is easy to teach to very young children.

One thing that I have thought about is for families to learn some sign language and to develop certain things that they communicate to each other in case of an emergency, when you want to communicate without getting someone's attention. Then, as a family, practice these signals when you are out of the home. What would you want to tell your family in sign language? Maybe as a family, you could make up some of your own signals or signs.

People also teach sign language to dogs. I see people at dog parks who communicate with their dogs via sign language. I see a fist, with the back of the hand up and fingers down, not sideways as we usually see fists.
 
When my daughter was maybe 6 or 8 months old we were paying my ex's aunt to watch her during the day. We didn't know it but they aunt was playing the Signing Time videos for the 4 or 5 kids she was caring for, and at home my daughter was doing things with her hand but we didn't recognize it until we went to a family gathering at her house and she put the video on for my daughter to watch. That was when we realized what our daughter was doing with her hands when we would feed her.
Little kids can pick up the hand signs very easily, especially with these well made videos. And, because the signs are simple it will be easy for the parents to learn the signs as well. When my daughter was 2 (maybe sooner I don't remember) she could sign over 50 words and could sign all the letters in the alphabet, and she could count to 10 in sign language.
Again, I highly recommend these videos to everyone I meet who has a toddler, or a new grandchild. The videos are cute and keep the interest of the kids. To help reduce the number of "waking up crying" during the night we would put the DVD on for them to fall asleep and it would keep repeating through the night so if they woke up they would watch and fall back asleep instead of getting scared or lonely and crying. Of course we would still check on them several times a night to feed and diaper and make sure they were OK, but at least we could do then when we would normally wake up to roll over or use the bathroom instead of adding extra wake ups due to crying. Our many friends with little kids were always complaining about having to wake up every hour or two due to the crying kid and jealous because we were usually able to get a good nights rest. One more benefit of sound in the room while they are sleeping, when it was nap time during the day we were able to make noise and even vacuum without waking the baby. Sadly, with the loss of the DVD era that probably would not be an option today.
 
My daughter learned to sign long before she could speak. She didn't know a lot of signs but she knew hungry, more, again, dog, cat, all done, happy, and probably a few more I don't remember. It made things a lot easier when we had some basic communication.

There were free classes in baby sign language offered at the library in the nearest major town and my ex knew the instructor. So that's how we got started with it. My recollection is that my daughter soaked it up like a sponge, but my ex did most of the work with her.
 
Weedygarden said:
People also teach sign language to dogs. I see people at dog parks who communicate with their dogs via sign language.
Click to expand...
My daughters job was training dolphins a few years ago, and they communicated with them using sign language too. I don't know much detail, but it sounded like the level of communication was pretty extensive.
 
My BFF and I (we lived on the same block in Milwaukee) by accident 'learned' sign language at about age 5+. Her next door neighbors were deaf and dumb but we could communicate somewhatly.

Cut to when we were 7 or 8 and out came the guy as we were playing on BFF's stoop, and he was frantic. He managed to convey to us that his wife was badly hurt. This was in the mid 1960s- no 911. We got her Dad up who worked 3rd shift (very cranky/groggy) and luckily he believed what we said and called an ambulance. Lady lived. Never found out what it was as people never did that in old days for little kids.

Sadly I moved and didn't keep it up. Can't remember anything.
 
Patchouli said:
My grandchildren learned to sign, seems so much easier than trying to speak it when they barely know how to express themselves.
Around here people are still using dvds.
The dvds might be available at your library.
Click to expand...
I have a vast DVD collection. I still have the Signing Time DVD's but they are scratched up because my ex never put anything away, and treated them worse after I moved out.
 
Patchouli said:
My grandchildren learned to sign, seems so much easier than trying to speak it when they barely know how to express themselves.
Around here people are still using dvds.
The dvds might be available at your library.
Click to expand...

The library would be a great place to look for them. If you could check out a couple at a time and every couple weeks swap them out for two more. Find the 4 or 6 you and the kid like best and just keep rotating through them.

Should I warn you they have a few songs in them to reinforce the signs they teach you and it might be possible when you go to bed at night the song would be stuck in your head? Occasionally when the wife was settled into bed and close to sleep I would sing the song and she would get upset because now it was stuck in her head. Might have something to do with what lead up to the EX situation. :dunno:
 
A woman that worked in the hospital I did was blind and deaf. I saw her in Starbucks one day and she walked up to the counter and one of the Baristas immediately went to her and took her hand and started signing on the woman's hand. The communicated for about 5 minutes. I wonder how those 2 ever found each other. I knew the Barista wasn't deaf because I had talked to her. I asked the Barista where she learned to do that and she said it was just something she picked up as a kid.
That woman would commute every day via a ferry boat then walked about 2 miles to the hospital. She had a very good dog also.
 
My wife taught the children & my daughter still use ASL when she finds someone who use it.
I know yes,no, more, please & thank you. I just did not stick with ASL or Spanish, wife knows French.
 
Last edited:
joel said:
My wife taught the children & my daughter still use ASL when she finds someone who use it.
I know yes,no, more, please & thank you. I just did not stick with ASL or Spanish, wife knows French.
Click to expand...
I had to think about it while I was reading your post but I still know yes, no, more, please, thank you, ice cream, milk, water, hungry, and maybe a few others. I was doing OK back then but after I moved out I think the kids stopped watching the videos. She gave each kid an iPad and games became the babbysitter.
Oh well, I tried.
 
My son has special needs so he was in speech at Vanderbilt for years. My daughter was always with me so she started as a peer to the hearing impaired class the week she turned 2. She had watched my son through the window and could do basic signs when she was 9 or 10 months old. Eat, drink, more, etc.

Signing helped cut down on frustration of not being able to communicate for my son who was a very late talker.
 
INresponse said:
I didn't find a better place to post this so I figured this will be close enough.

I just posted this information for someone else and thought I would share it for everyone else who has a little kid or grandkid. These are ideal for ages 1 and up to teach them to tell you what they want even before they are able to speak.
Kinda pricey now but Signing Time volumes 4, 5, and 6 are what we used with our kids when they were little and it let them learn how to communicate before they could speak. We got the DVD's back then but it doesn't look like they do DVD's anymore. This digital pack is rather pricey but if they are affordable they are well worth it. I think when were buying the DVD's they are about $20+ each so I guess the package price for the digital versions are not out of line. Don't bother with the "Baby" version, we bought the first 3 "Baby" videos for our second born and they were not worth the money. Volume 4 was the original first one they made and is ideal for any toddler to begin with. It teaches them to ask for water or milk, how to say if they are tired or hungry or thirsty, how to say thank you and please, and many other helpful things. The 3 videos we liked the most are My First Signs, Everyday Signs, and Family Feelings And Fun. Playtime Signs and ABC Signs were also very good. All of these mentioned are in the collection I linked to below, plus many more.
Rachel explains how they learned sign language helped eliminate the Terrible 2's. Her daughter was born deaf and when they finally figured out she was deaf they taught her and her younger cousin sign language the the results were awesome.

If you don't have a toddler and little grandchild you could mention this to others, as I said it was very helpful for all 3 of our kids when they were little.

https://www.signingtime.com/signing-time/
Click to expand...
My kids could sign before they could speak. Just simple things like tired, hungry, bath, not full sentences. My daughter was always hungry! 😂 It did give them a way to communicate what they wanted without speech.
 
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