For some years, the famous sign language or sign language has been talked about so that we can communicate with our babies long before they start saying their first words.
But what does this consist of? We talked with Miriam Escacena, baby sign language instructor, who told us about the benefits of teaching babies sign language.
Although she is an engineer by profession, Miriam has had "Communication with babies" for a few years, a project dedicated to childhood and education. In Spain he founded the association "Entre Nubes" and now he is an expatriate in Mexico with his family, where he teaches moms, dads, educators and nursery schools.
What is sign language for babies?
It is a tool that we allows early communication with babies and children before they develop oral language through simple gestures that they can perform with their little hands.
It is not a fashion or a recent discovery, the "baby signs language" was developed in the US in the eighties thanks to the work of Dr. Joseph Garcia and the research of professors Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn.
They noted that babies of non-hearing parents can communicate more easily than babies of hearing parents. In fact, Around nine months, these babies can get to understand and communicate up to 75 different concepts through the signs, Using only his hands and gestures! How many words babbles your baby at this age? Mom? Dad?
It is a fascinating fact on which they based their research, demonstrating that it is possible to teach single words of sign language to hearing babies by offering them a communication bridge until the appearance of speech.
Why is it important to teach it?
Babies are willing to communicate since they are born, and in fact they do it with all the tools they have at their disposal: looks, smiles, twitter, babble.
Parents are gradually learning to recognize and interpret their signals, but there are times when we hear them cry and we can not guess what happens to them, they get frustrated by that lack of communication and we find it very hard to listen to them and also We get nervous.
Actually, crying is their last resort, and with very simple gestures they can communicate their needs so that we can meet them as soon as possible. This can be done practically after six months, when they begin to sit down and develop their fine motor skills. It is the time when their little hands are discovered and they love to imitate us.
In all cultures we teach courtesy gestures such as saying goodbye with the handyman or throwing kisses, because in the same way we can teach them many more things, and thus we strengthen the connection with them and the complicity in the family.
What are the advantages for babies and their families?
For me the most important is the frustrations we save, both of the baby and the parents, due most of the time to the lack of communication when expressing basic needs.
We also know that when a baby cries it does not do it on a whim, it really has an unmet need, crying generates stress hormones such as cortisol and if it is very continuous it ends up affecting it.
Therefore, being a responsive parent willing to understand the signs of the baby and offer a tool to communicate easily is very beneficial on a day-to-day basis. Further, early communication reinforces the emotional bond and bond between the baby and his parents or caregivers.
I have heard that you are going to take this method to daycare centers in Mexico, why?
I discovered the baby signing when my oldest daughter was about a year old. I thought it was a wonderful experience and the only thing I regretted was not meeting her before. Since then I trained as an instructor to contribute my grain of sand in its dissemination, and I have been training families, educators and nursery schools for more than five years.
I have implemented the method in several nursery schools in Spain and now I will continue to extend it through Mexico, which is where I currently reside.
In traditional nurseries the ratio of students per teacher is usually very high, each educator can have 8 babies and 16 children from one to two years. From my point of view they earn the sky every day, since it is not an easy task.
We can imagine the moments when a child cries because he has a wet diaper, another because he is hungry, another dream ...
Crying is spread very easily among children and stress in the classroom increases, with the signs you can have a much more peaceful and harmonious climate and also the link between the teacher and the children is reinforced.
The signs are also very useful for children with SEN (special educational needs), as they provide them with another communication tool. We know that pictograms are very useful for example for children with autism spectrum disorders, the signs can also help, with the advantage that "we always carry them on."
How can moms start with sign language at home?
The truth is that it can be much simpler than we imagine if we incorporate them naturally. We can start by choosing some words from the daily routines, not many, five, for example. We learn the signs and every time we say the word we repeat it.
As in the acquisition of spoken language, the learning process has two phases:
A first stage in which the little one begins to “understand” our gestures, but cannot do them. At this point it is very important that we always begin by relating the signs to the action. For example: we will make the sign of milk at the moment that we are going to offer it, the one of bathing when we are going to bathe you, the one of sleeping if we notice that you are sleepy and we are going to bed you, etc. because in this way we ensure that there will always be an occasion in everyday life to do them.
A second stage in which the child is already able to repeat the sign because he has already reached the necessary point of maturity. We can tell them since they are born, but surely it will not be until after six months of age when they can begin to perform them, each child will do it when their time comes.
On my website I have an ebook that can be downloaded for free and is a good guide to get started and thus see the first results.
The secret is in the record. Each child is different and we must respect their rhythms and especially not be in a hurry to see results or stress, if not enjoy learning with them. We spent almost a year talking to them until we heard their first word.
Well, the signs are the same. We should know that, if parents want, everyone will learn to signify, it may take 1 month, 3 or 6, (it will depend a lot on the moment we start), but when they make us their first sign we will “melt” of love and leave That they understand what communication is, learning will be very fast.
Is it true that sign language delays the onset of speech?
This is the question that worries parents the most, and it is totally legitimate, since we want the best for our children, therefore, we would never do anything we thought could harm them.
It is normal for us to be somewhat skeptical at first. I had the same doubts in his day, but for that several university-level research was done more than thirty years ago, which proved precisely the opposite: Children who sign up learn to speak much faster and their vocabulary is much broader.
To make a simple simile and clear up any fear it is as if we think that a crawling baby loses his interest in walking, at all. The crawling allows you to move from one side to the other on the ground, but there will come a time when you start to stand up and you will realize that in this way you can reach other places and reach things: you will have a new challenge that you will face With a lot of motivation.
All are phases, gestural communication is an excellent tool that serves as a communication bridge until the appearance of speech, and even much further!
When the child is mature enough to use oral language, he will do it, no doubt. In my own experience, my daughter's teachers were always surprised at how well she spoke and the amount of vocabulary she had for her age.
It is logical: when we teach the signs we do it by constantly repeating the word, therefore, we are exposing them much more to oral language than if we did not teach signs.In addition, children who signify understand the act of communication sooner, so they greatly reinforce their autonomy by being able to express their needs and this gives them a lot of interest in communicating with all possible tools, including babbling and later speaking.
Could you recommend some activities to learn?
Children learn through play and emotion, so we can "play the signs" either by singing songs, telling meaning stories or even using flash-cards with images.
If we stop to think, most of songs They are taught in nursery schools have their own gestures and we like to imitate. And this has a reason, these actions help children remember the words of the songs because it involves the muscular memory: the use of the body, psychomotor skills, proprioceptive sensations and emotions has great relevance for them. It would be wonderful if all the gestures of these songs were based on sign languages.
I also like them a lot the stories signed, since they make the child get much more involved, trying to guess what will happen through the gestures, what will be the character of the next page ... They pay a lot of attention and thus learn very fast.
I usually use “Brown bear brown bear, what do you see”, (brown bear, what do you see?), A classic by Bill Martin and Eric Carle, essential for families with young children. The beautiful illustrations represent animals of different colors that children can guess before turning the page thanks to the sign. The possibilities of working with children with this story are endless.
I also love the part of taking advantage of the signs to encourage bilingualism. It has always been said that children are "sponges" and it is very easy for them to learn everything. If we learn a language during the first five years we will have the ability to speak like a native, and we already know what it costs us as adults ... The signs are very useful because the child can get to internalize the concept in the gesture, and then make the equivalence to one or another word or act as a simultaneous translator.
In addition, the fact that babies can develop early communication directly affects their interest in the world and therefore their desire to learn more about everything around them and develop multiple intelligences, so everything is advantages and would be Wonderful that all families could enjoy them.
I continue to teach both face-to-face and online courses, and soon I will publish a book to reach many more homes and achieve my mission: “That no baby in the world has to resort to crying to express their needs”.
We thank Miriam for her time to explain in such a detailed way the benefits of sign language with babies and the way how we can start doing it at home.
Photos | iStock, Pixabay, Communication with babies
More information | Communication with babies
In Babies and more | Talk in sign language with the baby (video)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Picture Puffin)
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