Sign Language with Your Baby
You don’t need your kids to be in the age of reason before you touch teaching them the essence, beauty, and the proper way of doing sign language. Even if they are still babies, you can already start imparting the knowledge. You also have to do away with the mentality that sign language is only reserved for the hearing impaired. Besides the fact that sign language is a fun activity, you will also allow your kids to grow up communicating with everyone.
1. Be creative when you’re doing the sign language. Babies will be fascinated with the movements of your hands, but you need to make sure that you always get their attention. To accomplish that, it’s always best if you can go farther with your sign language. For example, perhaps you can combine sign language with picture books or objects. You can pinpoint on pictures or grab and object and make the sign that corresponds to the item.
2. Sign early. Don’t underestimate the perception and intuition of babies. If you haven’t noticed yet, even when they’re still very young, they can already absorb almost everything that they can see, touch, and even hear. You can also teach your babies the sign language even as young as six months old. Don’t expect them to make the sign right away. As a matter of fact, it will take them a number of months before they can actually make their very first signs. But rest assured that the lessons you’ve given them will be already stuck in their memory.
3. Begin with what’s considered as simple. Babies are simple beings, and they also need to learn very basic things, even in sign language. Start with simple one words first. In fact, begin with those that relate to them, such as “milk,” “eat,” or “sleep.”
4. Sign whenever you get the chance to do so. If you want to ensure that your babies will learn how to sign when they’re growing up, then you have to sign as often as you can. Make it seem like a part of your lifestyle or one of your best modes of communication.
5. Don’t stop learning. You have several materials that you can definitely use when you’re teaching your children how to do the sign language. You need to update yourself too. After all, you will never know what to teach your baby when you are also not educated. |
