Sign of the Times

Issue 14 
Baby signing is the latest import from America and, as Zoe Bolton finds out, it is set to revolutionise the way parents communicate with their children

Imagine how frustrating life would be if you wanted to communicate your thoughts and feelings but lacked any means of expressing yourself. It would be enough to make even the calmest person scream, so it's not surprising that a pre-speech baby, who is faced with this problem everyday, occasionally resorts to exercising their lungs in protest!

There is, however, a solution because as one influential researcher and educator has discovered, while a baby may not be able to talk until they are around 18 months old, many infants are in fact capable of communicating from the age of six months using sign language.

This finding prompted father-of-three, Dr Joseph Garcia, to develop the world's first baby signing programme, which has already been a huge hit stateside and is beginning to take off in the UK.

The basic idea behind baby signing is that parents can provide their pre-speech baby with an accessible and systematic way to communicate clearly, whilst at the same time aiding their baby's development by allowing them to discover the signs on their own terms.

"I don't recommend teaching signs to babies at all," says Dr Garcia, author of the Complete Guide to Baby Signing. "The whole point is not to make your baby an Einstein it is to improve communication and parents shouldn't be trying to browbeat their child or force feed signs to them because that goes against the whole process."

Based on British Sign Language (BSL), Dr Garcia's signing programme advocates a gradual approach to learning, which is both child- and parent-friendly. He suggests learning four or five signs around a number of everyday activities, such as taking a bath, going for a walk or changing a nappy.

The learning process occurs through regular repetition of the signs, so that they become integrated into the daily routine. For example, parents learn around five signs for changing their child's nappy such as 'dirty', 'dry', 'wet', 'change' and 'finish'. Then each time the parent changes the nappy they model the same signs so that within two or three days they become natural motions associated with that activity.

The idea is that the baby grows familiar with the signs by watching the parent, and eventually begins to associate them with the actions and words that they represent.

Initially, the baby will just mimic the signs but soon they start to understand what they mean and are then able to use them to communicate with the parent.

"The sounds may be beyond a baby's ability to mimic but the signs are not, and as a result they slowly start to babble and sign, and then finally to produce the signs," explains Dr Garcia. "This is an incredibly empowering thing for a baby because they are making the transition from not knowing what is happening from moment-to-moment to actually being able to influence their environment."

Babies who learn how to sign are able to communicate their ideas and feelings as much as a year before they can articulate those things in speech, and according to Dr Garcia it is not uncommon for babies to acquire up to 100 signs by the time they are one-year-old.

Contrary to concerns that signing impedes a child's speech development, research has shown that it actually boosts language acquisition, with babies who sign tending to speak sooner than other children and to have a higher IQ when they are older.

"The important thing is not how many words or signs a child has but the content of what they are saying," says Dr Garcia. "Because a baby who can sign has language far earlier, they are drawing conclusions when other children are merely naming objects."

Research has also proven that babies who sign are happier, cry less and are better adjusted. This is largely because signing boosts a child's self-esteem and self-awareness, and helps to build their problem-solving skills.

Another major benefit, is that signing enables a deeper, more meaningful level of engagement between parent and child because it facilitates reciprocal, rather than one-way communication.

This is particularly useful for averting tantrums because a parent is able to explain to a baby what they are going to do before carrying out an action, allowing the child time to prepare.

Also in the event of a tantrum - because they are never totally avoidable! - the parent is able to ask the child to explain in sign language why they are angry or upset, helping to resolve the problem much more quickly.

However, despite the advantages of baby signing some parents still find the prospect of learning to sign to daunting. So what advice would Dr Garcia give to those who would like to try signing but are worried that it will be too complex and time-consuming?

"I’d tell them that it’s well worth the little investment it takes to go through a few signs each day when the outcome is going to be such a wonderful engaging relationship with the child," says Dr Garcia, who has worked with more than 5000 families over the course of his 20-year career.

"When parents first see sign language it does look a bit forbidding, but my system has been developed so that it can easily be worked into the busy life of any new parent. What I've found is that even parents who were initially reluctant to learn more than five signs usually end up with in excess of 80 signs in a matter of weeks without having to study or practise."

And for parents who do not feel confident enough to start signing at home, there is now a national network of weekly baby signing classes that they can attend to learn about Dr Garcia's methods. These are run by accredited teachers from the Babysigners organisation and provide a relaxed and fun environment for parents to experiment with signing.

Sam Parrott has been attending Babysigners classes in Hove with her 17 month-year-old son, Charlie, for the last nine months. She says that the classes have made learning to sign easy and have really helped to improve parent-child communication.

"I found the classes really useful because they gave me an opportunity to talk to other parents about how I was getting on with Charlie and also to discuss any problems I was having teaching the signs," says Sam.

"The benefits have been enormous and being able to sign has taken a whole level of frustration out of Charlie's life. He now knows over 25 signs, which is significantly more than the number of words he can say and is also a lot more language than he would be expected to know at this stage."

Sam says another major advantage of signing is that it has reduced the number of confrontations she has with Charlie because she is able to better understand his needs and wants.

"Charlie doesn’t have as many temper tantrums now because he is able to tell me if he wants a drink or is looking for his teddy and I can deal with his request," explains Sam. "I mean that's what communication's about isn't it? Enabling people to understand each other."

According to Dr Garcia, Sam's experience of baby signing demonstrates how effective the programme can be and hers is just one of many success stories:

"I have literally thousands of families who have found incredible success with baby signing," says Dr Garcia.

"This is something that is really going to improve parenting for all time. I would encourage parents to start taking the journey now because the journey is a wonderful one."

Joseph Garcia’s Complete Guide to Baby Signing, which includes a DVD of signs, is available from bookshops priced £29.99.

For more information about Babysigners classes visit: www.babysigners.co.uk