Somewhere about the 9th grade I became interested in the dance I saw happening within the space of the fingers and hands of a woman on a stage; she was Signing the words to a song that was being sung. Her face was alive and her mouth voiced the words I heard with my ears. But it was her hands that captivated me, as they flashed and twirled in motions that were so beautiful and well controlled they seemed to live an existence all their own.
Thus began my deep desire to attain the ability to not only understand with my eyes what those movements meant, but my ambition to feel my own fingers and hands dancing, flowing, and sharing in the ability to communicate through this silent language (which, by the way, is far from silent).
Skip ahead about 15 years and you find me quite unexpectedly anticipating my daughter’s arrival. I suppose I spent a fair amount of time in preparation mode, as do most first time mama’s to be, but a large portion of mine included becoming fully immersed in the world of Baby Sign (it’s one of the few things I could actually do while pregnant that didn’t involve sleep). Even before I became pregnant, I was aware of the benefits of giving the very young child the ability to communicate through other means than spoken word. I had read plenty of materials and studies, and had swallowed the data that discussed the value of teaching babies to communicate with their hands. And yet, it wasn’t until I saw a family use this method one day with their 3 year old foster child that I fully realized the effectiveness and benefits of giving the gift of communication through the hands. So, as you might imagine, by the time my daughter was born, I had mastered the essential set of common terms, and had also successfully taught them to my husband (papa to be).
I had read about the most appropriate times to begin teaching and using the signs with babies; typically it is encouraged that somewhere around 6 months of age, the parent should begin to expose the child. However, my instinct told me otherwise. I began using signs with my daughter when she was 3 weeks old and likely would have from day one, but it took me a few weeks to regain some semblance of consciousness after she was born. When the daily motions became easier, and nursing finally was something I looked forward to, I found myself signing to her while interacting with her almost as if it were just an extension of my spoken words. There were times when it was deliberate, but I’d typically use my hands and voice together, without really thinking about it. Then, one day, my daughter mirrored my hand’s movements… Her comprehension made itself known, and from then on, I noticed.
At 4 months of age, it became obvious that my daughter understood some of the signs I used routinely when interacting with her. Often, I would sign and speak (with my voice) the same concept, but a lot of the time, I would do one or the other. I would also play episodes of Signing Time on the TV while we were in and about the room. She observed a few minutes of Signing Time just about every day, though I never directed her attention to it or required her audience – I didn’t have to. The production itself is superb and very successfully captured her interest consistently, along with teaching her substantially more than I ever expected.
By the time our daughter was 18 months old, we often had what we called “Silent Days”, where we’d spend an entire morning just speaking in Sign. She initially began to mimic my signs at about 8 months old, and within weeks was producing the signs independently to tell me exactly what she was thinking. At 17 months, she had between 350 and 400 signs, and 20-30 spoken words. Her signs and spoken words included common conversation terms, letters, letter sounds, numbers and colors. Shortly before she turned two, I began to use the materials published by Signing Time (Two Little Hands) to keep track of her development, as well as my own. I knew at that point that we had a very functional set of vocabulary in both spoken word and Sign, but I thought it was helpful to know exactly what we (my husband, my daughter, and I) actually knew.
It became apparent that learning phrases and speech beyond simple vocab was the next step. At which point, we had to decide whether we should focus on the language of ASL, or develop a hybrid SEE/ASL. It mattered to us, because in addition to spoken English, we also spoke French with her. We had a sense that sentence structure was something we really had to keep in mind: ASL doesn’t create sentences the same as English. French doesn’t create sentences much like English either. And at the time, I hadn’t fully accepted the idea that a child can learn completely separate languages simultaneously. I wasn’t convinced even by all the literature I had read and research I had conducted; I hadn’t experienced the wonder first hand yet. In hindsight, if we have another child, we will use all three languages (English, French, ASL), in their entirety. We will also incorporate SEE (Signed Exact English) or some version of it. We understand now the mind’s ability to absorb and process multiple, unique languages simultaneously. And though we sometimes get sentences that start in English, wax Frenchish, and have a Sign or two thrown in, it all makes sense and we know that as she develops, so will her ability to distinguish the languages as well as blend them seamlessly.
21 months and counting, our daughter was using more than 600 Signs and 200 spoken words regularly. She began combining words about this time too, and 4-5 word sentences were common. Sometimes those sentences were entirely spoken, other times entirely Signed, and often something in between. She quickly learned that Signing while in her carseat, behind a driving Mama, didn’t work so well (even with my tiny observation mirror). So began her adventure in learning which language to use, when, and why. My husband and I had begun using Sign regularly to communicate with one another too. You wouldn’t believe how handy a silent, visual language can be.
We consistently saw her continue to accumulate more and more of the languages; typically her ability to use spoken (that would be her using her voice to speak to us) remained at about 1/3 of the amount of Signed vocabulary, though her actual usage was mostly even between the two forms of communication. She would often start communicating a thought in spoken words and then stop and switch to Signs. I can’t tell you how many times I would see her little face contort in a moment of frustration when she knew she wanted to tell me something but couldn’t find the spoken word (or say it so I could understand it), but then only a millisecond later be happily on her way to communicating exactly what was on her mind by switching to her hands. We never experienced the fits of frustration that I have seen so many parents and little ones struggle through. I attribute this to our conscious choice at how we interact with her respectfully and without ever diminishing her, and her ability to effectively and thoroughly communicate from the very beginning, thanks to her little hands.
I stopped keeping track of how much she had learned when she surpassed 1200 signs and 700 spoken words; she was 25 months old. She is now 40 months and entirely fluent in spoken English, the French that we have given her, and Sign. We didn’t stick with ASL or SEE in structure, we rather created our own version (though we remain true to actual ASL signs), and for a while she didn’t use signs at all. She forgot about 1/4 of the signs she knew for a few months, but during this time, she advanced her spoken language substantially. Recently, of her own accord, she’s chosen to return to using and re-accumulating the language of her hands. She finds it quite the game now, quizzing Mama (in a weird twist of roles) and playing tricks with me by answering questions posed to her using Signs when I expect spoken words. She also has resumed requesting an episode of Signing Time typically at least once a day.
If you have given thought to embarking on the journey of giving your little one the ability to use Signs to communicate what’s inside of them, then I would encourage you to learn all that you can and share it as it flows from you. Naturally, effortlessly, not orchestrated or forced… just let the movements and motions join with your spoken language, then sit back and watch the magic. I credit my daughter’s interest and rapid accumulation of the Signs to three key elements: Our continual and natural use in everyday communication and interaction with her from birth, the materials and videos that MySmartHands produces (Laura’s videos kept me motivated and encouraged when I questioned just how useful my efforts would be in the end – this lack of confidence hit me when my daughter was about 6 months old, just a few short weeks before her use of the signs began to emerge), and Signing Time (Two Little Hands Productions).
If you have questions, are looking for resources, examples/videos, or just want to share your story and experiences, please feel free to contact Angie. She has a veritable storehouse of information and materials suggestions, as well as activities and ideas on imparting this amazing gift of communication we have to give our tiny little people. You can find Angie and her daughter at weepeoplecommunicate.com