Using Signs With Babies
From the first months after birth, parents and their children can communicate in different ways: eye contact, facial expressions, screams, crying and natural gestures.
As a speech-language pathologist, I am often asked about the use of baby signs. The growing popularity of this communication tool and the classes offered to teach it lead parents to question its benefits and disadvantages.
What Is It?
Baby signs help parents and infants communicate during the first months of the child’s life. It relies on the fact that before a certain age, children understand many words but struggle to be understood, even if their speech development is normal. Baby signs therefore use gestures to indicate some concepts, such as “finished”, “again”, “milk” and “food”. Their use is transitional and will naturally stop as oral communication develops. Although they may help with early communication, baby signs are not essential.
What Studies Say
Only a few recent studies have addressed the use of baby signs, but positive information on their use with hearing babies can be found online. However, this information is often based on personal experiences or studies that have little scientific value1.
In 2013, in England, a study showed that infants exposed to and trained in the use of gestures demonstrated no significant gains in terms of language development2. However, the same study did highlight some positive aspects. First, trained parents who use gestures with their babies were found to be more responsive to nonverbal messages. Next, in this study, the use of baby signs specifically benefited three boys with lower expressive skills, who showed greater gains than the average child did. Finally, studies have shown that the use of gestures doesn’t hinder oral language development.
What the Speech-Language Pathologist Says
Before they speak their first words, babies already use a lot of gestures to communicate with us: they point to get something out of their reach, they nod their head in approval or shake it in protest, they touch their diaper when they need to be changed, etc. It may be a good idea to use more natural gestures to communicate with your child. You can draw on baby signs, but you don’t have to take a class or only use those signs. You can simply use natural gestures that illustrate concepts. The important thing is to remain consistent with your gestures.
Whether you choose to use signs or natural gestures, it is essential to keep adding words to your gestures in order to help your child develop their oral vocabulary properly.
The most important thing is to make communication fun and work at your child’s pace, without putting too much pressure on them.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to talk to a speech-language pathologist.
