Signing With Your Baby: Opportunities for SigningWritten by Monica Beyer
Once you've been signing with your baby for several weeks or months and your baby has mastered basic signs that cover his or her needs (such as milk, more, eat, drink, etc.), you will probably want to expand his or her signing vocabulary (as well as your own).The world around you and your child award you with countless opportunities to do just this. You can teach your baby a sign that has significance to almost any situation you may find yourselves in. Family members are a great way to start expanding your child's vocabulary. Starting with "mother" and "father" plus any siblings is a good way to begin, and you can create name signs for family members. One good suggestion I've heard from parents is to use first letter of person's name in a way that reminds you of that person. Say Aunt Samantha is a nurse - you could use letter "s" on wrist to combine first letter of her name with her occupation. Holidays and events are also interesting ways to spice up signing activities. Think of objects you baby may see around your house that he or she may not be too sure of. For example, during Christmas, Corbin learned signs for "Santa," "tree," "lights," and "party." It's also a good way to introduce your child to your culture and/or religion.
| | Signing With Your Baby: Helpful HintsWritten by Monica Beyer
While there aren't any solid rules regarding signing with your baby, I've had enough experience signing with my own child that I can pass along some helpful hints. Be consistent. Use sign same way every time for same action or object. This will help your baby become familiar with sign and she will be able to sign it back to you sooner. Be happy. Frowning and bored voices will not make a baby eager to sign. Be open to interpretation. Babies will not always make a sign correctly first time they sign it, just like they won't speak a word correctly first time they speak it. Keep signing word correct way and your baby will soon grow more accurate.
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