In our Linguistic Anthropology class, we learned about
language acquisition in babies and different studies pertaining to this. I looked at an article that questioned
conventional knowledge on this subject. The
article, “Parents turn to baby sign language to communicate with their little
ones,” is about the recent trend of using simplified sign language to
communicate with infants. According to
Julia Prodis Sulek, the author of the Mercury News article, “infants are far
more capable than many of us thought” and are able to communicate using signs as
early as eight or nine months old (Sulek 2016).
She writes about parents in the Silicon Valley area who take their
children to swimming and music classes, as well as baby sign language
classes. Parents wish to give their children
every opportunity to excel. Since sign
language has the capacity to increase a child’s vocabulary when they start to
talk, parents consider signing with their babies an advantage. Sulek even claims that baby signing can “relieve
frustration and diminish tantrums” because babies can communicate what they
want more easily to a parent or caregiver.
Some more traditional parents claim signs are unnecessary because they
can already tell what their baby wants without the signs. Stefanie Jatta, a mother who teaches classes
on baby signing, argues this, however. “‘When
[her children] were finished swinging, they would sign that they were ‘all done,’
and I knew they were finished…Instead of having them scream and trying to figure
out what they wanted, I knew,’’ Jatta said.
Babies can learn how to speak much more quickly if taught signs. Their brains are capable of communicating
before they can form verbal words, and many parents have caught on to
this. When parents can communicate better
with their babies, everyone is much happier (Sulek 2016).
Source:
Sulek, Julia
Prodis. (2016, June 20). Parents turn to baby sign language to communicate with
their little ones. Retrieved from http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/20/parents-turn-to-baby-sign-language-to-communicate-with-their-little-ones/
I really like the take on signing for young infants and toddlers. My youngest brother still doesn't have much speech capability at the age of three so my mother took to teaching him to sign. I believe this could also have benefits with the children when they grow up. They will be able to communicate via sign with many people with hearing impairments, which will give them a slight edge in school and in their personal lives also.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I were able to sign long before we could speak. Because my mom was fluent and we knew lots of deaf people signing as babies was really important. We could communicate with lots of people about our needs and wants, mostly food I would assume. We both continued to sign much after we were able to articulate full sentences. It makes watching children so much easier when they can minimally tell you what is wrong or what they want. It also is so cute to watch babies sign.
ReplyDeleteHayley Branch