Parents and caregivers often wonder if teaching their baby or toddler sign language is helpful or hurtful to their language development. 

“If he learns how to sign, won’t that teach him he doesn’t need to use his words?” 

The answer is a loud and resounding, “NO!” Teaching your child sign language, or at least a few core words that he can use to communicate some basic wants and needs, is actually a great way to develop those communication skills. Gestures (making movements with our hands and body) are usually precursors to verbal speech. Consider these examples: 

• Babies wave before they can say “hi” and “bye.”
• They point to things before they can say “Look at that” or “I want that.”
• They reach their hands up to you before they can say “Pick me up!” 

In the examples above, babies learn to use gestures to communicate by watching and copying the people around them. In the same way, we can teach babies some simple sign language in context so they can learn how to use their hands to communicate before their mouths are ready. 

Here are some common signs that you can teach your baby. 

To sign “more” tap  your fingers together in this position. Say “more” clearly as you do this motion, and then give the child more of what they want, such as food, toys, or tickles. 

To sign “eat” bunch your fingers up and tap them to you mouth. You can do this, along with modeling the verbal word “eat”,  when your child is hungry, while they are eating, or when they are feeding a baby doll. 

To sign “all done” start with your hands up and your palms facing toward you, then turn your hands so your palms face out. You can model this at the end of any activity, such as meal time, bath time, or when it is time to clean up a toy. 

A few key tips to remember as you are introducing sign language to you baby or toddler: 

1. Repetition is key. It may take weeks or months of modeling a sign before your child does it on their own. Don’t get discouraged – it will come! 
2. Always pair the sign with a verbal word or phrase. 
3. Provide lots of praise when your child uses a sign independently! 

If you want more information about sign language in babies and toddlers, follow @mybaby.signs on Instagram!