Infants have the desire to communicate their wants and needs prior to their speech development. You can help your baby do just that by teaching them a few basic functional signs such as “more,” “eat,” “milk,” “bubbles,” etc. It is important to pair the spoken word with the sign when using this method. Pairing the spoken word with the sign allows your baby to receive the verbal input that is essential for their development while providing them with a means of communication prior to talking. Baby signing is not intended to replace speech but to be used along with speech. Research shows that baby signing can help to establish early functional communication skills.  

What are the benefits?  

• Allows your child to communicate with you before they can speak verbally.   

• Enhances vocabulary  

• Increases functional communication skills  

• Decreases frustration caused by communication breakdowns  

• Strengthens communication between caregiver and child  

How do I start?  

• Always say the word as you make the sign- again, not replacing words with sign- just pairing.  

• At first, your child may need gentle hand-over-hand assistance to help make the new sign. 

• Accept your child’s best approximation of the sign. They might not imitate the sign perfectly, but that is okay!  

• Most children will start by using the sign by itself. Next, they will pair the sign with a vocalization. They will then pair the sign with the word before dropping the sign and using only the word.   

• Make sure to fade the use of the sign when your child begins saying the word.  

• Avoid overuse of “more” and “please” which may make it more difficult to convince your child to use other signs in the future.  

When is the best time to start?  

• Now! You can model signs at any age of an infant’s life.   

• Infants have been known to learn signs as young as 6 months old.   

6 functional signs to try   

• “all done” 

•  “eat”  

• “milk”  

• “open”  

• “help”  

• “bubbles”  

A quick internet search will provide videos on how to produce each of these signs and others!  

Remember to have fun! This is just a way to help your baby communicate with you before spoken language.   

Sources:  

Coaching the Caregiver in Early Intervention by Cari Ebert, MS, CCC-SLP  

Goodwyn, S.W., Acredolo, L.P. & Brown, C.A. Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early Language Development. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 24, 81–103 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006653828895  

Thompson, R. H., Cotnoir-Bichelman, N. M., McKerchar, P. M., Tate, T. L., & Dancho, K. A. (2007). Enhancing early communication through infant sign training. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 40(1), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2007.23-06