BabyWhispererForums.com
ACTIVITY => Activity Time & Toddler Activity => Topic started by: RachelC on January 17, 2012, 02:01:02 am
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Carry on from here:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=165991.msg2409865#msg2409865
And for other reference, resources in the first couple posts here:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=56399.0
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Wow, I didn't think about help, we'll adopt that soon.
Today as I was signing "all gone" to Alon after supper he started waving his hands at me, so I did the sign again and he was waving his hands again. It doesn't look remotely like the sign, but maybe he finally started noticing I am doing something with my hands :P
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Help was a fantastic sign for us. Could not have done without it. Last week I lost my voice for a day or so, so reverted back to the signs - DS totally responded to most of them. It was ace to see him remember them.
Ima - you'll see a lot more coming soon, once they get the first few the others come in thick and fast.
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How early is too early to teach signs? I think it'd be a remarkable thing to teach Lara sign language, simply because she's already quite the quirky one to figure out. She's 6 weeks old. I understand there will be a lack of response from her, as she's still figuring out her arms, never mind fine motor skills but I'd love to expose her to it as soon as possible. Which also would give myself a chance to keep learning so that I already have an arsenal of signs for when she does catch on.
Are there any books (I've already gone through the websites and bookmarked them all) that you would recommend? I saw one in a Chapters the other day however I totally forget the name of the book. Going to grab it next time I'm there
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Never too early!! Sign away (think about the deaf community, they are signing from day one!). ;D
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Agree, start signing at least you will get into the habit yourself, just don't expect any signs back for a while! Personally, I don't think you need to get a book or a video, there is enough free resources online to find all the signs you need...we got up to around 70 signs before talking took over and we only used the net as our resource (and this thread too!)
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Yeah- you should be able to get most of the stuff on the net. You could wait to start till your LO can focus their eyes, just that otherwise you'll be signing for ages, and i wouldn't want you to 'get over it' too early!! I signed 'finished' all the time early on, as it's something that happens all the time, and they don't do much else!! It's a nice one that you can do close to their face (the australian sign is anyway...)
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Last week I lost my voice for a day or so, so reverted back to the signs - DS totally responded to most of them. It was ace to see him remember them.
Love it! I sometimes use the signs really as sign language when I don't want to talk, eg during church. Very handy (we use words with signs the rest of the time of course).
Well, we're well over the 100 mark now - F has demonstrated a few signs this week that I've shown her in the past, but didn't know she'd registered. Eg, cold. I used to do it whenever I opened the fridge and she was there, but she's always more interested in trying to take the opportunity to grab stuff so I didn't think she was paying attention, and I haven't done it in a while. We live in the tropics, so not much other call for it....then yesterday we came home from a particularly hot walk so I gave her a cold bucket bath to cool off. Instant signing of cold!!!! (And more :P)
Hi LarasMama! We started signing around 6 months and got our first signs back at 8. But I'd say go for it earlier if you're keen :) I found it surprisingly easy to learn and remember the signs once we really got going - most of them are pretty intuitive anyway. We have a book based on NZSL, "Baby Sign Language for Hearing Babies", but agree there's heaps of stuff online to keep you going.
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Awesome. I only say book as well because I'm trying to get back into the productive mode I used to be in, which means limiting my time online to when I'm pumping because I get sucked into BW and TBW(TheBabyWearer) and by the time I realize it 3 hours are up and I'm back to feeding and pumping again. Lol.
But I didn't think of it until now-- I could always print the signs off and make my own little reference binder. This way DH might pick it up too! Thanks for the advice ladies.
Amayzie: I can't say for sure that I'd get over it, quickly. I've a bit of an obsessive personality, so once I've got something in my head, it's hard to get out. However, thanks for the tip. I'll take it easy and just pick a sign or two to start with and keep them up, if not for my own sake. Lara's already able to focus her eyes, however the attention doesn't always stay very long. I used to think I had an Angel (at 2w), but I'm thinking more of a Spirited baby. It's hard to tell right now as she's still young and her personality is still flourishing.
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I'm planning to start signing to colby who's 5mo soon but it's hard right now since he's often in my arms. Lol.
Cadan who just turned 2 picks up loads of signs from the Mr tumble tv show Something Special.
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Yay for signing! We signed with Stan and it was fantastic, and all three of us are so excited to sign with baby Aud. I expect we'll start about the same time as you aali, around 5mos.
Re books, we didn't have one, just looked up signs as we needed them - or invented our own!
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Khalams mumma- very belated thanks for the video- couldn't see it on my phone as i was on holidays... nice idea though! Can so use it!! Very sad tho... i think the makgo season is pretty much over!! Some 'mango finished' signs are in order....
http://www.auslan.org.au/ This is a great site for australian signs.. or other ideas!
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Impressed here at well with Nuala! I'll have to look up 'help' :) Isaac is still just signing "more" all over the place! When he wants more food, when he wants something in general, when he's happy and wants something 'again', it's his general expression, haha.
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I'm planning to start signing to colby who's 5mo soon but it's hard right now since he's often in my arms. Lol.
I found that really hard as well - still do, eg when F is sitting on my lap reading a story and I don't have two hands free. I ended up doing one-handed versions of a lot of things when I had to, and proper versions when I had the hands free. Thought it might be confusing, but it's never seemed to bother F and now she does the same! So she knows the proper sign, but will do it with one hand if she's holding something in the other.
Justine, *more* is still one of our most common signs too :)
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ah yes.. balancing the baby, and the book, while signing and preventing the baby from eating the book, or your hair! Fun though!
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Signing with one hand is perfectly acceptable ;D
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Cadan who is 26mo made a new friend called Bobby at our play group today. Tonight he was asking me "Where's Bobby?" and had made up a sign for Bobby. He was actually using the winding action from the "Wind the Bobbin Up" song if anyone knows that. I guess he thought bobbin and Bobby were similar. ;D
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That's so clever Ali!
Yesterday at lunch, F was signing drink, so I offered her some water in her sippy cup. She had a small drink, then pushed it away, but continue to sign water. I was confused and she was frustrated, until she signed glasses (as in, for vision) and water together. Then I realised she wanted her water in a glass like me, not in her cup! I was so impressed with her for making that connection (but she still didn't get a glass :P )
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That's amazing Papaya and Ali! Love it!
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Not that I am trying to push it or anything, but will he ever start signing? :(
It's breaks my heart to see him so frustrated that he can't express himself (that's why I started signing in the first place, to prevent it to a certain degree), but he doesn't even have one sign yet...
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It was around 12mo that we got our first sign Ima even though we signed consistently since 6mo. Once he caught on to one he suddenly started doing a load as if something finally clicked.
That is so clever Nuala.
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Hi ladies, thought I'd join in. I signed with Claire and we both loved it. We've been signing with Graham for about a month now and we all love it, LOL! I've been amazed at what Claire has remembered and how much she likes to do it with Graham. She is now asking what the sign is for almost everything, so we've been adding to our repertoire. Graham watches our hands so intently when we do it and just smiles along. :D
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Freddie signed for the first time yesterday, 'duck'
So proud :)
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Hey Katie - welcome.
Ima - it took DS ages too, and one day I was 'ugh!' and said to him "What is it? Do you want a drink?' and he nodded and I said 'Well, can you show me the sign for it?' and he did! He knew it all along but I'd never thought to ask him to show me. After that they came on pretty fast.
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Welcome Katie :) And way to go Freddie! Duck was one of Felicity's earliest signs too.
F managed to post a small passport photo of DH into the toilet today ::) and came up with:
Dada! (spoken) *where*? *toilet* *all gone*!
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lol! bless.
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F managed to post a small passport photo of DH into the toilet today ::) and came up with:
Dada! (spoken) *where*? *toilet* *all gone*!
Haha! Love it!! ;D
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LOL Nuala. Smart girl.
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oh, my gosh. I can't believe I missed this forum. I have been searching for a good signing forum for a while... and there was one right here on bw where I've been since my lo was born.
Quick intro.. My dd Caroline is 10mo and she signs "more" "milk" (she uses it for all drinks) and "finished". She also waves hi and bye. Right now we are working on "eat" and "Cheerio".
I see that some of you love the "help" sign. What age did your lo start to understand the concept of "help". It seems so abstract. I'm just not sure she would get it yet.
Justine
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Hey Justine welcome!
I can't remember exactly when DS started but it was probably around 11-12 months...I just always would sign it when asking if he needed help...he never did the sign back to me correctly but made up his own but i continued to sign it correctly...I think if your DD has all those signs already that you could just start going for it and do signs for as many things and concepts as you want/can...I found that once DS got those first few signs all the other ones came on pretty fast
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I found that once DS got those first few signs all the other ones came on pretty fast
Very true! Welcome, Justine!
DD signed 'help' right around 12 mo as well. She has a spirited side and tries hard to do everything herself, even things a bit too difficult for her. One day my mom was over and DD was so frustrated that she couldn't turn her walker toy around by herself, so my mom asked her if she needed 'help'. From that day forward, she used the sign when her frustration was mounting. I so clearly remember it, because it was one of the most useful signs for us. :)
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Gosh i am super jealous of all you guys and your little signers!!! The more time i spend with 1 year olds the more i realise that this signing thing with babies is a good idea- they have sooo much to say- but not the means to say it!!
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I think F has been signing help for about a month or so, so somewhere between 11-12 months also.
I'm wondering has anyone else has signed feelings - happy, angry, frustrated etc - and what age your LO could start to get those concepts?
Katy, Felicity has SO MUCH to say! So so glad we've given her a means to say it!
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I'd suggest to sign the feelings, even if they don't get it initially it can help them to begin to understand them... more concrete than the word.. Especially if you are already signing happily and adding a few others won't burden you...
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We signed feelings/states of emotion (happy/laughing, sad/crying, etc). I have no idea when she started to use them, though. :-\ It's not as clear a memory for me as 'help' was, obviously. My guess is around 15-18 mo. I wonder if I have it written down. (That's another reason why I'm joining all these threads the second time around, to make sure I have it written down. :P) What I do remember is that she used them often to describe other babies she saw and never herself. I would think that's pretty developmentally appropriate, though, as we're still working on getting her to verbally express and correctly deal with her feelings as a 3 yr old. HTH
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How do you ladies distinguish between your LO signing "milk" and waving bye bye, they look the same to me. I am thinking maybe to use a different sign for milk, because he used it today and I realized I don't know which one he meant. He waves bye bye sometimes just out of the blue, regardless someone is going away :)
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My lo only waves when no one is looking at him, like 'hello, look at me!' :)
We've not had any signs since that 'duck' weeks ago. beginning to doubt it happened now!
He does keep doing weird hand movements tho, but I don't think they mean anything, like babbling in sign language. Anyone else seen this sort of thing? The other day it looked like he was reving a motorbike with one hand and waving with the other or something. Don't know what it meant but he seemed very happy and excited about it. Maybe the baby equivelant of patting head/rubbing tummy :)
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Ima - That one was never confusing for us, I guess because DD waved back and forth, not opening and closing her hand. You don't have to use the real sign, though, of course you can make one up.
Maybe the baby equivelant of patting head/rubbing tummy :)
LOL! :D
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UK mamas, I saw this and thought it would be useful for anyone signing:
http://signmonkey.net/
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We've had a breakthru, or at least I have! Realised that my lo is signing, ut I hadn't been paying enough attention. Yesterday he did "bath" and "eat/food" today he's done "light" when I put the lamp on this morning and "play" at my friends house :) Hurray!! So exciting :)
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YAY!!! Ok- I am so clearly a victim of the 'baby olympics' syndrome... not inrelation to gross motor goals- but language and signing goals!! (I am a speech path after all).. I'm now determined that my guy will be doing one sign at least by nearly 11 months- Hayley- you have set the standard for me!! :P (I will now spend every waking moment signing to hamish.. his first sign will no doubt be a combination hat means something like 'get out of my face mum!!!')
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lol amayzie! The signs my lo are doing only bear a passing resemblence to the signs I've been teaching him, it was a case of getting my eye in, which is what I mean about a breakthru. LIke you I was inspired by reading the bumf that my sign teacher had in the classroom about her experiences. She had written that her little girl was learning from 5months and could do 15 signs by age 1. So I thought, well F must be able to do something soon. And then I started really looking.
For "food" he was trying to chew the banana skin of the banana he had just eaten and i said do you want some more? and he immediately put his finger in his mouth. Normally I wouldn't have noticed this but because of the context and my new eyes I took it as a sign. Then later it was bathtime and I said "daddy will take you to the bath soon" Dp said " one minute" and the F started crying and put his hand up behind his ear. Again only half a sign but the context was right. "play" looked the same as "bath" but he'd crawled up to my friends little boy who was playing with his back to him, so again context.
So, yeah, keep your eyes peeled, because I'm wondering how long F's been doing these and I've not noticed. Presumably they'll get stronger now I can encourage and correct them. He still can't clap so the 2 handed signs will probably come later.
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loving the sign monkey site, Anna! Brilliant :)
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People, when did you make a concerted effort to start signing with your Los? Of course I can't remember when we started with Stan...
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I started half heartedly at 6 months then at 9 months (when he was sitting up by himself) I started with more effort and slowly upped the frequency - but it wasn't until around 11 or 12 months before I got my first sign - after that first one within weeks he was doing loads - it was like he knew all along but thought it was just something I did and not him...
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We vaguely started at 5-6 months with *milk* but around seven really worked on being consistent with about five or six signs. F signed a couple back by nine months and we started introducing as many signs as we consistently could at that stage. By one year she had 100 signs, now it's closer to 150. It really went in explosions - some weeks she wouldn't sign much new, other days she'd do four or five new ones.
Anyone else find that their LO likes to learn things in topics? eg F associates sun, moon, stars, sky and clouds, so very quickly learnt all of those signs together. Another thing she LOVES recently is to learn to sign a song or nursery rhyme. Eg for Hey Diddle Diddle, as I say it she'll sign cat, fiddle, cow, moon, dog, laugh and spoon. So cute!
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6 months, because realistically, you cannot expect them to sign back prior to then. Even deaf babies with deaf parents where signing is constant, you don't see them signing back much before that (yes, there are cases of babies signing earlier, but they are rare!) For Mom, if you start signing earlier, you begin to get frustrated because you aren't seeing results.
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Six months sounds right. I think Stan signed back at 10 months, 'milk'. I know he was signing pretty good by his first birthday.
This last weekend we were filming for the National Deaf Children's Society, this one little boy had a sign interpreter there for him, when it was story time she stood next to the teacher and signed right along and his little eyes just flicked back and forth from the picture book to the interpreter, picture book, interpreter.
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We are still a bit slack here at 10.5mo but I did it earlier with K around 6mo.
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I think i was signing 'finished' for ages- as you are always 'finishing'' things... but there are a lot of opportunities that coincide with 6 months that enble you to sign more- eating, more sitting, more active play.
Now Hamish isn't signing yet (looks very intently) but has started in the shower hitting my hand away when i sign 'finished' as he's trying to get his duck... It seems more like he's saying- not finished- rather than just 'get your hand out of the way of my duck!!'.. we'll see..
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We started pretty late, maybe around 10 months, and it's only now that I *think* we have our first sign - "finished" :D
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We started around 6 mo for both kids. Pretty much when we put them in the high chair as it's so easy to look straight at them then and eating/food signs just seem pretty concrete and appropriate at that age. I think Claire signed back around 9 mo, can't remember if it was 'more' or 'finished.' Will have to go look it up, now. :P
What I really can't remember, though, did you just start with a few signs and do them very often, or sign lots of things all throughout the day? I'm thinking I must have done the former with Claire, but yes she had lots of little explosions as Nuala mentioned, so I must have just started signing everything once she did that first one back. ??
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I started with a few signs an often, but have been trying to add as many as possible. I think as he's started to actually look at me it's easier (you feel like a dill signing for your own enjoyment). In some ways too you don't have to panic tooo much about when to start- as i feel that if i got a 1 year old and taught them a couple of signs, and started using them in a motivating context- they'd pick them up really fast..
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That said- i also feel that signing is really valuable for receptive language- what they can understand.. and they'll be understanding the signs way before they can use them- so it's great to help them to organise their day!
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Ha! Colby signed back for the first time today :) He did more when he was eating carrots. I had been giving him one at a time and signing more each time. Cadan was joining in with me and asking Colby if he wanted more too. And then he signed back. I was so excited but unlucky for him he had eaten them all Ha! I gave him some blueberries instead. Even Cadan was saying "Colby said more!" He did it a few times after that too and always in context. Hehe so cute!
I'll have to start signing more words now he seems to have the hang of it.
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8) ;D
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YAY!!
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So cute!
Amazingly we also have some signing back - eat, enough (when he doesn't want to eat anymore), all gone and a walk.
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B has signed all done a few times now. I am not as consistent as I should be.
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You could try enlisting K's help with the signs? My sister did this with her girls and the older one was teaching the little one...
so lovely to see signing progress here yay!
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Cadan had stopped signing since his speech is so good these days but he has started right up again when we are signing to colby. It is cute. And really good for colby to see a 2 sided conversation with signs since he can see requests being met when cadan signs for stuff.
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I also find k has stopped since he has been speaking so well for so long. He tried a few when I encouraged him though so I will continue. It is cute to see.
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Ooh we have our second sign "finished". It is more a waving of both hands but consistent. Quite handy when feeding him as his two signs are either finished or more ;D
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yay, that's great Ali! After we got those two and milk, it wasn't long until F was picking up all sorts of things.
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Oh ali- i'm REALLY glad your 2 signs are finished and more- I teach key word sign (you might call it Makaton)- aimed at people supporting people ith disabilities- and kids with language delay, parents and workers, and I always say 'teach finished and more, they are both really really useful signs' ANd i thought i was wrong all this time- Hamish has 2 'signs' neither are finished, more or help- but the ever language useful 'shower' and 'bye' - which really isn't a sign as such!! one of them is a NOUN!!! I spend all my time telling people not to focus on nouns- and here is hamish signing bl*ody SHOWER!!! Still- better than nothing! It's pretty cute though!
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It now occurs to me that expecting Hamish to sign 'finished' at the end of a meal- to indicate he's had enough is pretty stupid as he is NEVER FINISHED!! NEVER!! ::)
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Katy - why shouldn't there be focus on nouns?
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Colby is pretty sure when he's finished he's finished.
Shower could still be useful when he needs one after a messy meal ;)
Bath was one of cadan's first signs. I found nouns that could serve as requests like food quite handy but I can see that just being able to sign them to say cat, car etc is less useful than to say one is hungry etc. if using with a child with speech delay. Cute though.
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Yeah- just that nouns are not communication wise all that functional- especilly when looking at kids with language delay, or intellectual disability. So for example- the words for the colours, foods, and even toys get used in specific situations only a relatively small number of times in a day- and represent one type of language function. Wheras words like- help, more, finished, do, want, have, put, play, drink etc can be used in a wide variety of situations and represent a range of language functions. I guess that i just tell people not to focus on nouns as that's what people usually jump to- 'tell me the sign for toilet' 'tell me the sign for DVD, pencil, glue'- where we usually want to be encouraging COMMUNICATION- so getting a child to sign 'want' and then point to what it is that they want (for the most part it will be in their vacinity) is a more useful tool than teaching them to sign 'pencil' say- that can be only used in one specific situation.
THat said- the great thing about baby sign is that it really is an added extra- so in a way anything goes. Even when i'm working with kids with disabilities nouns are fine- as long as they are going to be really useful to the child. So if the child's favourite thing in the world is a duck then teach that sign.
Also- i'm a big big advocate of key word sign- and baby sign- to aid understanding. If you are holding an orange for example it's going to be more useful to sign 'more' or 'eat' in relation to the orange as it would be fairly clear to the child that you are referring to the orange- you don't need to sign it. It's also got to do with your capacity to learn and use signs!
Can you tell this is my job/passion?! Are you sorry you asked?!?
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Not at all sorry I asked! I find it fascinating, thanks for explaining xo
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I've never thought about it like that Katy, but I totally agree - if I had to choose F's three most useful signs, they would probably be more, finished and help! Even though she can say both more and help, she still uses the signs for emphasis so they'll still among her most used. Drink is also really good, particularly to distinguish thirst from hunger, yk?
Had never thought of teaching put or have...hmmm, will have to think about those ones...
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those were just examples... put is an awkward one.. but we used to teach it as part of the training... basically if you try and think of a range of communication functions and then you are suporting the understanding, and possibly development of these skills... when i am not lying in my warm bed i'll get my book with the interactive vocabulary we teach to give you some ideas- just more thoughts... i know you ladies are crazy good at signing already- but it might give you some more thoughts..
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No, I need ideas for more signs so please go right ahead Katy :)
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The signs we have now for B are more, potty and all done. I am working on the ones I used a lot with K. These include yes, no, eat, drink, bath, tired, home, tissue, nappy, sit, stand, walk, bag, happy, sad. we also did lots of animals to go with the books we read. K always loved orange. At one point he could use it with the right direction to say either the colour (out) or fruit (facing in). He could never say orange and just today at nearly 3yo and having been using sentences for over a year he asked for an "orloon" and did the sign for it. Food nouns are helpful when they are pointing at the kitchen and you ask "what do you want" rather than having to go through the whole fridge/cupboard and freezer etc.
B does the sign for star when he wants to sing too.
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'orloon' LOL!!
The signs we teach as part of the KWS training are:
How are you
Alright/okay next
more now
finished time
want/need sorry
like after
give eat
help drink
go yes/no
sit home
make mine
have what
when where
who please
thanks
Some they include but suggest you just use a natural gesture rather than worrying about a 'sign' as such are:
come look
put good
car up/down
little/big stop
bath open/close
wait
That's the first lot we teach- there's another set that has more descriptive words, but i find the first set to be a good start, especially when you are going to be using other nouns as well- It just gives you an idea of some wider language words i guess- covers a few more bases. I find it's a good idea to use some of them yourself without expecting your LO to use them as it will aid in their understanding.
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I find it fascinating, thanks for explaining xo
Me too! Thanks for the great list of signs too, Katy. I know and used several with C, but will have to learn the others.
G's got 'all done', but only does it with one arm, so it looks like a wave. However, he does it on cue and says, a very cute 'uh du' so I'm pretty sure it's it. He claps when I do 'more', LOL, so not quite there yet.
B does the sign for star when he wants to sing too.
Cute! Star was one of C's favorites and ended up being her first full word at 15 mo. It was Christmas time. I kept waiting and waiting for mommy, but got star. :)
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G's got 'all done', but only does it with one arm, so it looks like a wave.
He's clearly very international as our sign for 'finished' is a thumbs up shaking side to side- so could look like a wave when a little baby does that!
This is a webiste with nice videos of the australian signs- good for other ideas if you are stumped! (my advice- look up the rude signs- always appeals to my juvenile side!) www.auslan.org.au
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Katy, you're such a silly billy ;)
Our sign for finished is hand held one over the other with palms perpendicular to the ground and then move them outwards. So the waves look similar to me too.
Katie, cadan used to clap for more for ages. I don't think it matters if he is using it to me more but just not doing it correctly yet. It's like mispronouncing a word because they can't physically say it yet. In their heads they are saying and signing it correctly.
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Wow, I didn't realize the signs were that different from language to language. :-\ Our sign for finished is both hands up and then you flip them out a couple times like you're pushing something away.
Yes, Ali, I agree, will fully accept clapping, I'm just not sure it's meaningful for him yet, but it could be. It's interesting, because Claire's signs were mostly very intentional and quite correct, but she's always been a fine motor kind of kid. Whereas Graham tends toward the gross motor side of things. He's moving and climbing on the anything he can and I don't remember her doing that.
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the signs you would use are generally based on the sign language of your country- and each country (or possibly group of countries) has their own sign language- it may have some signs similar- but they are different languages- can you see how that further makes life a little challenging and isolating for members of the deaf community!?. Usually for ease you use your local signs- then everyone is doing the same thing... BUT if you cant find a sign, or you think a sign from another country suits better then mixing it up is all good. I found the sign for milk here a pain- 2 handed- so hard to do while holding a baby- and literally looks like you are milking a cow! The fact that i still breastfeed and hamish actually only has small sips of cows milk i changed it to use the north american sign... still has a cow milking idea- but not as literal as ours...
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I mixed up all the languages because I wanted to always find the sign that was the easiest for DS to do...and we also made up some of our own
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tcan you see how that further makes life a little challenging and isolating for members of the deaf community!?
Yes, totally! I knew I was using American Sign Language, I guess I just expected them to be more similar for that very reason, i.e. the deaf community.
Katy, funny about 'milk'. I only ever used it after C started having milk in a sippy cup and never with BFing, because I didn't want to feel like the cow that was being milked if she asked for it. :-\
I mixed up all the languages because I wanted to always find the sign that was the easiest for DS to do...and we also made up some of our own
That's a great idea! We made up some of our own too. :)
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That's why i thought you might like to see the aussie website- more ideas...
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Hello all. My first time on this thread :)
I'm qualified to BSL stage 2 and I've had some experience working with sign in my past but for my own reasons (logical to me) I chose not to teach DS much sign.
I have shown him signs for toilet, food, drink. He uses toilet and food, has never signed drink, has developed a home sign for fruit and teething gel.
I have taught/encouraged the hand motions which go with nursery rhymes more than true signs (so he can join in with toddler group songs) although some are the same or similar anyway...so he has a few others but they aren't needed in everyday communication.
I'm finding recently he is signing food when he wants the toilet. He's also signing food to ask for his art materials to do painting or colouring. It's kind of pointless because to get art materials he just gets my attention and points to the cupboard where they are kept, and then I show him the various types and he picks the box he wants (paint sticks or wax crayons etc). Is this something you've experienced with your own LOs that they sign anything just to communicate that they want something?
It isn't because he doesn't know the signs, for example he never signs food when we are in the bathroom he just signs toilet, so he does know it.
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When Stan was little he had a 'universal' sign (index finger of one hand pointing into the palm of the other hand) which he used when he wanted to communicate something to us. He used it to sort of get our attention and then we'd have to try and figure out WHAT it was that he was trying to tell us/ask for.
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That's interesting Anna, thanks.
So DS is probably doing the same. He can get everything he wants by just pointing so it's interesting that he chooses to sign food as well.
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Kids tend to generalise words too- like hamish has found the verbal word 'dad' (sounds like da) and uses it for 'dad', 'dad's drink', all drinks, all things that are dad's... anything that he fancies... - so i'd say the sign is the same thing. Part of learning about communicaton. So he may in his head have interpreted the sign for 'food' as 'i want this' IYKWIM.. so he uses it for any thing he wants? To him he probably uses it to mean any food- so why not for art materials as well!
Cool on the BSL thing- I wonder how many of the BSL signs are similar to the auslan ones...
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Kids tend to generalise words too
Good explanation Katy. DS has been using 'ssss' for everything for ages. There is a slight difference between 'sssss' meaning the sound a snake makes and 'sssss' meaning 'shhh' and then there is the general 'ssss' which means absolutely everything else in the universe. I hadn't thought of the sign being used in the same way but makes total sense. Thanks.
I wonder how many of the BSL signs are similar to the auslan ones...
Even in different counties and towns in the UK BSL differs massively making it pretty difficult to communicate from one place to another.
Many years ago I volunteered to communicate at some workshops for friends of the young deaf (a UK group for kids who are either deaf/hh or have a sibling or parent etc who is. The group brings hearing and deaf together so the kids are less isolated), it was arts and crafts and storytelling. There was a guy from the USA (hmmm I think he was a prof from Bernadette university? It's a uni for deaf people) leading one of the days, deaf signing ASL. Well there was no way I could have translated for the hearing kids. So, in a very confusing triangulated translation one of the other workers, a deaf Australian girl, translated this guys ASL into BSL (to translate for the deaf kids) and I translated into English (for the hearing kids). Not easy. I could see the girl struggling at times to understand and translate and then there were my struggles too and I couldn't ask for any clarification because she never looked at me, only the guy who she was translating. Crazy :)
I also visited a school for the deaf when I lived in Kenya, the kids there loved that I signed but of course all different and any clues that are often picked up by lip speaking/reading were useless as they were lip speaking Swahili and I was speaking English. Yep an isolating world for the deaf community when there are so many differences in the signs.
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yeah- we have northern and southern signs here- as well as local signs. Possibly not as varied as yours in the UK- in that our language/accent is a lot more the same throughout compared with england (can you tell i did linguistics? Nerd alert!) - but still local differences... I don't have much to do with the deaf community- and suspect that there's not a very large one in my city.. but through my job as a key word sign or makaton tutor you do hear some stuff about the deaf community and how auslan works. My latest aim- to avoid signs that make you seem like a 'speech teacher'!! I'm fairly hopeless at languages though- so have not really been tempted to learn auslan as such-
On the baby signing front- hamish understands a range of signs which is good- and continues to sign his one and only sign 'shower'!
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OK I admit it I am getting really impatient for Audrey to 'show me a sign'!
Here's a question: when she's done eating, she very clearly has her own 'sign' - she rubs her nose/face when she's finished. Once she starts doing that, mealtime is over. My question is, should we adopt that as our sign for 'finished'/'all done'? Or keep showing her the correct sign?
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I'd keep showing her the correct sign but accept that as her sign... she may eventually pick it up.
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It's just like speaking. We accept words that are not spoken 100% correctly, but we don't change our way of speaking to adopt their language (ok, sometimes the things they come up with are so cute we can't help it ;) but you get the idea)
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It's just like speaking. We accept words that are not spoken 100% correctly, but we don't change our way of speaking to adopt their language
OK, that makes sense :)
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hamish tried to sign 'duck' today!! So cute!!
Anna- I know you've been a bit frustrated like me 'waiting' for a sign- i found with hamish that he has really only started doing clear signs in the last couple of months, and no they are picking up a bit more (in that he does 3 ::) ) I would suggest that you keep doing them to her as it really helps her to understand what you are talking about and she will start doing ones that are important to her soon! I found that with the BLW there wasn't much need even for 'more' or 'finished' as a sign.. so he's never done it. And to Hamish- there is no NEED for 'finished' as a sign as you just eat till there's no food left in sight!! Anna's a little like this too isn't she?
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And to Hamish- there is no NEED for 'finished' as a sign as you just eat till there's no food left in sight!!
Ha! With mine even when there is no food left he turns himself around to the fridge, points and shouts until it is opened and more food produced :)
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LOL!! That will so be hamish!! He is yet to work out the connection i think!
Oh! He now signs duck! while we read a story with a duck in it!!
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I haven't done signing with Cadan so much for the last year or so since his speech is so good now but tonight I was sitting at the other end of the hall and signing at him to read a book while a very OT Colby was falling to sleep and I was doing wiwo and pd with him. He understood perfectly although he didn't actually do it, shame.
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Ah, this is fun, I don't actually know anyone else that uses signs with their babies!
I didn't start so early with little bug because I really figured he had enough with being trilingual, but when I saw the frustration of not being able to communicate I started with basics. And now we do a little more than basics, but not words he speaks.
And we can add another type of signs to the mix, our signs are a mix from Baby Signing Time and the "Signs to Speak" program we have here (Scandinavian country) that I used with my youngest daughter.
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He understood perfectly although he didn't actually do it, shame.
Ah yes.. the understanding is there- but the willingness to do it is not!!
Trilingual Solene!! :o Well the signing might actually be a good idea as he may be following a different curve to other children and not be speaking as early (may be no different) But the signing is like a nice universal translator!
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amayzie, yeah. I'm not sure he actually is slower though, his sister was. But he has 25-30 words now at 17 months and puts two words together for little sentences (yes, two words is a sentence :p). It'll be fun to see what the nurse says at his next well-baby in 1.5 weeks.
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I've heard you say that about multilinguals being slower to speak before Katy. Do you know of any actual studies that show this to be the case? Just out of interest.
Sounds like he is doing just fine Solene.
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I've heard you say that about multilinguals being slower to speak
I also believed this from things I'd seen/read. I warned my brother his LO might be a little later as he is bilingual Chinese English. However, I just read this
http://www.incultureparent.com/2010/11/late-speaker-and-bilingual-changing-a-common-belief/
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creations, oh, thanks, that is interesting!
My daughter was later, but she was also a preemie. So it could easily have been that.
I'm gonna ask the nurse more about this at the well-child, what research they have and what it says.
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Yeah- that's what the studies tend to show- i don't know heaps about it, and it's talking about 'averge' age. So some kids would be faster than that. And the story is that it;s not that they are 'slower' as such... not 'delayed' they are just following a different path if you get me- so the may talk later, and they can do some funny little language mixing things too, but by 3 i think (or something similar) they are either on par- or sometimes better off than their mono-lingual peers. BUT this isn't the area i work in, so i'm not up on the LATEST research...
Ok- Just did some reading on google scholar (i don't have anything better at hand!) And it appears that in some ways it;s more that there;s an appearance of delay if you get me. SO the milestones for first words, and two word combinations and vocabulary size are all the same- BUT the vocabulary size is made up of words from both languages- so half in each language- not double. So- say at 18 months you have 50 words (for example) Hamish will have 50 english words, where a bilingual child may have 25 english words and 25 words in the other language. So when speaking in one language may seem 'delayed' in a way. The article talked about the importance of looking at both languages at once when assessing...
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Sorry- once i get started on a topic ::) I find it really interesting! SOOOO- back to sign! I think that if you are into it it would be a nice way to support their communication across all languages and to help their understanding as well!
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amayzie, I think it's so interesting as well! So thanks.
I'm gonna talk to daycare too, they might know more.
But I do think that the signs are a good support anyway! You never sign without speaking so.
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Bless her heart! Audrey made a really good attempt to sign 'more' at her teatime tonight! In the last week she has just learned to clap her hands but this was definitely an attempt at 'more' which was somewhere between a clap and then clasping her hands together.
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Yay Audrey, love it!! ;D
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Yay audrey! How cute!!
We've now got 'cheese', and an attempt at 'bath'! Cheese is REALLY cute- as he does it as a sweeping motion across the high chair tray in front of him! Much bigger than mine- but he must really LOVE cheese!
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Yay Audrey and Hamish!
Alon started a few days ago with many more signs like music and car. So nice :)
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ISA- Do you find that he says the word and the sign at once? Hamish does this with a few signs.. some he dan't say like shower, but he can say something pretty close to 'cheese' but does the sign too! Perhaps for emphasis!
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My little man only uses a few signs himself, but he always talks at the same time.
Much like me. (As in if he doesn't know the word yet, he'll still "babble" while signing, but he is a chatterbox though.)
He understands all the signs I use though. But that's like with speaking, he understands everything I say to him, but he doesn't say it all.
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ISA- Do you find that he says the word and the sign at once?
Alon doesn't really talk yet, he has three languages around him so it will take him a bit longer.
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Alon doesn't really talk yet, he has three languages around him so it will take him a bit longer.
Oh, my kids are trilingual too!
But, we've talked about this before, do you have any research that shows that multilingual kids are slower? I've never seen any.
And my 18 month old doesn't seem slower, he talks in sentences (two and three words), and has lots of words (I've lost count, more than 40), mostly in our main language, but also words in the others. And signs.
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I did some searching when this came up before- basically it can LOOK like they are slower but they aren't. In that they still have say 50 words at 18 months, and are doing 2 word combinations at 2 years for example, but the 50 words is divided between the languages. So in a bilingual household- if you looked at one language only they may appear to have only 25 words, but when you look at both languages they have the full 50. And all kids are different, and that first 2 years they develop so much, and vary so much! Some will be doing sentences earlier, and others will be closer to the norms.
It's important that if you're getting to 18 months or 2 years and you don't have a good bunch of words that you don't just consider that it's a multi language thing, but there may be other things going on. AND generally signing is a great way to support communication and understanding even if there IS anything going on!
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We checked before Alon was born with a children speech specialist and she told us that we talk three languages with him but that we should expect he will start talking later.
I don't want to start and get worried about this, I don't think there is a reason to.
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Nope... I wouldn't stress- What are the 3 languages?
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Greman, English and Hebrew. But since DH left it's really only Hebrew :P He did start saying a few word but no where near making sentences. Anyway, we are a bit OT here :) there is a multilingual children thread somewhere...
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Anyway, we are a bit OT here there is a multilingual children thread somewhere...
LOL! But I soooooo wouldn't be on that one!! How interesting! I reckon that the signing though (see- bringing us back on topic) would really add to the learning of these languages- sort of saying 'see these words, they are the same!'
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amayzie, that's what I'm thinking too, with my toddler.
He says car, for instance, in two languages. So he uses several words for one thing.
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I feel it definitely helps to have a sign for the two words in different languages.
B hasn't really signed eat much but was doing so feverishly when he wanted cake at a party today. Motivation is key, hey.
We would love you on the bilingual thread Katy for your expertise. You bilingual mamas should head over too.
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hi everyone!!!just saw this thread!!!!thinking about starting signing with my 7MO DD....any advice or tips for a newbie?!
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Welcome happy.
Just puck a few signs that you will use often like more, finished, eat, bath and milk etc and do them consistently every time you day the word. It may be several months before you get anything back so don't be put off.
Colby signed bath today when he was waiting for us to go upstairs for a bath which was great because I hadn't even used the sign today. He must have remembered it for before. He seemed so excited when I acknowledged I had understood.
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Do it happy! Even if you don't get signs for AGES ( we didn't ::) Speech pathologist mummy fail ::) ) its great to support their understanding of what you are saying. Hamish now signs for things that motivate him- like shower, bath, cheese and toilet...
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I put k in the bath today after b was dressed. b heard and went running into the bathroom signing bath as he went. It was so cute.
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cool!!!gonna start today!!!!kinda excited about communicating with her!!!
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Welcome Happy! :)
I love the 'bath' signing. I haven't done that one with G, don't know why, but he also gets into the bathroom as quick as possible when he hears the water turn on. Better get the sign in there! :)
Anybody have some fun ones that their LO has made up? When I ask G if he wants a yogurt (a frozen tube that he has each night after dinner), he raises his hand. At first, we laughed and thought he was saying 'yes' he wanted one, but now I've realized it's his sign for yogurt, because I went to get one for C the other day and handed it to her. Immediately when he saw it, he raised his hand. C's 'sign' for yogurt was to put her index finger on her nose. Is that strange that both my kids have made their own sign for yogurt? I guess I should learn what the real sign is, but we'd never use it, LOL. ;)
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http://babysignlanguagedictionary-mysmarthands.com/yogurt_-_ASL_sign_for_yogurt.html ;) :-*
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LOL, thanks Rachel! :D
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Why bother with the right one if you know what he means?
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No, I won't bother. Knowing the real one was just for my sake. :)
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Hey all! Started with DD2 at 6months and still waiting for a sign back. She's focusing on the hands when I do it...so I know I'll see it eventually. She's 9mths now so here's hoping!
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JudyLee, we had signing back much later than we started. DS started like when he was 1y but he has periods he would learn many new of them once and then none for a while.
I am signing airplane for maybe 2 months now as we are going to fly in the mid of Sept. and the other day he did it together with me, so cute. I still don't think he really knows what it means :)
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Took us till more like 12 months or so to get anything much consistent- and i'm a speech path- so was signing at him like a lunatic, and doing heaps of strategies to prompt him ::) (Naughty mummy!) BUT- kids will develop as they need to- he started when he as ready! It's been great though as it's really complemented his speech and word vocab.
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Audrey is trying to sign SOMETIMES, but sometimes just shouts instead ::) ::) I guess she is more inclined to just yell if she is tired. The ones we're pretty confident we've seen her attempt are 'more', 'all done', 'potty' and possibly 'drink'. But yeh it's still very far from consistent. She does give me a cuddle when I ask/sign 'cuddles'.
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Sounds great anna!
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She does give me a cuddle when I ask/sign 'cuddles'.
Aww, how sweet! :D
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How's it going, signers?
Audrey has been really inconsistent about signing, but the last few days she is signing a combo of 'bird' and 'more' (basically more but with bird fingers) All. The. Time. I guess it is like Stan when he had a generic sign which just meant 'I am trying to tell you something' and we had to figure it out LOL. She can do LOADS of signs but mostly she only does then when we watch her Baby Signing Time DVD, not, like, in a context where it would be helpful to anyone. ::) Fun though. Stan loves watching and he is oh the great perfectionist about signs, we have to make them just exactly perfect else the sign police will give us a ticket.
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Signs coming thick and fast now. Bird, dog, milk, more, raisins, all done, food/hungry, dolly, cuddle... soooooo cool and so cute! Love this!
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congrats anna!must be so exciting!DD is opening & closing her fist, but i think it's just random!!!!i've been trying "drink" & "more"...
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Great job anna!!
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Sounds like she's doing great Anna.
We got yummy and thank you this week.
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We got 'please' today, which was gorgeous. She asked Stan 'please' for his Buzz Lightyear, he gave it to her, and when he asked for it back (and signed please to her) a couple of minutes later, she handed it straight over. OK she spent the rest of the day yelling at me instead of asking for anything, but it's a start.
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I LOVE please! Graham rubs his round little tummy with a big smile on his face (not sure if it's similar for you all). Too cute! ;D
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Yes, please is gorgeous - it's rubbing a circle on the chest here, and although F has been able to say the word for months she still signs it too when she's being particularly earnest. It looks like she's polishing her heart as she looks up at me with big entreating eyes. It's SO hard to say no to!
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We also have please here and thank you (when I remind him...) :)
WOur new ones are bread, shower, daycare, cheese, nappy change and book. So cute!
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It's SO hard to say no to!
I remember thinking this when Claire learned it and also when she said it... how do you say no, when they're asking so politely like you've taught them to?!? ;)
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I think Audrey has discovered our kryptonite... a crying baby signing please?? Who is going to say no to that?
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Oh, that must really tug at the heart strings Anna.
Tonight Colby scratched my face while nursing and when I said it hurt he signed sorry. So cute.
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Love it, Ali. That's precious! :)
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a crying baby signing please?? Who is going to say no to that?
You are totally stuffed from now on. TOTALLY!!
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Funnily enough Colby just learnt to sign please and now does it when he is asking for something. My sister was leaving the ther day and he was putting his arms up to her to go with her. when she said he was staying he started crying and signing please. Ah, so cute. I think she almost took him home with her just so she didn't have to say no bless him.
He has also been going into the kitchen and signing for food when he's hungry.
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Oh, Ali, that's so sweet. I think my heart would have started crying if I was in your sister's shoes.
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Today I was trying to convince DH we should go out for dinner and he wasn't sure as Cadan was being grumpy. I was jokingly saying to Colby to say "please can we go Daddy" and he was signing please and saying Dada in a little expectant voice. Ha too cute. Luckily DH thought so too an we got our meal out ;)
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Today I was trying to convince DH we should go out for dinner and he wasn't sure as Cadan was being grumpy. I was jokingly saying to Colby to say "please can we go Daddy" and he was signing please and saying Dada in a little expectant voice. Ha too cute. Luckily DH thought so too an we got our meal out ;)
Love it!! ;D
Graham is 'pleasing' all over the place too and seems to be using it in place of 'more' sometimes as well. We were building towers the other day and he was knocking them over. After each time, he would sign 'please', so we started working on 'again', but he wasn't interested in that at all.
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We have a sign here for daycare, so today as I was taking Alon to daycare there was a man standing on the street and Alon just stopped infront of the man, looked at him and signed "daycare". So funny :D The man was pretty puzzled.
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Ha ha Ima that is a classic.
Katie, why should he be interested in a new word when the please he currently has serves the purpose? ;) Colby signs more for everything he wants even stuff he hasn't had any of yet.
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yeah- more around here means 'i'll have some of what you are eating' often ::)
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Sooooo many many signs! I know we shouldn't compare our children but honestly I dont think Stan was signing this much when he was 22 months old?
Hat, clothes, shoes, sleep, sad, bath, bubbles, cat, dog, outside, light, eat, drink, milk, more, please, water, snack, baby, bird, potty, help,
She is teething and feeling rotten, this evening she has been telling me she feels sad, but every time she does so it makes her start to cry :'(
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Ah Anna, that is so heartwrenching :( It probably helps that she has Stan to sign with her as well.
Colby is still signing away but no new ones. The other day Colby and I made breakfast together and then I told him to tell Cadan it was ready and he ran into the living room shouting Cadan's name and ran right up to him, stuck his face in Cadan's and signed eat. So cute :)
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She is teething and feeling rotten, this evening she has been telling me she feels sad, but every time she does so it makes her start to cry :'(
Oh gosh that is so sad and so adorable all at the same time!!
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She is teething and feeling rotten, this evening she has been telling me she feels sad, but every time she does so it makes her start to cry :'(
Oh gosh that is so sad and so adorable all at the same time!!
I thought the exact same! :-*
Interesting that Audrey has many more signs than Stan. Graham doesn't have nearly as many as Claire did at this age. I wonder if it's a gender difference thing or just because I haven't worked with him as much. :-\ Could be a little of both!
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Hey ladies - I know C is only 9wo but I'm so interested in this and think ill follow along to pick up some tips for the future :)
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Definitely Kelly. And ai don't think you can start too early, f only to get yourself in the habit of signing each time you say certain words and learning the ones you want so you're doing it with less effort by the time he hits 6mo and starts paying the signs more attention.
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I agree.
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shall i just google or does anyone have any decent websites I can look at? x
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This is a good site if you want BSL http://www.britishsignlanguage.com/
Or this one is fun but based on Makaton http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/activity/baby-signs
Some people just pick the easiest sign for them and don't worry about whether it is BSL or ASL or makaton etc.
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Ladies, do you get this? Audrey's whining (for example), I ask her if she wants something to EAT - she signs EAT back at me but I've no idea if she's actually hungry or just 'parroting' the signs back at me, yk?
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Yeah can you take her in the kitchen perhaps and let her point to what she wants?
Colby has started making up his own signs by acting stuff out. He pretends to wipe his nose when he has a runny one and wants a tissue.
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DD seems to sign eat NON STOP!!!! and I'm not sure if she's really hungry? honestly she signs it all the time!!!!! She has well over 50 signs and so communicates well but the eat sign must be her favorite. I'm also not sure if she try to sign drink sometimes?
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Maybe sometimes when she signs eat, she actually means she's thirsty...? Or maybe she just likes her food ;D Awesome that she has so many signs!
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DS used to sign eat for drink all the time! Every time he signed eat I would offer him his bottle of water and usually it ended with that. If he continued to ask for food then I gave him something small, like a piece of apple.
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50 signs is great.
Colby has a cold right now and has invented his own sign for Vicks vapour rub :) he uses his index finger to draw a circle at the top of his chest as if rubbing in Vicks. So cute.
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Aww Ali that's lovely. Love it when they make up their own signs! Hope he feels better soon!
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Thanks Anna. He's nearly over it now thanks.
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Colby has a cold right now and has invented his own sign for Vicks vapour rub :) he uses his index finger to draw a circle at the top of his chest as if rubbing in Vicks. So cute.
Just reading this, Ali... I love it. Made up signs are so great! ;D
Graham has finally got his own version of 'help'. It was an easy one for Claire, but he's never gotten the hang of it, just always pointed and grunted (and he probably never needed to do more than that, because Claire will often just help him). Anyway, he holds his thumb and moves his hands up and down all the while saying, "HEP!" :D
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Ah I love it when they do their own variation Katie. So cute.
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Audrey JUST today 'got' help (as in, understood when and why she would use the sign - she has signed it before but only 'parrot-fashion' copying us). She does it really vigorously, with accompanying grunts and groans. Ha. She's just started putting together 'where' and (whatever). Where's dolly? Where's drink? Where's raisins? etc.
I feel like we need to add a few more signs. What are most useful for you? Any time I make the concerted effort to learn a new sign, I then find we don't end up using it and I wish I had learned something else instead.
Current signs are (updated 8/2 for my own info):
dog, cat, horse, light, sleep, tired, sad, eat/food, drink, milk, more, please, thank you, help, bath, bubbles, banana, raisins, book, done, music, outside, shoes, potty, dolly, car, Stan, where, hot, cold, brush teeth, water, juice, apple, ball, cuddle, coat, sleep, flower, bird, baby, bear,
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You've already got what I think were our most "useful" signs - but F liked being able to sign work (to say where Dada was), and things that were pretty/interesting to look at when we were out walking - so flower, bag (LOVED bags), umbrella, hat. Oh, and play and walk were used a lot here.
Do you sign when reading? F had an animal book which she learnt all the signs for and she would amuse herself for ages by "reading" it to herself ;D
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You've already got what I think were our most "useful" signs
I agree! We do hat and coat as well as shoes, because we need to get them all on to go outside right now. We also do things we see outside: tree, bird, car, airplane, train (will add flower and bike when we see them again :P).
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What about some cute ones like I love you? We do clean and dirty which are handy. Foods she likes? Potty training vocab like flush, nappy, dry, wet, pee, poo etc.? Hmm, you probably have all the ones we do.
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Well you have all convinced me. I have just signed little Eva (5 months) up to Sing and Sign classes we start on Thursday. Are they able to do signs for when they are tired?
I cant wait till she signs that she wants a cuddle or a kiss :D
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Colby would never volunteer it but if I ask if he is tired and we are just zipping in the sleeping bag for a nap or BT he will sometimes sign tired back to me.
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lol i thought that would be too easy. Imagine having your baby tell you they were tired, everything else would be so easy ;D
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Some great ideas here thank you!
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DD1 used to sign when she was tired ;D. She was (and still at 10.5years) high sleep needs ;)
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Oh so there is hope for me yet. I think she gets it from me. When i was little all i ever wantd to do was sleep. That really only stopped when i had Eva :D
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Not exactly a true 'sign' but Audrey has started signing 'phone'. She puts her hand to her ear and yells 'HIYA!!" I don't think I answer the phone that way...
And she's signing help which is great and hilarious. She does it really vigorously and grunts as if she's lifting something really heavy (complete with grimace).
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Ah love the phone ones.
Colby has made up his own sign for "go out and shut the door" when he wants peace on the toilet. I assume he is miming me shutting the door. It is like a fist, index finger up and arm moving forward. Much like the BSL for train if anyone knows it.
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Ooh good one. I'd be too scared to leave Audrey by herself on the toilet, she would try to get down!
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Yeah I know what you mean. I do stand outside the door peaking through the gap so I can spy on him. And the topper is fixed on so very sturdy. He's never tried to get down he just calls me when done.
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Cute, Ali :) F would just waggle her finger at me, and then at the door - she still uses this sign when it's well past bedtime and I've firmly told her it's time to stop talking, which clearly means "go away Mama so I can chat and play in peace" ::)
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K used to sign sleep when he was tired. I remember him running around with his hand cupped on the side of his face at a party once when his nap was delayed. He loves his sleep too.
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Thought you might like to see some of Audrey's signs ;)
Signing monkey
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Anna, she is adorable! And the video is edited so nice!
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Thank you! :-*
NW: I go in and give Aud a cuddle and ask "What do you need?" She signs 'medicine'. "Where does it hurt?" She points to her teeth. Give Nurofen and Bonjela... cuddles, back into bed. So much easier this way!!
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You can tell Brad is a pro ;) Audrey looks like a pro too though. So adorable. It does make it easier to be able to understand what they want.
We have the sign for "where" now. Colby is constantly losing his ball under the sofa or such and saying "ball" whilst signing where. He often signs one word while saying another actually like he'll say orange and sign please or say more while signing potty. It's like a basic form of two word sentences perhaps?
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Hi ladies! So, i started some simple signs with DD, she's 10 months now and this last week she's really getting the hang of it, it's very cool! Just a couple of questions, i BF and using the sign for milk ( should have maybe thought that through) she's picked that one up really well, the thing is she does it all the time now, at first i tried to give her the breast so she knew she was doing it right but now she does it even while she's eating? Is she practicing? Could she be using it to tell me she's thirsty? I use a different sign for her sippy but she's not picked that one up yet! The worst time is before naps, I've started feeding her (bf) before naps as her A Time increased but even after she's had the bf, I've changed her nappy she starts screaming and making the milk sign, i feel terrible that I've given her the ability to ask for something and now I'm refusing it! Except today, i gave in today as she was awake for 6 hours and i really needed her to sleep! How do you know if they are practicing or not? And what do you do if they are asking all the time, i can't possibly give it to her every time she asks? I'm very confused! ! Please help! !
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Hi again Georgena :)
I only used a few signs with my DS, toilet, eat, drink, I think that was all. I did find that he would he adapted the eat and drink into one sign and just used that regardless of if it was hunger or thirst - the thing is that he was able to communicate he needed something and it was pretty easy to work out which he needed even if it meant offering both, for him his needs were met so he didn't need to do more than that. Do you think it might be possible she is signing milk meaning she is hungry or thirsty rather than actually wanting to bf? If she is using the same sign when she is eating solids I can imagine that she has combined the two things, bfing and solids, into one sign (thinking of your other thread too with her increased hunger in the afternoon, maybe a solids snack will help). Or another thought is that she is thirsty and might perhaps be satisfied with a sippy cup of water rather than a bf (you said she isn't signing for the sippy cup yet but perhaps just physically offer it instead of the breast?). What do you think?
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Hi creations,we've got to stop bumping into eachother!! :) it feels like im posting on all the boards at the moment!! So i think you are right with the fact shes thirsty/hungry, ive been offering the sippy when she does the sign and she seems quite happy with that,also i think the snack today really helped, she did the sign for milk before hand,i gave her her snack then she just did the sign once before her nap,i explained she needed to sleep first! I knew she wasnt hungry and she had just had water,then shes not done the sign since so i think it must be her way of telling me she is hungry or thirsty! Lets see what happens with some more time, i wont over load her with signs,i will stick with the basics! Thank you again for your help!! :)
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I'm stalking you ;)
Yeah, she might have just started to get into a little habit of a bf before her nap too, not surprising I'm sure it's a very comforting thing just before sleep :)