| Re: Baby Sign Language?
For my son, sign language worked well when he was a baby. He stopped signing when he could speak words instead. I used/signed 5 words only, then when he started to sign back, I'd drop in another one or two.
We began with up, more, milk, all done, eat, fan, outside, water. It did help me figure out what he wanted so we could avoid tantrums. I did the words fan (for ceiling fan) and outside (you do the word "out" twice) just for fun reasons...I'd walk him over to the light switch, point to the ceiling fan, say the word fan several times, make the swirling fan sign, and put his hand on the switch. Then, I'd help him turn it on. This was basic cause-effect stuff you always do with babies, but it cracked him up that he not only could understand the signed and spoken word, but I'd actually carry his little butt over to the light switch any old time he signed that he wanted me to. Such power! Same thing for going outside.
My rule of thumb was, the very moment he made a sign to me, I'd haul butt to do exactly what he wanted. He learned to combine signs like this, too. When he was in the high chair, he'd sign up and I'd ask (and sign) are you "all done" eating?, then he'd sign all done, up. Then, I'd say let's get you up/sign up and get him out of the chair pronto.
He got SUCH a thrill out of actually getting me to do what he wanted, I think it encouraged him to communicate. He had about 500 spoken words in his vocabulary by age 2, and we think the concept of signing helped him there. He still won't converse unless he wants to, but his vocabulary is still excellent at age 5. Maybe your other 2 kids were the same way???
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