Benefits Of Signing With Your Children!

The Benefits of Signing

Signing at Home

• Signing allows your infant to clearly communicate specific thoughts.

• Signing reduces frustration for your baby – and for you!

• Signing gives you a window into your child’s mind and personality.

• Signing won’t delay verbal language development – in fact, it may accelerate it. Research shows that

babies who sign usually start to talk sooner and develop larger vocabularies than non-signing babies.

• Signing reinforces verbal language by adding visual and kinesthetic emphasis to auditory input.

• Signing children tend to be more interested in books.

• Signing builds on babies’ natural tendency to use gestures.

Signing in Childcare Settings

• Signing helps to lower noise levels in preschool classrooms by reducing frustrated screaming and

crying.

• Signing minimizes stress and frustration for caregivers who are responsible for meeting the needs of

many children at once.

• Signing reduces the “guesswork” in meeting each child’s maintenance needs resulting in more

available time for positive, developmental interactions.

• Caregivers report that signing significantly reduces problems with biting. Take away the frustration

and biting goes with it.

• The use of American Sign Language gives children with special needs the opportunity to interact in

a meaningful way with typically developing children. General acceptance of children with special

needs is greatly enhanced.