Today in our signing signing stories we have Ted and his mom Cam. Check out the video and hear about all the creative signing they have been up to!

We liked the idea of signing with our baby boy, Ted, and started almost immediately (we were new to signs, so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get the hang of it).

When, by 11 months, Ted still wasn’t using any signs, we decided to go to a proper baby signs class in case we were doing something wrong. His first sign, more, turned up a week before his first birthday and three days before the class was about to start!

Since then, he’s been picking up new signs every day and now, almost four months later, he uses about 70. He doesn’t normally enjoy just showing them off without a reason, so we had to trick him into doing these

It blows our minds that we can chat away with him all day long despite the fact that he can only actually say a handful of words! He loves his signs, and watching the videos on your website is one of his favorite shows.

This is what made me giddy today:

As I was putting Ted to bed, we were reading From Head To Toe. At the moment, the page with the seal is his favorite, and we kept coming back to it over and over again. Finally, he started pointing to the window the way he does when he can hear the neighbors’ dog, and I realized he was asking about the seal. I told him there were no seals in the yard, because they lived in the sea. He looked at me, and excitedly signed ocean, as he does when I tell him we’re going to the beach. I couldn’t believe it. I now know that my 16mo knows seals live in water, without ever having seen one, yet!

He’s also starting to get really inventive with his signs. I showed him how to blow a dandelion, and the next time he saw one and wanted it, he signed pinwheel flower. Apparently, we’ve only ever blown at pinwheels until now, and in his mind that’s what dandelions are most closely related to. :)

Thank you, guys! Your website is amazing and the videos are the most helpful tool ever!

Cam & Ted

This week, our signing star is Jackson. Jackson was taught by his mom Marissa, and they share their story. Check out the adorable video of Jackson doing the sign for more.

My son is a week shy of 8 months and we have been doing signs with him since the week of his 6 month birthday.

We decided to begin signing on a regular basis with the obvious eat, all done/finished, and more but we also signed change for diaper changes, water, play and “toys along with many other at random signs without consistency.

Within the last week he has signed change 5 times (only with poop in his diaper) and all done in the eating context which is great! And today he signed water.

I’m submitting a video of him signing more and what sounds like an attempt at saying more along with the first sign. I was filming for another project I’m participating in called “1 second every day” but I got lucky and filmed his first more this is technically his 3rd sign.

He is also shaking his head no which is very surprising. He is easily calmed by signing while singing the alphabet as well :) I think the dual visual and auditory pair is what works well.

It’s so rewarding to be able to communicate and understand his desires. We have made a sign chart and plan to begin extensive incorporation.

This week Elliot and his mom Kayleigh tell us their signing story.

My son Elliott is just over a year (16 months-old to be exact!) and has quite a good sign vocabulary.

We started on signing just at 3 months. We knew he wasn’t going to be able to sign back right away but we decided it was something we wanted to stick with.

Elliott started having troubles with bilateral ear infections when he was 4 months-old and by the time he was 1 year-old we had to go get tubes. The ENT told us earlier before he was old enough to have surgery, that what he was hearing was what we would hear under a small amount of water that’s how bad his ears were.

We were happy at that point that we decided to sign so we were able to communicate with our little guy.

He started signing when he was 9 months-old: milk, more and eat; and since then he’s built onto that list: please, thank you, change, diaper, poop, water, help, smart, ball, sit, the letter “E” since his name is Elliott and dog. I’m sure there is more that I am forgetting.

We are thankful that every day we chose to sign with our baby boy. We are able to communicate with him in a way that has helped temper tantrums come to a close and when we are in an intimate setting at a restaurant and he wants milk or something to snack on he signs to us and it’s a lot easier and less noisy for us to communicate to one another.

Khloie is the second star of our signing stories series. Nicole and her daughter Khloie started signing at 8 months. Read how they got started and check out the video of Khloie showing us how it’s done!

I got interested in BSL when I went to a friend’s house and her 9 month old baby was eating and making these hand movements and her mom was like okay, hold on, I’m getting your milk. I asked her how in the world did you know what she wanted and when I found out she had taught her sign language I was amazed.

I thought it was awesome that she knew exactly what her baby wanted. So when I got pregnant like 3 years later I was excited to try it. I first started consistently introducing signs when she was about 8 months, I had done it a few times before but it wasn’t routine yet. I started with milk and more. I breastfed so whenever I would nurse her I would be signing for milk and saying milk. And when I fed her her Gerber jars, I would sign for more before I gave her some.

When I started it’s amazing how much they pay attention because half the time I never thought she was, but about 3 weeks later she started signing for milk and a couple weeks after that she was signing for more.

Khloie is now 17 months old and knows over 10 signs. Now she’s catching on way faster than I can keep up because it doesn’t take as long to learn a new sign. I feel it has even improved her talking abilities because she will sign what she’s wanting and try to say it. Right now we’re working on learning the sign sorry and thank you.

I would say if anyone is interested in learning BSL to not give up and be patient. It’s so rewarding and they’ll start signing back out of nowhere!

This is the first in series of posts we are going to do about reader’s experiences with baby sign language. Christi, shared with us this incredibly cute video of her son Wyatt doing more, one of his first signs. Check out the video and read Wyatt’s signing story.

I found out about Baby Sign Language through Facebook- my cousin liked the Baby Sign Language page, and after checking it out, I did too. I saw a video clip of a little girl signing a lot- and I thought I’d try it out. I purchased the Deluxe Kit and read the Quick Start Guide. My husband and I started signing mom, dad, and milk when he was five months old. To be honest we were not consistent with it, and signing fell to the wayside.

Fast-forward a few months. Wyatt started eating food and I introduced the sign for more. I began just by asking if he wanted more, doing the sign, and then giving him a spoonful of food. Some days I signed, some days I didn’t. After a few weeks of doing that I’d ask him, take his hands and make the sign with his hands. I would get excited and say yeah! more! and give him a spoonful of food. When he was 7 months he did his first sign- mimicking me! I was SO excited… and what was so sweet was Wyatt was excited too! Now, just a few weeks later, when I ask him (without signing it) he responds with the sign! We are VERY proud parents! The video I took was just after he started mimicking me.

We are now working on all done, mom, dad, and milk. I’m so excited to see progress – and you can really see him soaking it in and thinking! I believe in this program and can’t wait to see how this helps Wyatt communicate with us and express his needs! Little ones are such sponges, are curious, and want to learn. If we can do it- you can too!

Casting call!!! We are quickly approaching 20,000 Facebook fans and we want to celebrate big. We want to invite you and your little one to join us on the BabySignLanguage.com website.

We want to feature videos of your little ones signing. We love babies signing away, and using signing in real-life.

Here is the scoop:

• Every accepted submission will receive a personalized BSL t-shirt.
• All videos will be displayed on Facebook to give us all an opportunity to share and brag with friends and family.
• If we select your video to feature on the website you will get a $100 Amazon gift card.
• We will also award four Deluxe BSL kits for the following categories: Funniest, cutest, special needs & most creative.

Video Requirements:

We are looking for babies between four and eighteen months to best feature the benefits of BSL. (If your baby is slightly older or younger submit your  video, we won’t be checking IDs). Here are some tips for making a great video.

1. Make sure there is lots of good lighting
2. Seriously, you can’t have enough light
3. Use the highest resolution video capture available (iPhone / Smartphone videos are fine)
4. Catch baby in a playful mood, clothed and clean
5. Try to maintain an uncluttered backdrop and foreground
6. Limit background noise or distractions (TV off)
7. No editing necessary
8. 1 to 5 minute videos

Check out this video of Brinkley signing along to some flash cards:

We will be accepting submissions from January 9 through January 30.  Please e-mail your link or video to videos@babysignlanguage.com.

Our Baby Sign Language Kit recently won two awards. We received a gold medal in the Mom’s Choice Awards, and we were a winner in the Parents Tested Parents Approved awards.

We are particularly proud of these two awards, because both are based on reviews of the product by real parents using the products with their children.

The kit contains a teaching guide, flash cards, wall chart, and signing dictionary. You can check it out here.

We are excited to announce four new Baby Sign Language products. The products, a teaching guide, a dictionary, flash cards, and a wall chart will be available individually or bundled together as a kit.

The Baby Sign Language Guide Book covers everything you need to know about teaching your child how to sign. Beginning with a Quick Start Guide, the book introduces your first ten signs and enables you to start teaching your baby in 30 minutes. As your baby progresses in signing, you can move to more advanced topics such as combining single signs into phrases and transitioning your child from signing to speech.
(128 pages, $19.95)

The Baby Sign Language Dictionary contains more than 600 signs to expand your baby’s vocabulary beyond the basics. Each sign is illustrated with two diagrams showing both the starting and ending position as well as the intermediate motion. In addition to commonly used words, the dictionary includes the alphabet and the numbers 0-10.
(240 pages, $19.95)

The Baby Sign Language Flash Cards include 52 of the most popular signs. In addition to the basics, the flash cards help you teach words such as train and zebra that your baby may not be exposed to on a daily basis. The front of each flash card displays the word and image to your baby. The back of each flash card shows how the sign is performed (a handy reminder for the teacher). Each flash card is made of sturdy paperboard and measures 4″ x 6″. ($24.95)

The Baby Sign Language Wall Chart shows 17 basic signs including eat, drink, and sleep. The wall chart is a useful reference for caregivers such as grandparents, nannies, or babysitters, so they can interpret the basic signs your baby makes when you are away from home. The chart is also a helpful reminder in the early days when you are learning your first signs. The wall chart measures 24″ x 36″. ($9.95)

The Deluxe Baby Sign Language Teaching Kit bundles all four products together for a special price of $39.95 (a $35 discount!).

We have worked hard on these products to get everything perfect and can’t wait for you to see them. More details on how to order coming soon.

If you want us to notify you when it becomes available, please subscribe to our blog using the form below or like us on facebook using the button on the right. Our fantastic Facebook community will always be in the know.

I was fortunate enough to see my son smile in the delivery room shortly after his weigh in and measurements were all taken. He opened his bright blue eyes and smiled at family and friends right away. This was our very first baby sign language milestone! After all, is there any better way to say happy, love or show approval or gratitude than with a smile? My son and I smiled at one another and that was all the sign language we needed there in the delivery room.

And since our BSL skills surfaced at birth, surely I had a little Einstein – a total overachiever – on my hands, right? Well, he would actually take his time with all the other signs and even add several verbal words to his vocabulary prior to mimicking any baby sign language.

When I was at my most discouraged, ready to toss the BSL flashcards and take the wall charts down from the fridge, I looked at my son and asked, “So what do you think? Should we give up? Not bother with these signs any more?”

He gazed back at me a moment as though he understood; not the words I was saying, but the feeling and emotion behind those words. He knew I was about to give up on something. He took one of his puffs in his left hand and reached up to me with his right. I took him in my arms and he attempted to feed his puff to me. It was as though he was saying, “Here mommy, these make me feel better.”

I ate the puff and he smiled.

That was all I needed to be taken right back to our meeting in the delivery room. I knew exactly what he was saying, and he knew what I was saying. Maybe he wouldn’t show me the sign for diaper, drink, eat or milk for several more months, but there were plenty of other signs between the two of us.

It is tempting to go through the checklist of milestone as though they are just that – a checklist. In reality, every milestone should be relished and celebrated and the same is true for sign language. I shifted my focus from quantity to quality right then! We didn’t keep a tally, we just learned at our own pace.

Today – I can’t tell you how many signs my son knows. There are probably too many to count. And it all started with a smile!

Perhaps your little one is already a well-versed signer and is quickly showing progress on verbal skills. The basics are covered and you seldom see tantrums or meltdowns.  As their world expands we are compelled to expose them to new vocabulary. Some new words have day-to-day application others are very distant to their surroundings but equally relevant in shaping a child that has fluid communication skills.

Perhaps like us you live hundreds of miles from the ocean and a good drive away from a farm. Still you wish to introduce your little one to the terminology. If this is the case, do not fret. There are wonderful alternatives and effective methodology to achieve this goal.

New words at home

Make it a point to introduce your child to two-dimensional concepts foreign to their surroundings by using books.  Select highly imaginative books that allow you and your child to travel to far away lands facing situations new situations and exploring new objects. Delight in teaching your child about the jungle as they learn the sign for lion and explore galaxies as they learn to sign star.

New words on the road

If you are planning a vacation consider making some preparations for enhanced vocabulary acquisition. If heading to the ocean or lake, be prepared with the proper flash cards. If your destination is the mountains it is time to reinforce bear or rain.

As you increase the vocabulary of your little one you will also create wonderful stamps in their memory that are further reinforced by verbal and gestural communication.