SmallTalk Learning: Benefits

Sign Language empowers babies to successfully communicate their wants and needs!

There are many benefits associated with learning Sign Language. The most compelling benefit for parents and caregivers is that Sign Language can help babies communicate before they can talk. It has long been understood that babies comprehend verbal communication before they have developed the muscle control in their vocal cords required to produce clear verbal messages. Sign Language bridges this gap.

Researchers have found that babies as young as seven and eight months of age can use Sign Language to communicate their wants and needs. When your baby waves bye-bye or raises her arms for you to pick her up, she is using gestures to communicate a need or an idea. The same physical and cognitive processes that enable your baby to communicate through gestures enable your baby to communicate using Sign Language.

Sign Language empowers pre-verbal children by giving them a means to clearly communicate their wants and needs. Most people agree that there are few things in life more satisfying than communicating and being understood. Sign Language makes this possible for you and your pre-verbal baby!

There are many additional benefits associated with learning Sign Language. Read on for more information or click here, then select 'benefits' for a list of related outside links.

	Babies who Sign tend to be happier and less frustrated
	Babies who Sign tend to verbalize sooner
	Sign Language can strengthen fine motor skills
	Sign Language can improve reading scores
	Sign Language may help build and reinforce creativity
	Sign Language is a fun way for young children to get excited about different languages and cultures

Babies who Sign tend to be happier and less frustrated
Babies who learn Sign Language are able to communicate their wants and needs, so it makes common sense that they would be happier and less frustrated. Current scientific research backs up this idea. Given that babies have an awareness of their wants and needs before they can form words and sentences, imagine how frustrating it must be for them to try to make these wants and needs known to their parents and caregivers. In the absence of a shared language that both parent and child can use and understand, babies are left to cry and throw tantrums until adults can figure out what they are trying to say. Sign Language empowers babies to express their wants and needs with specific hand movements and gestures so parents and caregivers can understand and respond appropriately.

Babies who Sign tend to verbalize sooner
There is a growing body of research that demonstrates that babies who learn Sign Language actually develop verbal language skills more rapidly and accurately than do babies who are not exposed to Sign. One theory suggests that this is because babies who learn Sign Language make the cognitive 'connection' that words (and signs) are symbols that represent meanings. Another theory suggests that the process of introducing a child to Sign Language tends to cause parents and caregivers to verbalize more frequently with their babies, which independently relates to language skill development. Whatever the reason, the evidence gives strong support to the idea that babies who learn Sign Language tend to develop strong verbal skills, and they develop these skills more quickly than babies who have not been exposed to Sign.

Sign Language can strengthen fine motor skills
Sign Language provides a context around which babies and young children can practice and develop their fine motor skills. When young babies begin using Sign Language to communicate, their signs are generally not precise or fine. Over time and with practice and repetition, babies begin to improve the precision of commonly used signs. This practice stimulates the parts of the brain that are responsible for fine motor skill development, acting to strengthen this development in other contexts as well.

Sign Language can improve reading scores
Sign Language has many benefits beyond improving communication between caregivers and pre-verbal children. For example, a recent study showed that reading scores can be improved as a result of introducing Sign Language to school children. This particular study compared two different classrooms of school children, one in which the children learned Sign Language and the other, which did not. Over a period of time, the reading scores of the children who were exposed to Sign Language had improved by a much greater degree than those who had not been exposed to Sign.

Sign Language may help build and reinforce creativity
Sign Language exercises different parts of the brain than verbal language. It has been widely shown that creativity is enhanced when we have opportunities to stimulate and exercise different parts of our brain. It therefore stands to reason that Sign Language can act as a stimulant to help build and reinforce creativity.

Sign Language is a fun way for young children to get excited about different languages and cultures
A great deal of research exists showing that there are many benefits associated with learning more than one language. Research has also shown that children have an exceptionally high capacity to learn more than one language. American Sign Language is no exception. When a child is exposed to another language, they also receive exposure to different ways of experiencing life through the eyes of another culture. Sign Language is inviting and accessible, and it provides an opportunity for children to experience success in learning another language. This early success can build the enthusiasm a child needs to enjoy a lifetime of learning.