Signing With Your Deaf Baby
Another good read from Mark Drolsbaugh. (In fact, all his articles deserve a once-over.)
I know that if ever I have a baby of my own, hearing or deaf, I will use sign to him or her.
Even though the benefits of baby sign language have been clearly established, it seems that there’s a totally different reaction when a baby is diagnosed with a hearing loss.
Sign language often gets bumped aside in favor of a more pathological approach. Roll out the audiologists, hearing aids, speech therapists, and cochlear implants. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, mind you. But it’s as if sign language itself quickly becomes an afterthought.
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Mark did two articles on this. Here’s the other.
Actually, research on this fascinating topic has been going on since the 1980’s. But for whatever reason, it seems that only recently has it exploded in popularity (Robert DeNiro’s shenanigans with his signing grandson in Meet the Fockers probably had something to do with it).
Regardless, I’m here to share with you a very important message about baby sign language:
It works.
I don’t work for any of the booming baby sign language businesses that are out there. Rather, I kind of have my own little family business: my wife and I are deaf, and naturally we sign with our three kids. Likewise, having personally witnessed numerous CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults) signing full phrases at ridiculously early ages–well before theywere able to speak their first words–we’ve known all along that sign language gives babies a remarkable head start on language acquisition. So if you’re looking into baby sign language for your child, congratulations! I can promise you that you’ve made an excellent decision.
