I know this cannot be used as hard core evidence. But we have used sign language with our daughter, and she has been using signs since she was about 10 months. Mostly, basic signs that signify more than just the word itself; for example, the "more" sign meaning I want more, or "milk" meaning I want to drink milk. It's not like she was using the full spectrum, but basic signs for basic needs. Heck, she even signed that her diaper needed a change. Sure beats crying!!!
Many parents around us with babies of the same age have also used sign language. For many, although not for all, it appears to have been helpful. Certain babies just don't seem to have taken much interest. This could be due to a lack of consistency on the part of the parents, or simply a lack of interest. Now, with regards to this paragraph of the Yahoo article: "Books, flashcards, videos and classes hail the benefits of teaching babies as young as 6 months old to sign with their parents, promising improved IQ, accelerated speech development and less frustration for everyone during the "terrible twos."" I'm not sure about such claims... But for the communicating part, it sure worked for us. Cheers! JM -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 5:38 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Mike Palij Subject: [tips] Re: Babies finding early voice through sign language - Yahoo! News On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 21:31:07 -0400, "Christopher D. Green" wrote: > The latest installment in the psycho-BS dept. > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060727/lf_nm/life_babysign_dc I may be a little dense but could you please be more specific about the "psycho-BS" aspects of the article? Though one could find fault with the Yahoo article, I thought it was pretty well established that infants exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) were were able to produce signs at an earlier age (roughly at 8 months but some can do so earlier) than spoken words (which appear around 12 months) . I believe Prinz and Prinz (1979) showed this in a case study and subsequent work, such as that by Bonvillian, Orlanskay, and Novack (1983), replicated the result with larger samples of children. After the Freudian Iceberg discussion I am loathe to use a secondary source as support but I'd like to point to the David Carroll's "Psychology of Language" (4th Ed), Chap 10, pp267-270 which compares the similarities and differences in the acquisition of sign and spoken language and the research that he references there. Quoting Carroll: "the primary difference is that infants acquire their first signs 2 to 3 months earlier than infants typically acquire their first words". Perhaps some parents find it useful to have a clearer idea of what their 8-11 month old is trying to communicate, even if it is in sign? -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Prinz, P.M. & Prinz, E.A. (1979) Simultaneous acquisition of ASL and spoken English (in a hearing child of a deaf mother and a hearing father): Phase 1: Early Lexical development. _Sign Lanugage Studies, 25,_ 283-296. Bonvillian, J.D., Orlansky, M.D., & Novack, L.L. (1983). Developmental milestones: Sign language acquisition and motor development. _Child Development, 54,_ 1435-1445. --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
