Baby Sign and Speech Delay?

[Unregistered]

Many of these comments are, as said, just anecdotal and do not represent the reality of the real and great benefits to children who are exposed to multiple languages. Even if all these parents were only signing and not speaking the word with the sign, the child is benefiting cognitively. It is week documented and common knowledge that children who are raised bilingual, reap these benefits. I believe the confusion here is with providers concern that these children are missing out on any and all verbal communication. That is very detrimental to development of language. Language actually does have a period of time, where if not used/learned by a certain age, the child will never be able to learn it (as in the case of some one like Genie, the so called 'wild child'). However; the children in the care of the providers in these anecdotes are absolutely not deprived of all verbal language. Therefore, no they will not be missing that language window that Genie missed. These kids are out in the world, hearing and seeing and talking part in verbal communication (if not by speaking, by being spoken to every day by strangers, parents and teachers). It is common that children growing up bilingual are delayed in both languages at first. Later, both languages are mastered beyond their single language peers. Last comment: there is something called the language gap. That is the gap that exists between children from higher educated and more affluent families and less educated and lower income families. The gap is between the number of words heard starting from birth. The more words a child hears since the day they were born, the better. The children in the stories of the previous posts will possibly be experiencing a really low number of words over all. They won't be delayed because of it. But, they will be worse off and on the short end or the stick when considering the language gap. I, myself taught my babies signs. One used it and one didn't. They both have normal development. But my story of my two children means nothing. The evidence is in the sheer quantities of real research. Even if I said I noticed something based on 20 kids. That's not real evidence. It would only represent a small population: children I would encounter, in my geographic area, in my socioeconomic class (and maybe slight above and below). It would only be the types of families who have found me for their care and chosen to work with me, etc. One person's experiences can't be used as a basis of evidence for something like this- especially when all scientifically accepted accounts are to the contrary.

[BabyMonkeys]

I have two 23m that I taught to sign when they were tiny. Now they will sign and say the words at the same time, which is what I have always done. I only taught them the basics of sign language, primarily because that is all I know. Now they will ask me "sign words" when they want to know how to sign a word they are saying, "mailman" as an example. I'm learning more signing because I have to look it up!

[Mom2Two]

Oh my gosh, signing doesn't cause speech delay, and children don't learn to speak just because someone insists that they talk. children learn language by listening to what is spoken around them. If anyone thinks they're picking up an association between signing and speech delay, it's probably just that speech delayed children who have learned sign, will use THAT instead of being SILENT or using gestures/tantrums.
Language learning is innate, it's not actively or formally taught to children. It's just a normal part of brain development. You'd have to actually muzzle a hearing child 24/7 to prevent them from learning to speak.
And speech is just one part of language learning. Language development is measured in many ways besides how well they articulate.

[momofsix]

Many of these comments are, as said, just anecdotal and do not represent the reality of the real and great benefits to children who are exposed to multiple languages. Even if all these parents were only signing and not speaking the word with the sign, the child is benefiting cognitively. It is week documented and common knowledge that children who are raised bilingual, reap these benefits. I believe the confusion here is with providers concern that these children are missing out on any and all verbal communication. That is very detrimental to development of language. Language actually does have a period of time, where if not used/learned by a certain age, the child will never be able to learn it (as in the case of some one like Genie, the so called 'wild child'). However; the children in the care of the providers in these anecdotes are absolutely not deprived of all verbal language. Therefore, no they will not be missing that language window that Genie missed. These kids are out in the world, hearing and seeing and talking part in verbal communication (if not by speaking, by being spoken to every day by strangers, parents and teachers). It is common that children growing up bilingual are delayed in both languages at first. Later, both languages are mastered beyond their single language peers. Last comment: there is something called the language gap. That is the gap that exists between children from higher educated and more affluent families and less educated and lower income families. The gap is between the number of words heard starting from birth. The more words a child hears since the day they were born, the better. The children in the stories of the previous posts will possibly be experiencing a really low number of words over all. They won't be delayed because of it. But, they will be worse off and on the short end or the stick when considering the language gap. I, myself taught my babies signs. One used it and one didn't. They both have normal development. But my story of my two children means nothing. The evidence is in the sheer quantities of real research. Even if I said I noticed something based on 20 kids. That's not real evidence. It would only represent a small population: children I would encounter, in my geographic area, in my socioeconomic class (and maybe slight above and below). It would only be the types of families who have found me for their care and chosen to work with me, etc. One person's experiences can't be used as a basis of evidence for something like this- especially when all scientifically accepted accounts are to the contrary.

Oh my gosh, signing doesn't cause speech delay, and children don't learn to speak just because someone insists that they talk. children learn language by listening to what is spoken around them. If anyone thinks they're picking up an association between signing and speech delay, it's probably just that speech delayed children who have learned sign, will use THAT instead of being SILENT or using gestures/tantrums.
Language learning is innate, it's not actively or formally taught to children. It's just a normal part of brain development. You'd have to actually muzzle a hearing child 24/7 to prevent them from learning to speak.
And speech is just one part of language learning. Language development is measured in many ways besides how well they articulate.

[MarinaVanessa]

I agree with the idea that sign language doesn't cause speech delay if done properly. I teach my daycare kids and my own children simple sign language once they are 6 months old and older until they have a basic mastery of language. I have found that ever since doing this the LO's throw less tantrums and even my late talkers can get their point across easier. Like many others have said, the point is to teach the sign while also using language and encouraging the children to use verbal words ... not just the sign.

There are many other variables that could affect a child not using verbal language. I have been teaching my kids and the daycare kids for may years with pretty good success and my own 3yo DS is a late talker. I use the same methods on him that I have always used on my own kids and the daycare kids but my DS just doesn't want to talk. His pediatrician and I are both on alert as he is not talking as much as he should verbally but he does get his point across. It just seems like he may feel he does not have the need to talk. He uses signs to communicate and has 2 older siblings that "talk" for him or meet his needs without him needing to talk. When they play together and my 3yo wants something he points and grunts and my other kids will ask him/show him what they think he wants and ask him if that's what he wants and he'll nod his head and grunt while smiling, if they get it wrong he'll shake his head, frown and grunt ... they'll rinse and repeat until they get it right etc. or just tell him to show them and he'll point.

Having them do this makes it harder for my husband and I to teach him to verbally speak but they're kids and it's just another hurdle for us to work on. We hear from several of our friends and from his pediatrician that when young children have older siblings several things can happen, they can learn to talk sooner or they take longer to talk because they are spoken for. Single children can also take longer to talk if they aren't spoken to enough, not read to alot etc ... pretty much if they aren't exposed to language as much as children with siblings or with family members that expose them to a lot language.

IME simple sign has been a valuable tool for myself and my clients.