The Benefits of Baby Sign Language

Every parent is proud of their baby and want what is best for their future. Unfortunately, there are early learning development measures that can provide a thorough foundation for future that most parents overlook. In the past, advanced learning programs have only been available to privileged families, but now there are programs available that any family can afford. If any parent takes the time to teach their children sign language, the benefits will become exponential.

Extensive scientific research has been conducted by Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn over the last two decades on the use of sign language with perfectly healthy babies. Their body of work included a longitudinal study funded by the National Institutes of Health and are included 140 families of 11 month old babies. During this study, each family was randomly assigned to either a signing or non-signing group. At the beginning of the study, the two groups were considered equivalent based upon the following factors: sex and birth order of the children, tendency to vocalize or verbalize, and the parents’ education and income levels.

Throughout the entire study, the children were assessed six times, at various stages of their development. The assessment was based on standardized language measures at 11, 15, 19, 24, 30 and 36 months old. The results of the study showed that 24-month-old signing babies were talking more like 27- or 28- month-olds. This is a three-month advantage over the non-signing babies. The signing babies were able to put together significantly longer sentences. The 36-month-old signers were talking like 47-month olds, which put them a year ahead of their fellow age mates.

Babies who learn to sign at an early age also show advanced development in learning to talk and overall intellectual capacity. There are also a number of very important social-emotional benefits that babies adopt who learn how to sign at an early age. These benefits include reduced frustration, biting and other aggressive behaviors, builds trust between babies and their parents and caregivers, promotes positive emotional development, and boosts the self-confidence and self-esteem.

Baby Signs®, the original baby sign language program for babies who can hear, has been bringing powerful, research-proven benefits to babies and their families for the last 25 years. It is the world’s leading program for hearing infants and toddlers because it was developed by child development experts specifically for hearing babies. It has been scientifically proven to provide positive benefits, is based on American Sign Language with added flexibility to meet the needs of all families and offers a full range of products for babies, parents and child development centers.