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Originally Posted by hypnorm  Quote:
Originally Posted by lady3 I teach deaf children so know BSL and a lot of my friends who started teaching their little ones from birth started getting signs back at 6-7 months. My one friend started getting "finished" from her little 6 month old to show he was finished with his swing. Incredible! Marlowe watches my hands whenever I sign to her so I know she's picking things up even though she's so young. | Would be interested in your opinion on this but my MIL is a chartered teacher for the deaf and she is very against the signing classes for non deaf kids as with her research it has shown that it can hinder their speach development and they will sign rather than try to learn the words.
I was going to do the courses with Ewan but was put off by MIL as she said they were basically another money con for mums. |
Sorry Hypnorm, just saw this. All research done on this has actually showed the opposite of what your mil is saying. As babies have better co-ordination in their hands rather than their mouths, they are able to talk back to you at a much earlier age. By learning to communicate with their hands they are able to apply what they have learned about communication to their voices when their mouths have the muscle strength and skill. As someone else said, you should encourage their spoken vocabulary by speaking as you sign.
Everyone I know who has signed with their babies have had children who cry less, are very polite (they sign please and thank you very early!!), and have a much higher vocabulary when they get to talking age. Funny enough, most of the students at my school with younger brothers and sisters who have grown up signing also have much higher reading abilities than their peers.
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