You maybe wondering why am I signing with my son?
Infants were born with abundant intelligence, but unfortunately with a limited verbal means of communicating what are their thoughts and needs. Leleo is very smart and his need to communicate with us is amazing. Signing has helped me teaching him other languages. The importance of teaching him different languages is big as his grandparents, uncles and cousins cannot communicate in English.
But Mom and Daddy also have been enjoying very much learning Signing language.
Certain very important facts about human language have been known for many years. Two thirds to three quarters of all everyday language is ordinarily acquired by the third birthday. He recommends the teaching of sign, starting at about seven months of age (Leo did start at this time too), for several reasons.
First, sign language represents a SECOND LANGUAGE, and research consistently showed that when a second language was introduced in an effective manner to a child from the early months on, the child would not only become bilingual by the second birthday, but would be ahead of the monolingual child in both languages.
Second, research showed that the period between seventeen and twenty months of age is particularly difficult time, in that the normal child is very limited in regard to frustration tolerance, and being unable to express himself exacerbates the problem. A child who can sign at that stage of life is a child who will cause considerably LESS FRUSTRATION for himself, for his parents and others. That means that the attachment process can move along much more smoothly and probably to a better outcome.
Finally, the potential for understanding mental activity in children between eight and twenty-two months of age that is made possible by sign language is intriguing.
- Dr. Burton L. White (Director of the center for Parent Education and author of 'The First Years of Life and Raising a Happy Unspoiled Child')
But above all, signing is another language and for him as well for me, is a wonderful thing to be able to learn another language.
