Just in case you missed it, there are several articles on the web talking about the benefits of using sign language with your babies. We have also put together additional research about the benefits of using sign language with babies.

On our research page, we have included several resources that discuss how sign language improves early childhood literacy, helps reading disabilities, as well as, benefits of using sign language with children who have Down syndrome. You can find additional research and works cited on our research page as well.

Here are some links to articles that have run in the past couple years also discussing the benefits of baby sign language.

All About Baby Sign Language - Parents.com
The New Baby Talk - Parents.com
When Can I Start Teaching My Baby Sign Language? - Pregnancy Magazine
Signing With Your Baby or Toddler: How to Communicate Before Your Child Can Talk - Pregnancy Magazine
Want a Brainier Baby? - Time Magazine
Baby Signs May Give Small Boost - Bismark Tribune

Elizabeth Watching Signing Time

Remember that 17-month old toddler, Elizabeth Barrett, who astonished us all when she proved that reading at such a young age was possible? Last March, Elizabeth and her parents were invited to appear on the Today Show, where Elizabeth read words and even sentences in front of a nation-wide audience. Elizabeth’s parents attribute her early reading in part to Signing Time.

According to the Today Show website, “The Barretts are speech pathologists, and when Elizabeth was born, they started teaching her sign language along with spoken language. They read to her often, and her favorite television program — the only one her parents let her watch — was a PBS show called “Signing Time,” which teaches kids sign language.”

As we have mentioned on our website, after the Barretts appeared on the Today Show, Signing Time invited Elizabeth to be a part of Baby Signing Time 3 & 4, where she was able to demonstrate her sign language skills.

Well, Elizabeth continues to WOW audiences around the nation. The Barretts were again invited to go onto the Today Show, where Elizabeth demonstrated how she can now read Spanish!

Elizabeth Reading

Visit our website and read the article: Baby Learns to Read with Help from Signing Time. You can read and even watch the Today Show clips that ran in March as well as today, November 7th. We also included some little extras that we put together from Elizabeth’s visit to Salt Lake City.

Don’t forget to check out Rachel’s blog to read all about her experience signing with Elizabeth.

Watch and Read Today Show clip from November 7th

We have been signing with our daughter Afton since she was seven months old. She’s now 21 months and usually speaks the words she’s signing as well. This often leads to confusion about why we sign with her if she’s not deaf. Truth be told, I thought the same thing before I joined the team at Two Little Hands Productions last year and we started using Signing Time with our kids.

Prior to Signing Time, we were completely “signless.” But once we started signing with Afton, my wife and I, as well as the older kids quickly caught on so that eventually the whole family was signing with Afton at every opportunity - it was so fun - and addictive - seeing her understand us and exert her own personality on our family dynamic. We discovered that it really lived up to all the press - we were communicating with Afton far before she could express herself verbally. We continue to use it because it’s turned out to be a phenomenal aid to help us both as she’s learning to speak. Even if I can’t understand her words, I understand her signs. We’ve also seen a much lower frustration level than I recall having with our two previous kids (who we did not sign with as babies) when they were Afton’s age. She’s not perfect but she doesn’t fly off the hook because she knows she’s understood. Our experience has been great and it’s nice to see validation popping up in the press , seemingly on a weekly basis these days!

I found the article below, published in STLtoday.com, the other day and thought it did a great job explaining the benefits of baby sign language and even mentions Signing Time! Enjoy.

Signs show that babies can be taught simple hand gestures, written by Wendy Sharky.

I recently came across this article entitled “Is Baby Sign Language an Essential or a Ripoff?” by Pamela Paul, posted on a website called Babble: the magazine and community for a new generation of parents. It is one parent’s experience with teaching her baby to sign, along with plenty of commentary thoughts on the subject.

As a parent who signs with their child, I have some thoughts about this. I also have the added advantage of having worked for Two Little Hands Productions for several years and seeing for myself the many testimonials and feedback that come in from our customers. I thought our readers would enjoy a little dialogue on this topic, so I’m posting some of my thoughts in response to this article, and I welcome YOURS, too. So… here we go!

Continue Reading »

A couple months ago, Signing Time sent out an article about how sign language is for all children. It seems that more people are picking up on the benefits of learning how to sign with children, and have even started teaching pre-verbal infants as young as 9 months to sign.

There has been a lot of talk about how young you should start signing with your child. I conducted some research and found a couple articles talking about the benefits of learning sign language at a young age. Some articles are what we have written, but some demonstrate other families that have taught their babies to sign too!

Sign Language is for ALL children by Lindsey Blau, Staff Writer for Signing Time!

What Sign Language Can Teach Your Child by Amanda Morin, Education.com.

How to Teach Babies Sign Language by Rachel Coleman, co-creator and host of Signing Time!

Benefits of Signing by Signing Time staff.

Connecting families through education, communication, love, and most importantly…FUN! by PR log, Learn and Grow Together.