Little Hands

[Trinhtrin]

Hi everyone! My name is Trinity and I'm 16 going on 17 and my nephew is about 21 months. His mother - my sister - and I have been watching ST with him and he loves it. Lately I've been getting a bit frustrated because he is still not able to move his fingers individually. I know that's normal but he can't sign a lot of the words. This makes it very difficult when all he says is "more, more" when referring to wanting anything, even when he hasn't even had it yet. So HELP! How did all of you moms work through that stage?

[Alli]

Hi Trinity! Welcome! That's great that you've been watching ST with your nephew! About your question, It's totally normal for them to sign only one sign for a while. My daughter signed 'more' for about the first month or two and she used it for everything! Now she has at least 150 signs(probably a lot more) and she's been signing for about 6 months. I know it's frustrating, but give it some time. He may be trying to sign other things, but because his tiny fingers can't form the signs you might not recognize them. Good Luck and don't give up!

[c01dunlap]

http://www.signingtime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=509
http://www.signingtime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=508
Added:
http://www.signingtime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=465

I'm sure there are a couple of others in the old posts, but these are what I found that might be helpful.

[kilikicurran]

I know it can be frustrating, but keep at it. Keep doing the signs correctly for him. It will amaze you when all of a sudden one day he does it PERFECTLY!!!

Good luck & welcome to the world of ST!!!!

[aligreat]

My little ones have signed MORE for something they had never had before. I try to think of it like the word WANT, but they use that one, too. Using both sign and speech together (when possible) is helpful. Alexandria says "bah" for ball, brush, bath, and grandpa. While her little signs aren't perfect they give me a much better clue of what she means.

[3Beez]

Mady has the same problem now that she is trying to sign her ABC's because it takes a lot of finger coordination for those signs as well as many others. Fortunetly, she can speak all the things she signs so I can make it out one way or another but you just have to patient and give him a chance...he will get it like they said and soon it will be so good you may wish he didn't know some of the things he does...at least I sometimes do :)

[Trinhtrin]

Thank You everyone!
All of your advice is very encouraging. I will continue to sign for him and try to be patient with him. :D

[c01dunlap]

Trinity,

Welcome, 'young one'! I think you may indeed be the youngest. :p I'm always so pleased when other family members get involved in signing with the kiddos. Your nephew must adore all the attention and time he gets with his auntie. :) If you haven't done so already, introduce yourself in the General Discussion forum -- there are a couple of threads for that. One is:

http://www.signingtime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77

Keep us updated on your nephew's progress, and have fun with him!

[aligreat]

Since the Alphabet is at the end of the DVDs too my little ones are seeing it much more. They don't sign A,B,C... with the video, but they do their best to imitate it. They use their little hands and change handshapes rhythmically. Yesterday Cassia made the B handshape towards the end of Rachel's alphabet. It wasn't the right place, but it is wonderful that she is developing her dexterity.

We also encourage the girls to babble with their hands the same way we encourage using voice. When Alexandria was younger if she made a noise we would repeat it back to her. Eventually we would make a noise and she would repeat it back to us. With Cassia, who is Deaf, when she would move her little hands we would imitate her motion. Later she started imitating the signs we would make.

It's all a process.

[Jennifer3141]

We also encourage the girls to babble with their hands the same way we encourage using voice. When Alexandria was younger if she made a noise we would repeat it back to her. Eventually we would make a noise and she would repeat it back to us. With Cassia, who is Deaf, when she would move her little hands we would imitate her motion. Later she started imitating the signs we would make.

It's all a process.

I never thought of DD's not-quite-signs as babbling before but that's a fantastic way to put it!! DD practices some signs and I can't quite tell what they are yet - just like talking. Thanks for the insight!