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language fun for babies!!!
InfaTalkers is for parents and their children ages 6-24 months. Led by a Speech-Language Pathologist, experts in communication, this fun group incorporates pre-speech language skills like baby sign language, songs and theme learning into amusing activities for both parents and their little ones. These activities can boost communication skills later in life. Signs and gestures in language allow kids to communicate before they can even talk! Better communication will help reduce frustrations, increase
intelligence, and create a wonderful bonding opportunity for babies
and their parents.
10 Reasons to Use Sign Language or Gestures with
Your Baby:
1. Speech takes longer to arrive, however your child's receptive
lanaguage vocabulary at 6 months is significantly larger than their
muscle coordination allows them to express.
2. Movement of hands is available in a gross motor pattern much
earlier than movement of the mouth.
3. Babies naturally repeat gestures before they are able to repeat
sounds and sound combinations that we call “words”.
4. A correlation exists between earlier expressive lexicons and
IQ’s later in life.
5. Sign language helps create an early establishment of the ability
to ask for specific things through communicaiton, when communication
is the highest form of social interaction.
6. It improves a child’s self esteem by showing them how to
be successful communicators early onin life.
7. Using sign establishes a rich bonding opportunity for the parents
and their child.
8. Signs last longer than sounds. When we model the word and the
sign at the same time it not only triggers more areas of the brain
in order to process the word (visual and auditory information),
it also gives your child more time for the processing of these words
to occur.
9. Sign give you an early peek into your child’s mind that
shows you how smart they actually are.
10. Signs plus verbal approximations that you child babbles will
equal a more successful understanding or intelligibility, enhancing
their communication skills even more.
FAQs:
Will using signs delay my child’s speech?
Research has indicated that using sign to enrich your child’s
language world will help him/her build a larger expressive vocabulary
earlier in life, thereby enhancing your baby’s chances of
talking sooner. Speaking is much faster and more automatic. As soon
as your child has the verbal skills available to them, they will
switch over from signing to talking.
What is “baby sign” or “infant sign language”?
It’s basically American Sign Language, or ASL, but in forms
that little hands can make. Since babies don’t have the dexterity
or fine motor control that adults have, the signs are kept somewhat
the same as the true ASL sign, but with fine-motor development taken
into consideration.
Should their sign have to match mine exactly?
No. They probably won’t match exactly, and especially not
at first. Your baby will show you what they are capable of doing
because a baby will always do their very best. Try to accept signs
that are consistent and be proud of what they are doing with their
brains! Also allow your child to make up some signs that are specific
to their environment. As long as the signs are consistent and have
meaning, they are symbolic means of communication.
When can we start?
Start exposing your child to signs as early as 6 months. They may
not respond immediately, but you’re showing them a form of
communication that they will be able to use earlier than speech.
It’s still a symbol, so you’re still modeling language.
Children that start later than 6 months may respond quickly since
they have more advanced motor control.
How long will it take for my child to know sign?
Every child will respond differently according to what interests
them, their fine motor capabilities and their age. Start with just
a few signs and once you see them become more consistent make sure
you keep their vocabulary growing. They’ll want more
Why use songs?
Singing is a great way to access yet another part of a child’s
brain, helping to stimulate memory, attention and language development.
By signing songs, you’re engaging the visual cortex, the auditory
cortex and the creative part of the brain as well. It’s also
great fun, and babies love having their moms and dads become their
“toy” as they share joint attention with the people
they love!
Will my child’s first word be “dog” instead
of “mama” since we worked on “dog” in sign?
Children acquire words with speech sounds that are easiest for them
to make. Another factor in first word acquisition is what’s
most dominant in the child’s world. There’s no way to
predict what will come out first, but mama’s and dada’s
are pretty important.
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