Posted on: Friday, July 16, 2004

Baby signs, baby gets

Eat (Mia Winand also uses it to say “hungry”): Fingers come together toward the lips.	Help: Tap an open palm with a fist.	All pau/ finished: Position open hands in front of you and flip downward.	Please: Move hand on chest in a circular motion.	Thank you: Move hand down from mouth.

By Noelle Chun
Advertiser Staff Writer

Remle Winand squeezes her fist, looking expectantly down at her 2 1/2-month old son, Levi, as she peels back his blankets to feed him his milk.

Levi returns his mother's gaze with a blank look, amused but still oblivious to his mother's sign-language attempts to communicate the concept "milk."

But Winand has faith.

Next to her sits her 2-year-old daughter, Mia, who understands the signs for "eat," "drink," "help" and many others. Mia is a veteran signer. She has been communicating with her parents since she started signing at 6 months. She learned the same way Levi is learning today — with her mother gesturing and rewarding her months before she was able to say verbally what she needed.

The Winands, who live in Hawai'i Kai, are part of a growing trend — baby signing for infants.

Neither child is deaf. Signing, the Winands and other parents have found, gives infants a way to communicate long before they are able to talk or walk.

"Signing is really a normal part of language development that parents often overlook," said Linda Acredolo, co-author of the book "Baby Signs: How to Talk with You Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk." "It's an absolutely normal way for babies to deal with the frustration of not being able to say words."

Remle Winand of Hawai'i Kai taught Mia, now 2, to use a simplified form of American Sign Language at 6 months. Baby Levi, 2y´ months, will soon be signing as well. All photos by Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Gross motor skills for signing develop before the fine motor control needed for speech, Acredolo said earlier this week by phone from the University of California-Davis.

Babies can use signing as a temporary form of expression. Once they are able to use words, their understanding of signs can aid speech development.

Acredolo's book, written with fellow developmental psychologist Susan Goodwyn, has sold an estimated 500 million copies in the United States since its first publication in 1996. It has been published in 14 languages, with large followings in places such as Japan, Korea and Israel.

"We get requests for them quite frequently," said Chris Tu, a manager at Barnes & Noble Booksellers store in Kahala. Although he lacked specific numbers, Tu said baby-signing books are "up there" with the popular "What to Expect When You're Expecting" series of parenting books.

Early Intelligence

Acredolo and Goodwyn undertook the research for "Baby Signs" after Acredolo noticed her daughter making up signs for things herself. The writers found four benefits to developing an infant's ability to use signs:

• It makes life easier and decreases tears. Many parents are familiar with this situation: The baby is red-faced and crying, and nobody knows what to do. Signing helps frustrated babies tell their parents what they want.

Baby's focus may not be language Linda Acredolo, co-author of "Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk," says babies learn sign language according to their orientation. Every baby is different, but the categories give some idea of when he or she might take to sign language. Object-Oriented Baby • Qualities: Likes playing with things — taking apart toy cars, watching ants crawl on the ground, looking at stones; not people-oriented but curious about the world around them. • When they'll sign: Enjoys observing the world more than communicating; this baby might wait until about 11, 12 or 13 months to speak. Active Baby • Qualities: Seems more interested in climbing the bookshelf than reading the books; very physical. • When they'll sign: This baby might be interested in other, more exciting things until maybe 11, 12 or 13 months. People-Oriented Baby • Qualities: Likes to watch people; likes to smile at people; interested in early communication. • When they'll sign: This baby tends to talk earlier than most, possibly around 7 or 8 months. Chrissy Bennett, Baby Signs independent district manager and independent certified instructor; based in Maui; programs to start for the state in September; babysigns@gmail.com, (808) 280-3019.

• It allows you to appreciate your baby's intelligence. "Babies are very smart," said Connie Markum Wong of Kapolei, who taught her three children to sign. "People just don't understand that (babies) can't communicate because they aren't able to speak. If they could speak, they'd have a very large vocabulary."

• It helps your baby speak sooner. Although many believed until the 1980s that teaching sign language would delay speaking, baby signs actually increase children's verbal skills, the writers say.

One of Acredolo and Goodwyn's studies of 43 kids demonstrated that by age 2, babies who signed knew about 50 more spoken words on average than babies who didn't sign.

In a different study, at age 3, children who signed had a vocabulary comparable to a 4-year-old's.

"Baby signs is to talking as crawling is to walking," Acredolo said. "When babies learn to crawl, it doesn't make them less interested in walking — it makes them more interested. Baby signing does the same thing. It makes them want to talk, it makes them excited to talk, and as soon as they can they'll move over to words."

• It is believed to jump-start intellectual growth. In a study paid for by the National Institutes of Heath, Acredolo and Goodwyn found that at age 8, children who had signed as infants scored an average of 12 points higher on IQ tests than nonsigning children.

In addition, the two researchers say they have documented higher verbal skills.

Developing Speech

Some parents don't need to hear the statistics. They've tried baby signs and swear by its effectiveness.

Belle Murashige of Manoa started signing with her daughter Jolie when she was 6 months old. Jolie started signing back about three months later.

"If she didn't have things in her field of vision — like milk or cup or juice — she was able to sign for them without having to see them," Murashige said. "She could tell us that she was all done instead of throwing her plate down."

Later, Jolie used signs to talk with her cousins Ashley Murashige of St. Louis Heights and Owen Gonzales from Oakland, Calif. Even though some of their signs were different, they learned each other's variations. As Ashley let a toy race car barrel down the track, Jolie was able to cheer, "More! More!" using her hands.

They weren't signing for long. Jolie, now 22 months, soon found her way into words.

"I think she had a smooth transition (into talking) because of her understanding of symbols," Murashige said. "She could understand the signing as a symbol, and its relation to words."

The same was true for Ashley. "From the signs we did know," said her mother, Lana Murashige, "it went straight to talking, saying words and pointing."

Response Varies

After too many signs of no interest from their children, some parents assume baby signing is not for them.

Acredolo says that's not so.

"There's no reason that a baby shouldn't learn baby signs," she said. "Don't compare your children to other children. Every baby is unique, with a unique time line."

Remle Winand shows her daughter, Mia, 2, the baby sign for "help," which differs in some baby-signing systems. Winand used the book "Sign with Your Baby: How to Communicate with Infants Before They Can Talk" by Joseph Garcia.

Some experts say most babies will start responding to signs at around 9 to 12 months. But the range of understanding is vast. "It's smart to start modeling around 6 or 7 months," Acredolo said, "but babies vary enormously as to when they start signing back."

She says people-oriented babies might pick up signing more quickly, while physically active or object-oriented babies might take their time.

Acredolo's son didn't start signing until he was a year old. But he became a "super signer," she said.

Parents should be persistent, Acredelo says. They should use a sign every time they say a word, if they know it. "Repetition," she said, "is the key to success."

Yet some parents say their children were so verbal that the need for baby signs disappeared quickly.

"In our case (baby signing) wasn't a huge emphasis," said Lynn Segawa of Hawai'i Kai, who did some baby signs with her daughter, now 2. "My daughter, Caitlin, just talked so early that we didn't have a need for something like that."

Moreover, as the Murashige family found, communicating can be a lot of fun.

After learning baby signs, Ashley Murashige started talking around age 1. One of her first words emerged while sitting with the family as watching "American Idol."

Ashley pointed at weighty singer Ruben Studdard and said, "Ball."

CONVERSING WITH BABIES Tips from Linda Acredolo, co-author of "Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk": Don't compare your child to others. Realize that each baby learns at different rates. Start with a few signs. Begin with important signs; don't do 12 at once. You can always add more later. Use repetition and conscientiousness. Use the signs whenever you can. They don't have to be many, just consistent. Choose signs that are important to your baby. Your child might not care about the sign for "tree," but "dog" might be important. Keep it fun. Don't focus only on food. Signs for eating come in handy, but babies want to talk about other things, too. They might want to tell you about noticing a plane or a bug, and parents who stop with a few signs miss a lot of the magic. RESOURCES "Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk" by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, $14.95, www.babysigns.com. "Sign with Your Baby: How to Communicate With Infants Before They Can Talk" by Joseph Garcia, $14.95, www.sign2me.com. "Sign with Your Baby Complete Learning Kit," includes American Sign Language-based book, video and quick reference guide, $49.95, www.sign2me.com. Chrissy Bennett, Baby Signs independent district manager and independent certified instructor; based in Maui; programs to start for the state in September; babysigns@gmail.com, (808) 280-3019.