Baby Signing using ASL Signs in a Bilingual Family
Since my hearing daughter was 6 months (she is now 18 months) old, I began learning ASL signs and teaching them to her in hopes it would help my husband and I communicate with her earlier than she could start speaking. It worked! Her first sign was “milk.” Her second sign was “dog” because we have a dog. Other signs she has learned since include: more, apple, grapes, water, bath, bed, hat, shoes, socks, cat, snake, book, read, draw, bird, cookie, animal, hot, cold, happy, sad, cry, please, thank you, peas, beans, banana, baby, car, orange, Dad, cheese, cracker, noodles, berries, lion, finished/ all done, and tiger. At 18 months, she can now say almost all of these words in either English or in Mandarin, Chinese. She can now tell us what she wants or how she feels. She is linking 2-3 words together. I don’t know if she is speaking so quickly because of learning signing, but I know this is has definitely helped because she would sign “more” and then “milk.” Now she applies this to other food she has learned about to sign as well. She has recently started asking me to “Read book please.” It’s fascinating seeing which words she will pick up next and which language she will use to say a word in.
I am a Californian and my husband was born and raised in Taiwan, but I learned Chinese after we started going out. Both my husband and I speak and read to our daughter in Mandarin and we also both speak with her in English. I also sign with her. As a profession I teach English as a Second Language, and as a hobby I teach Baby Signing at our local library to parents and their babies and toddlers.
Teaching, hasn’t also come naturally to me, but I have learned helpful techniques and it has become something I enjoy doing. So, at home, I enjoy teaching my daughter different languages and she is always so happy once she understands something too. It’s a win-win situation.
I want to share some of the Baby Signing material I have used with my daughter. If you have any materials you like as well, please share with me and post below. Thank you.
Books
The Early Sign Language boardboook series: copyrighted by Garlic Press
Nica Chi's Blog 