I was a slacker and only started doing it consistently when he seemed like he was paying attention. 10 or 11 months? He got milk right away - it was like dog training. I'd sign, then give the boob. Then every time he signed it, I responded immediately.
And then he became a little tyrant with it, and I humored him for a while. Then he signed milk for everything.
Now he signs "more" for everything. We haven't really kept it up much, though. If I wanted to be more serious, I still wouldn't really bother until 8+ months. When they are able and willing, they pick it up super fast.
I started signing "milk" right away because it was easy. He doesn't sign it but he knows exactly what it means. I figure that is a start. I haven't done any other ones yet.
DD is 12 months and we don't really do it. We've tried teaching her "more" and "milk." She knows the sign for "more", but she doesn't consistently use it. If we ask her "more?", she'll do the sign in response, but that doesn't mean she actually WANTS more food.
She has her own ways of communicating, so I don't really see the point of trying to get her to sign. If she wants food, she'll point or reach for it. If she doesn't want something, she'll close her eyes and turn her head away. If she wants milk, she'll start licking my shirt. It's not hard to figure her out.
Post by kittycatlove on Nov 13, 2012 15:22:51 GMT -5
They teach the kids at daycare to sign. I think they start around a year. DS is really good with "more", though he can say it too He also uses "finished/all done". We try to reinforce what we know they've been working on at daycare.
The boys learned to sign milk and all done between 9 and 12 months. The other kids at daycare taught them to sign "more" as well. They say all of those words now, but sometimes also do the sign.
Post by fortmyersbride on Nov 13, 2012 15:56:30 GMT -5
We started signing around 4 mos to DS, he started signing back around 9 or 10mos. But he also didn't talk until he was 21mos old so the signing sure helped.
For DD we started around 6 mos. She started signing back to us around 11mos, but only does a few signs. She's much more vocal though than her brother was.
we started around 9 months - nothing hardcore, we would just use a couple signs when we said the words (all done, more, milk) and then the nanny added a couple more (sleep, cheese, book). Both girls learned "all done" first because it's the funnest one to do
we started around 9 months - nothing hardcore, we would just use a couple signs when we said the words (all done, more, milk) and then the nanny added a couple more (sleep, cheese, book). Both girls learned "all done" first because it's the funnest one to do
DS loved the sign for "all done". He used it whenever he was all done with anything, a song or activity, even when he was just annoyed with us.
Post by dumbledore826 on Nov 13, 2012 17:55:37 GMT -5
I signed with LO consistently from 5 months one. LO didn't start signing back until he was also able to say the words (about a year). He still does the sign for milk as he says it, but thats it.
Post by iheartbanjos on Nov 13, 2012 18:56:59 GMT -5
We started signing at 6 months when we started feeding solids. We did milk, more, all done, up, dirty (for her diaper), eat, please, water, and thank you.
She took to it pretty quick and those were all some of her first words. If she gets really excited, she'll still do the signs for please, more, and sometimes milk.
we started signing around 6mo during feeding time mostly - and none of my boys signed back until close to 12mo... but it was great - they were able to easily let us knwo what they wanted without frustration.
we mostly did: more, all done, drink, eat, help, please, thank you
Around 12 months he learned "please", and now he does "more." He also knows the hand signal to get the puppy to sit (not sure if it's the same in sign language).