Sign Language Delay

I started signing to my daughter at 4 months- when we started baby foods. She is now 21 months and does quite a few signs but it took quite awhile for her to catch on! She was probably atleast a year before she did her first sign. A lot of times she would cry at a particular time- like to eat and I would do the sign and then I would place her hands and move them in the sign and then say it and do it again. I just kept reinforcing it!

Also, know that her signs might not look like yours do. When I told my daughter she was so smart she bagan to bop herself in the head. I finally caught on she was signing it back to me lol! For signing dog she would pat her tummy and not her thigh and now she actually stomps her foot and hits her thigh... this is how I get the dogs to come in sometimes when they are stubborn! Watch for her to make her own signs- you will notice it to be repetitive motions but not ones you may have taught her to do. We just also realized our daughter is signing I love you to us. She can not get her pinky finger up so she puts up only her thumb and pointer- and originally I thought she was just pointing to us to not leave or put her to bed!

Be patient and just keep reinforcing it! It will happen! Good luck and many blessings!

Hello,
I am a nanny for triplet 20mos olds as well as my own daughter who is now 18mos old. I have been doing sign with them since they were 9mos old and they were not able to do the actual signing until about 12mos old, I think even later for the triplets. I believe it depends on the motor development of the children and each child develops differently. We started with "more", and "thank you", "please", and "milk". When they started picking them up at 12mos they took off and did some form of all of them within a month or so. So be patient, and keep modeling and using the signs. She is getting it.

My daughter didn't grasp the concept of it till she turned 1. Once she turned one she really picked it up and was signing to me and responding to my signs. Give it more time. It definitly helps in the communication process and it helped elevate frustration. Good luck!

Hi C.,
My sister adoped a baby from South Vietnam. Upon arriving in the USA, MaiLy was immersed in a different language and was delayed in oral communications. My sister was coached to use a few simple signs - the tips of the index fingers pressed together to show "more" (for more food) at about age 12 months. Eventually this worked. I know my sister had extra help to do this (in the Boston area). Congratulations on having a 10-month-old!
BTW I have three kids and they all achieved their milestones at totally different times...my first child was slow to crawl,walk and talk but is now a college graduate in his 20s...

My daughter was the same way. She really wouldn't sign, but her eyes would light up if I did the "more" sign when feeding her, so I knew she understood. One day, she got food poisoning from fruit at a buffet restaurant and we had to take her to the emergency room. They wouldn't let her eat or have a bottle until she stopped throwing up. She, of course, was very hungry and kept signing to me that she wanted milk. So in her distressed state, she could communicate. Hang in there!

Hi C.,

We've been signing with DS (9.5 months) since he was five months) and he only signs milk to us when he really wants some. And sometimes he chooses not even to use that sign. I think it's because he's busy learning other things; he started crawling at 7 months and is now trying desperately to walk.He also feels like he has to figure out how to climb everything in the room. Is your LO working on other skills? Maybe communication is on the back burner for now!
HTH!!
H.

My daughter was the same way! At 14 months she's now starting to sign a bit more - like my boys did at 9 months. All kids are different, so keep working on it and soon you'll be introing a new sign every day!

Hi-
We did the same thing starting at 6 months and our daughter did not start doing the signs herself until 12 months old.
Good Luck-

C., i also use signs with my son, it took him awle to catch onto what i was trying to communicate with him but he eventually started doing them back to me. I also suggest buying the baby einsteins dvd "my first signs" i sat with my dson and did the signs with him whle the movie was playing and this seemed to help. He was able to see the breast or bottle of milk and see me and others sign "milk" i also found some great flash cards at meijer in bloomington that have a picture on one side then on a pic of a woman doing the sign and written instructions on how to do the sign, they r great! My son loves looking at them!!!there is also a lot of great books available4 at barnes and noble and the internet has some great resources. I also just found a book at the pontiac walmart called my first book of signs, it was 8or9 dollars but has diaper, milk, mom,dadand such signs in it.

I started with my son when he was 7 months old and only use three signs. Eat, milk and more and he is 11 1/2 and still doesnt do the signs. So i'll be waiting to see if he eventually does them.

Hang in there! I must have the same book that you have, because I remember being worried when my baby didn't sign when they said. I found out that once my baby started waving hi or bye, the other signs came pretty quickly.
I used signing for my first baby and it was wonderful to be able to communicate with her that 1st year.
Good luck!

Our daughter didn't do it for awhile. I think it was at about 1 year that she started doing them more consistantly. Especially when she wanted something. Now she is 19 mths old and picks up almost everything that we teach her right away...with the word too. Just keep doing it, it usually kicks in eventually. I know that they say that some begin at 7-8 mths, but that was not nearly the case for us. Actually, I think that we found that she just wasn't doing it, so we stopped for awhile...till she was closer to a year and then started up again.

don't worry at all! kids all develop differently and she'll catch on eventually. most of what i've read/heard says that kids aren't ready for signing until they can wave with meaning (the first sign in a way). keep signing with her and when she's ready she'll sign back. my dd is 17 months and still signs "more" and "please" even though she's saying the words, too ;) i think she picked up "more" around 10 or 11 months. all will be well!!

My first daughter started signing back at 10 months, my second at 12 months. She started talking 5 months after signing. But keep at it, it's worth it!

My son did not start signing till around 2 (although we did not start working with him till around 12-18 months). He used it sparingly while he was learning to talk for words he could not yet say. I wouldn't worry about it - every child has their own pace and she may not ever take to signing - many kids don't.

Hey! Signing is so much fun. It will be so adorable when your daughter starts signing! With my son, we started when we started solid foods - 5 months & he didn't do his first sign until he was 10 months old.

I started around 6 mos and my son didn't start responding until about 11 or 12 mos. So be patient. Every child is different.

Signing is the same as everything else - they pick it up when they are ready too. I wouldn't be too concerned. Give it a couple more weeks and I'm sure she'll start to understand.

Just keep trying!!! And keep repeating More while doing the sign, and Milk while doing the sign, and your little one will get it!!! My son is almost 18 months old now, and it is so cute - he does MILK and MORE the most out of everything. When he wants to eat, he just goes to his chair and screams MOM!!! It is hilarious! Just keep trying, and he will do it before you know it!!! Just be consistent!

I wouldn't consider her a late starter (I think the books are a little premature on alot of things, all kids are different). My daughter made her first sign a week after her first birthday (I'll never forget it! It was on Thanksgiving and she wanted more stuffing!), and we started with more, eat, and milk when she was about 5 months old. Hang in there!

7-9 months is really really early. I only heard people start using them then, not babies. We started around 6-7 months. At about 10 months she started using them (eat, milk, more - as well). Soon after she started making up her own and eventually had about 200 words I think, plus the alphabet (not spelling though). She's 3 now and forgot a lot of them, but will remember when I go over them. Hang in there.

I had heard that kids usually respond around 15 months, and register the signs they see around 12 months. My son seemed to magically pick it up around that time. My daughter, on the other hand, just started saying words at 12 months, so we never had to use the signs! Your daughter may magically start speaking before she even picks up the signs since girls are more verbal than boys. Enjoy every minute!

Hello,

My daughter Faelyn didn't really start responding with signs on her own until she was about a year old. Now she is 23 months and has a huge vocabulary of both spoken language and ASL.

S.

My son started signing late. I can't remember how old exactly, but I had basically given up and all of the sudden he just started using the sign for more and sometimes for eat and juice. So hang in there.

You know your child best, and if you truly think she is not learning/responding or trying to communicate her own needs and desires in some way (not always the way you expect or want) then that is one thing. But please save yourself from falling into the trap of comparing you child to other children or the charts at the peds offices.
My son didn't start using his signs until 15+ mos. He had wonderful motor skills so it wasn't that he couldn't. My 16 mos old daughter still doesn't sign yet. She wants to talk...can't understand her yet, but we get by with me guessing and her "no" responses. We read signing books, from Discovery Toys (they love them) and she understands when I sign to her, but she doesn't reply she "talks" to me instead.
At a well visit for my son when he did not have the "recommended" number of spoken words for his age (but he was signing). They suggested speech delay.(I knew better and found a new Dr.) But it did put some fear in me so I looked it up online and discovered, more important than the number of words or way they are responding is the intent of communication. Do they respond to you and do they attempt to make themselves understood? I read another mom tell of her baby's eyes responding to the sign. My son did not start talking until after his second birthday and then it was sentences and stories. Now he will be 3 yrs in June and when people ask how old he is they are SHOCKED because his so expressive and his language and communication stills are very clear. I really think the sign language had something to do with this. It is a second language and when I use it with his younger sister he gets really excited and signs with me and encourages her to sign. There are many studies that say signing improves vocabulary when children begin talking. Don't give up teaching, even if she doesn't use it, she will always have it.
Every baby is different, developes differently and the temptaion in our society to look to "charts" at the doctors or other peoples' children to measure the accomplishments of your own little wonders is very strong here. Look to your heart and at your child to decide what is right for them. And avoid the urge to "push" them. These times go so fast and soon your baby will be telling you things you would rather not hear....or sharing personal family stories with others you would rather them not tell...LOL!

My son started signing around 11 or 12 mos, about 3 mos after I started signing to him. Don't worry!