Signing Toddler Won't Speak the Words He Can Sign For

Perhaps it is no different than anything else. I refuse to get my daughter a treat or glass of milk unless she uses her manners. So I simply remind her I need manners and for awhile she was reluctant, but eventually learned if she wanted it she had to ask properly and things happened pretty instantly. Give it a try, tell him you need to hear him.

Try asking him when you are not looking at him a question that would require him to answer on of those words. That way, you wouldn't be able to see his sign, so he'll have to say it.

Don't worry about all the "what if's."

I taught both my kids sign language from the time they were 6 months old. Both my kids started "speaking" at their OWN pace. Each child is different. NO child has the same pacing nor timeline for "talking."

Sign language is NOT a "crutch." In fact, it is a help and just ONE way of communication. A child, will NATURALLY "stop" signing when they are speaking more. If your child is not yet "talking" as you feel he should, then ask your Pediatrician.

There is a difference between talking and the child understanding what is spoken TO them. Talking... does NOT INDICATE "smartness" or "ability" of a child. AND it is often gender based as well. ie: boys talk later than girls. Girls mature quicker and faster than boys, generally. MANY boys begin to talk later.

I have a boy and a girl. My daughter was talking before 1 years old. My son, was later... it was not until about 3 years old that he took off in talking. He is now MORE talkative than his sister!

Einstein... did not talk until 3 years old. I believe Mozart was the same. And, they are GENIUSES! Nothing was "wrong" with them, except that they were so genius that others did not understand them as a child.

My son... did have a Speech Therapist. He had a TOTAL overall assessment done... and he was even found to be ADVANCED in most areas, but his "speaking" was delayed. Not "delayed" in a bad way, the Therapist said he was just "shy" about talking and not ready yet. There were NO DEVELOPMENTAL "problems" that he had whatsoever. But so in time, and with encouragement... he ON HIS OWN, began talking as his confidence grew. ALSO, though, because he is advanced in several areas for his age... his brain was just concentrating on other areas.... and talking to him, was just not ready or as important. He was never frustrated though... and in fact, he DID communicate very well, with signing and gesturing and many "functional" words that was useful for HIM. It was amazing, seeing him very consciously use the FUNCTIONAL words that he wanted to... to tell us what HE needed. And, he could always express his feelings. So... the moral is: even though he "talked" later.... he was very able to consciously pick and choose what words HE needed to, to navigate himself and he understood everything told to him very well. Once he did start "talking".... we realized that he was just storing EVERYTHING in his brain... and he blew us away with his vocabulary and communicative and expressive language ability. As I said, he is now a VERY talkative AND expressive 3 year old. Much more so than other kids his age. AND, my son, both my kids, are bi-lngual too.

No, sign language does NOT hinder "talking" nor is it a "Crutch." In fact, the Speech Therapist my son had... encourages signing. And, even "babbling" is a precursor to talking and even "singing" is "talking" too. ALL OF THESE THINGS, go hand in hand and work together... towards "talking" as adult expectations are, or what "we" expect our child to say.

A child, will talk when they are ready to.
But if you feel your child has a developmental problem... then you talk to the Pediatrician.

There is a certain progression in "talking" for a child... certain alphabets/sounds are harder to pronounce than others, some word combinations require a lot of tongue/mouth coordination and some letters have "front of the mouth" or "back of the mouth or throat" sounds... which at certain ages a child will naturally progress to. The word "milk" for example... is not easy to say or pronounce. So don't expect him to say it.
ALSO, kids this age OFTEN do not articulate nor pronounce words perfectly... yet. It is all about mouth/tongue/throat coordination too, in conjunction with making the "sound" of the words. MANY elements are involved.

All the best,
Susan

a lot of kids don't speak until later, some much later. he is communicating. he is not going to be ten and still signing. i think it is great. let him be himself. God bless!
J.

Hello there, I have to say that I am sad to hear that there are articles out there saying that signing is a crutch because I have read and believe the opposite. My daughter is now 16 months and we taught her sign from early on and she now signs well over 50 words and also says most of those in verbal words. I believe the signing helped her to make the association for objections before she could say them which then gave her a jump start when she became verbal. It may just be your sons way of developing ... even if you hadn't taught him sign he may just be taking his time with speaking. Kids all develop at different rates; I wouldn't blame signing for that. I hope that you still teach your other children and hopefully see how it can be a support rather than a crutch.

J.

Hello, I wouldn't worry. He seems to be learning right on track. Just keep modeling the what you would like him to do (say the words) and he will start when he is ready. I have mentioned this before, but our now 13 year old grandson was not speaking early. He is now in all Honors classes getting mostly A's. He'll get it.
Good luck with your precious little boy.
K. K.

Hi there. I would have to disagree with those "studies" that says sign language can be a crutch to verbalization. I have 2 toddlers girls, both learned how to sign before they turned 1 and both are "talking" away and signing before 18 months. I have a nephew who is also like my daughters. From our experience, sign language has actually helped in their communication skills, they are less apt to toddler breakdowns because they have a way to communicate even if they can't verbalize it. On the other side, I have a few friends whose babies did not learn sign language and they weren't verbal until around 3 years old. Children are just different. Some are just okay with not verbalizing their thoughts for a while and some are just "talkers". I wouldn't worry about it too much. I know it's easier said than done but give your baby time. Once he starts talking, he'll be talking away like a madman. I'm sure of it. Enjoy this time. It goes by too quickly.

Hi JM,

I don't think that studies actually say that sign language is a crutch. It's like Michele R said - it's another language. A child might be a little slower with some words, but it's probably because he/ she is learning two languages. And no worries, two languages is always better than one for brain development and such...
(I wish I had taught mine sign language!)

Your son may just be sticking with what works, or else he may be "reverting" to try to be like the baby (babies) again. I would not regret any of it. Actually, you do not wean a baby off of signing, when the child is ready, they just stop using the signs and start talking. My daughter did not talk (I mean at all) until she was fully 2, then once she started talking she spoke in complete sentences within a month. Does he talk at all? If you are worried, you could have your son evaluated by an early childhood intervention center. My guess is that he's fine, but it does not hurt to go through the evaluation. Good luck to you!

I have to say I'm glad my kids are older - they were babies just when this sign thing started taking off, and I didn't do it. I'm glad for that. What you do is DON'T USE SIGN ANYMORE. Period. It is a crutch. Just don't use it, and eventually he will start saying the word, and definitely don't use it for any other kids. It's just not necessary. People are in such a hurry for their kids to read, sign, potty train, etc. We all grew up fine without it, and so did my kids and other kids.

Hi there- I read your question a couple days ago and been on my mind since so I have to write! I would check the source of that "research". Everything I looked at says the opposite. I didn't do sign language with my first and she hardly said anything until 3. I am doing it with the second, who is now 18 months and has a great handful of signs and does more all the time. She is starting to say the words (or at least the beginning of the word) with the sign. I think it is great to be able to understand her and communicate more than we could otherwise.
Sign Language is another language- if you were trying to have your son speak in English and Spanish, would you be concerned if he said some things in English and others in Spanish? I would guess not. You do not need to wean, keep it up and it could only do great things later (think about being able to tell your child from across a playgroup or through a car window).
We check out videos from the library and now both of them are learning about it- and love it!

Personally, I would not be concerned about this at all. He has found a form of communication that is working for him and that he understands and perhaps he doesn't YET see a need for the other way to communicate. BUT, he will in his own time. I think we place too much importance on the developmental milestone time frames and it's a lot of worry for nothing in the end. Try not to stress about it or he will probably pick up on that. You have done a good job in teaching him the signs. Be proud of yourself and just keep reading to him and talking to him. Oh, yeah...I have also heard from a parenting class that some bright children are perfectionists and don't want to actually use the words out loud until they know that they have it right. Isn't that interesting? Good luck. :)

Don't worry! We taught our daughter to sign and she didn't start speaking early like we thought she would, but when she did, she learned fast! She is and was way ahead of other kids her age verbally and communicates much better than most kids. We've always gotten comments on how well she talks.

Sign language is not a crutch. It is a language. Whether your son is verbal or not, he is still learning language, which is very important. Language is a process of symbols, and signing is in fact a way of developing these skills long before children can verbally articulate. You did not miss any window, and there is no need to wean him off of sign language.
If you have concerns about your son's language development, then by all means get an assessment. Honestly, I bet that once your son starts talking, he'll really "pop". My son went from a couple words at a time to all of a sudden one day speaking in complete sentences. Literally, it happened all in one day. And he has always had a very advanced vocabulary. I thought that using sign language was brilliant. I also used to be a preschool teacher, mainly with 2 year olds, and sign language was invaluable.
Don't worry, mama, you didn't do anything wrong. You did great.

I wouldn't worry. His signs are words to him & he'll figure it out that if he gets no response because the person he's "talking" to doesn't see him, he needs to speak that word audibly to make sure they get it. You can explain to him that if you aren't looking right at him, you'll need him to say the word, and then be patient with him while he makes the transition. Maybe try saying the word he signs, as you respond, so he gets the point? "You want MILK? OK, here's your MILK." You're probably already doing that.

Sometimes first children need to "be babies" too when they have little siblings. If my math is correct, your twins are 4 months old, right? He may be wanting to prolong his own time of extra attention and nurturing from his mama, and, really, 2 isn't very old. I'm taking a little guess that this is more about that than not learning how to speak. I think above all, he just needs some more time and, though you may at times feel spread very thin, lots of accommodation.

All the best,
Colleen

Dear JM,

This is an interesting phenomenon... the theory is that kids are supposed to drop sign language naturally as speaking is faster and easier. It takes work on the parents' part to keep it up if that is what they wish.
The fact that your son speaks other words is comforting...it's not that the ability is not there.
My daughter learned sign too but speaks everything now...EXCEPT the words "thank you". (When I request that she say it to someone...but not when she's talking to herself while playing.) Odd. Maybe I'll be applying some more pressure to get that out of her.

I think you are worrying needlessly. Signs count as words. And as long as he is actually speaking any words, he is fine.

The fact is that in preschool and with other people, your son will be forced to speak instead of sign as other people won't understand his signs. I, too, taught my son sign language and he used signs long after he was able to speak as a means of clarifying his requests. I've read a number of studies on the subject, and although there is sometimes a delay of a month or two in use of full sentences among children who have had multilingual exposure from the start, these kids tend to master advanced speech more quickly as they have a better understanding of the principles.

Your son will start talking soon. Don't fret. I also taught my son basic sign language and it worked very well for him. Whenever I wouls sign something or he would I would always say the word back to him and praise him to being such a big boy. I think that once kids know that something is working and they are getting what they want/need they don't see a need to change it. keep up the good work and before you know he'll be talking up a storm!

Your son will start talking soon. Don't fret. I also taught my son basic sign language and it worked very well for him. Whenever I wouls sign something or he would I would always say the word back to him and praise him to being such a big boy. I think that once kids know that something is working and they are getting what they want/need they don't see a need to change it. keep up the good work and before you know he'll be talking up a storm!