Background
Babies who sign show a larger vocabulary by age two, better sentence structure in the early stages
of language development, higher IQ, better social skills, and increased fine motor skills.
Most importantly parent and child experience increased bonding.
Dr. Joseph Garcia began to research the use of American Sign Language with hearing babies of hearing
parents at Alaska Pacific University in 1987. His thesis research showed that babies who are
exposed to signs regularly and consistently at six to seven months of age can begin expressive
communication by their eighth or ninth month. See the book Toddler Talk: The First Signs of
Intelligent Life. (Stratton Kehl Publications Inc., 1994) for more of his research and findings.
In the two studies cited below, hearing babies exposed to both ASL and English were able to communicate
more complex messages through the use of signs than they could verbally.
- Griffith, P.L. (1985). Mode-switching and mode-finding in a hearing child of deaf parents.
Sign Language Studies, 48, 195-222.
- Wilbur, R. and Jones, M. (1974). Some aspects of the acquisition of American Sign Language and
English by three hearing children of deaf parents. In La Galy, Fox, & Bruck (Eds.), Papers from
the Tenth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 742-749.
In 1999, Dr. Kimberlee Whaley of Ohio State University conducted a study in the campus childcare center. Her results indicate
that signing in childcare settings significantly reduces noise levels and decreases the frustration levels of staff
(and, most likely, children too). Caregivers are then able to spend more time in nurturing interactions with the
children rather than in crisis management. The need for conflict resolution is significantly reduced as well.
Marilyn Daniels, professor of speech communication at Penn State University, has researched and
written about the use of ASL with infants and preschoolers. Her studies demonstrate that adding visual
and kinesthetic elements to verbal communication helps enhance a preschool child’s vocabulary,
spelling and reading skills. A great book about this is "Dancing with Words".
- Daniels, M. (2001). Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy. Westport, Connecticut:
Bergin and Garvey.
- Daniels, M. (October, 1994). The effects of sign language on hearing children’s language development.
Communication Education, 43, 291-298.
- Daniels, M. (1996). Seeing language: The effect over time of sign language on vocabulary development
in early childhood education. Child Study Journal, 26, 193-208.
Another useful book on research that found evidence that sign language supports early literacy skills is:
J. Hafer (1986). Signing For Reading Success. Washington D.C.: Clerc Books, Gallaudet University Press.
In 1982, Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn discovered that babies between the ages of 10 and 24
months were spontaneously using simple gestures to represent words they weren't yet able to say. They
might sniff for "flower," pant for "dog," or flap their arms for "bird." What would happen,
Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn wondered, if parents just helped the process along?
Thus began a major breakthrough in infant-parent communication called the Baby Signsﾮ Program -
a natural baby sign language that allows babies and their parents to use simple signs to communicate
important things like being hungry or thirsty, hot or cold, afraid or sad-often a full year before
babies could otherwise speak.
Through two decades of research, much of it funded by the National Institutes of Health,
Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn have demonstrated that their Baby Signsﾮ Program has dramatic benefits,
including decreasing frustration for babies and parents, enriching the parent-child bond, boosting
emotional development, helping babies talk sooner-even raising IQ
Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon - The great baby signing debate. From The British Psychological Society. 3 April 2008.