Signing Facilitates Early Communication
Until recently, the use of sign language has been limited to deaf/hard-of-hearing populations or, in rarer cases, to autistic or other language deficient individuals. However, that is swiftly changing. Mounting evidence that infants can understand more than they can express during early life has inspired parents and educators nationwide to introduce their infants/toddlers to what are affectionately becoming known as "baby signs." Unlike speech, which is an oral-aural phenomenon, signing occurs in the visual-spatial modality. This renders signing uniquely accessible to the developing infant, who is naturally attracted by movement, particularly that of mom, dad and other caregivers. Furthermore, since visual and muscular coordination precede vocal cord maturation, signing provides the growing child with the possibility of self-expression nearly one year before speech develops. That's good news not only for babies, but for those who care for them!
Signing Enhances Cognition
A federally-funded longitudinal study conducted by Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn demonstrated that signing babies exhibit greater word comprehension, possess larger vocabularies and engage in more sophisticated play than non-signing controls. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly to parents, these cognitive benefits seem to outlast toddlerhood. In fact, when Acredolo and Goodwyn revisited the signing babies between ages 7 and 8 years, they demonstrated a mean IQ of 114, compared to 102 in the non-signing group. That finding alone goes a long way to explain the growing interesting in early childhood signing!
More Research on Early Childhood Signing
http://www.northlightcommunications.com/research.php
*Original Photos courtesy of Sign2MeTM/Northlight Communications,Inc.
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