Love at First Sign

Let me share with you this video of Mattie showing off his latest milestone: Signing!  Yes, you read it correctly SIGNING – not singing, SIGNING – as in sign language.  Mattie is now 1 year and 9 months.  To date he can sign 30 words (and counting!).  He can show me the sign for the word he knows with very minimal coaching.  He gets mixed up with some signs sometimes, like signing boat instead of book, or signing pray when I say play.  He also does not get to perfect the sign for words that are harder to sign since he still lacks the precise hand movements and finger dexterity.  But all in all I think he’s doing a splendid job.  I’m just so proud of my boy!

It was one of Mattie’s ninangs (godmother) who shared with me this set of videos called Baby Signing Time.  The video teaches babies to use sign language through colorful pictures, imagery and music.  It was love at first sign for Mattie.  You could see his face light up with delight as I play the video.  He would dance to the music, imitate the signs, and shriek and smile to his favorite scenes.  He would even ask me to play the video several times a day (He would rub his hands together signaling that he wants to watch “Baby Signing Time”!).

Knowing that Mattie may be speech delayed (babies with down syndrome are most likely to be speech delayed due to their hypotonic mouth and tongue muscles), I decided to introduce Mattie to the world of signs so that we could start communicating early on – even before he learns how to talk!  Through signs I can actually confirm that Mattie knows and understands a lot of words – something I won’t be able to realize if he were not signing since he does not know how to talk yet.  Through signs he can actually specifically show me what he wants!  He signs, “eat” when he’s hungry or when he wants a snack, he signs “cracker” when he wants his favorite rice puffs, “shoes” when I put on his sandals, and “grandpa” when he sees his Lolo.  

A growing body of research suggests that signing with your baby actually provides a myriad of benefits including early language and vocabulary development, reduced frustration and tantrums, and better communications skills.  I think sign language is a very powerful communication tool.  It certainly showed me that I have one very smart and amazing son! Who knows what more words he knows?  Maybe he understands so many words already but cannot sign and verbalize them yet.  I will encourage sign language as our primary form of communication in the meantime that he’s not talking yet.  As he gets better in talking later on, then I will slowly take away the signs and just stick to talking!     

What do you think about signing? 

Mattie’s Mom