Preview Basic Baby Sign Language Chart



SIMPLESIGNLANGUAGEINFORMATIONSHEET

This document is also located on our website www.inclusioncollaborative.org

Supported by:

1290 Ridder Park Drive y MC 227 y San Jose, CA 95131 y (408) 453-6756 y FAX: 453-6596

www.inclusioncollaborative.org

WARMENHOVEN

INSTITUTE

FOR

INCLUSION



Infants and toddlers use gestures, "signs

that are universal and easily identified by all," to

communicateneedsandwants(Brown&Clements,

2005, p.14).They wave goodbye, raise their arms

tobeheld,andpullonsomeone'spantstogettheir

attention‐‐ allbeforeany wordsare spoken.Once

the toddler realizes that it's faster to use words,

thengesturesbegintofadeaway.Withoutgestures

infants and toddlers can get very frustrated until

adultsfigureouttheirneeds.Similarlychildrenwith 

disabilities or special needs can also get frustrated

when they do not understand verbal directions or

have limited or no speech  to get their needs met.

Thisfrustrationcanleadtobehaviorchallenges.

Gestures and sign language are the bridge

that help children comprehend verbal directions

and communicate their needs even though they

mighthavelimitedornospokenlanguage.Likethe

toddlersabove,children withspecialneedswillfade

away the use of sign language once words are

developed.But, doesn't the use of sign language

seriouslydelayspokenlanguage?No,thisisamyth

and has not been proven (Brown & Clements,

2005).Sign language will reinforcespeech when it

is accompanied by the spoken word it represents.

For example, an adult should say "more" while

simultaneously signing it.Consequently, the child

sees and hears the word.Once the child starts

usingspokenwords,thentheadultcanfadeoutthe

useofsignlanguage.



Reference:Brown,C.&Clements,J.(2005).Signlanguagefor

babiesandtoddlers.SanDiego:ThunderBayPress.



Purpose:

• Helpachildcomprehendvocabulary&

directions

• Provideanalternativemethodto

communicateneedsandwants

• Actasabridgeuntilwordsaredeveloped



Benefits:enablesachildto...

• Improvesocialinteractionwithothersby

signingneedsandwants 

• Reducethefrustrationandstressofnot

beingabletocommunicate

• Understandwhatisbeingsaid

• Communicateandgetneedsmet



Cansupportchildrenwhohave...

• SpeechandLanguageDelays

• DifficultyProcessingVerbalInput

• Autism&AspergerSyndrome

• EnglishAsaSecondLanguage

• HearingImpairments

• CognitiveDelays

• ChallengingBehaviors



DirectionsforSuccessfulImplementation:

• Becomefamiliarwiththesimplesignson

languagesheets

• Modelthesignandsaythewordwhileusing

objects‐‐thishelpsthechildtoconnectthe

signtotheobject

• Modelthesignandsaythewordduring

socialinteractions

• Allowchildrentimetoobservethenewsigns

• Whenchildrenusegesturesmodelbackthe

correctsignandsaytheword

• Encouragechildrentomakethesignswith

theirhands

• Alwayspraisechildren'sattemptsatsigning

• Graduallyfadeoutthesignswhenchildren

developwords

HTML Preview Basic Baby Sign Language Chart page number 1.