Baby Sign Language

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Baby Sign Language for Hearing Babies and Toddlers

Would like to find a better way to communicate with your little one that doesn’t involve crying, tantrums and screaming?

Simple Baby Sign Language can help your baby tell you what they want and when they want it.

Communicating with your baby or toddler using Baby Sign Language is one of the most rewarding experiences of being a parent.

Babies that are understood feel more relaxed and secure. Many parents report that babies who use baby signing cry less often, making parenting easier and less stressful. Understanding your baby in those early months and years means you can respond to their needs without second guessing what they need.

In the very early months, your baby’s needs are very simple. They want to be fed, changed, played with or put to bed. Our baby sign language program caters for these basic needs by teaching the signs for these most basic needs first.

As your baby develops and grows, they begin learning at a rapid rate. In conjunction with child development experts, Toddler Interpreter has specifically designed the first baby sign language program to match your baby’s natural communication development. With Toddler Interpreter there is no guessing where to start or what to teach next.

Our Toddler Interpreter program encourages speech development, providing visual cues for keywords that are easy for the baby to remember and relevant to their daily routines. The signs are taught in the same order as they would naturally learn to speak the words. This also helps your baby to learn the comprehension of the spoken word at an accelerated rate.

Communication is a key part of your baby’s social development and you can help this process immensely with very little effort. By teaching baby sign language you will be giving your baby a great foundation for learning at a very early age, much earlier than if you waited until they could speak. Baby Sign Language gives you an opportunity to communicate with your baby before they can talk. Your baby knows exactly what they want and need at around 6 months of age; however it can be a further one to two years, sometimes even longer before they are able to tell you in words. Baby signing bridges this communication gap.

Baby Sign Language also offers many opportunities for fun and enjoyment. Watching your baby do their first baby sign is as exciting as their first steps and their first words. Your baby grows and learns so much in these first few precious years and Baby Sign Language allows you to share every moment and new experience and share in each other’s interests, likes and dislikes.

Baby Sign Language is so easy to learn and remember and we provide you with simple instructions on how to get started. There is no need to know sign language to learn our baby sign language, after all it is intended to be easy enough for a small baby to do and remember.

There is no right or wrong time to start teaching baby sign language; your baby will enjoy the benefits of enhanced communication whether they are 6 months old or 30 months old. Don’t delay, teaching these simple baby sign language gestures can help you to avoid the frustration of the pre-verbal years, the sooner you start, the better off you will be. You can avoid worrying about those terrible tantrums, your baby will be able to tell you exactly what they want and when they want it. No more guessing games that end in tears.

Imagine if your baby could tell you that he was hungry by putting his fingers to his lips, or that he was tired by putting his hand to his head. Baby Sign Language provides a way for your baby to communicate instead of crying, but it is also a great deal of fun, an adorable way to interact with your little one and can provide a great insight to your babies developing personality.

Join the thousands of parents Worldwide already enjoying the benefits of Toddler Interpreter’s Leading Baby Sign Language Program (Also available as a download).

Toddler Interpreter® are proud sponsors of the VCFS and 22q11 Foundation and donate 20% of all product sales to help the Foundation support families and children affected by speech delay.

 

 

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Toddler Interpreter® is here to help you learn more about Baby Sign Language and show you the easiest way to introduce Baby Signing into your home. Baby Signs are easy to learn with our Baby Sign Language Book and our Free Baby Sign Language Chart.

Free Baby Sign Language Chart – Toddler Interpreter

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Download your Free Baby Sign Language Stage Chart today.

To get your copy, just enter your details on the left and the free baby sign language chart will be e-mailed to you immediately.

Don’t hesitate, enter your name and e-mail on the left and the chart will be delivered to your inbox. Make sure you use a valid e-mail so that you don’t miss out on your free baby sign language chart. If you would like to leave a comment below to say thank you we would really appreciate it, that can be your gift in return to us.

 Toddler Interpreter is one of the Worlds Leading Baby Sign Language programs, used by thousands of parent’s worldwide. We are also one of the fastest growing Baby Sign Language companies, attributed to our wonderful resources that are easy to use and implement.

Our products have been tried and tested and are already implemented into thousands of households.  

This short video is of one of our youngest signing stars Scarlette using Baby Sign Language at the age of 10 months. She is 26 months old now and has been using Toddler Interpreter baby sign language for over 16 months. She signs for so many different things such as milk, more, finished, hat, puppy, toilet, thank-you, bird, full, eat, drink, where, shower, fish, sleep, love, brother, quiet and baby as well as a few that she has invented herself!  Now that she is almost talking in sentences, on the occasion she will include a sign to emphasise her point, especially when she thinks we aren’t paying her enough attention!

Using Baby Sign Language with your baby can improve the bonding and communication as well as enhance your babies social skills and language comprehension.  Many parents report that the frustration of the terrible twos is reduced by using baby sign language because they can be understood though the use of baby sign language.

This free baby sign language chart contains all the baby signs that you need to get started. Our Baby Sign Language program is very easy to follow and many of these signs will look very familiar to you.

<<== Sign up on the left for your free baby sign language chart!

The first stage of learning baby sign language is where they understand you. This can begin as early as 4 months – much earlier than most people get a chance to have a understanding and proper communication with their little one. This continues on and builds until they have the ability to copy the signs and do them with you. At this stage they will do the sign back to you, or at least acknowledge that they understand your words and signs. 

Please leave a comment below and pass the link to this page on to your friends so they can get their free baby sign language chart sent to them too. Remember that our products are copyright protected so you aren’t allowed to send it around to everyone, but you can point them to this page or share this page on facebook or twitter.

Enjoy your free baby sign language chart and have a great day!

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

What is Baby Sign Language?

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Wondering what is Baby Sign Language all about? Toddler Interpreter dispell some of the myths and show you how easy it is to sign with your baby or toddler…

Most parents have heard of this recent parenting craze but not a lot of parents actually know what baby sign language involves. Many would naturally assume that you teach adult sign language to your baby, but this is not entirely correct. Let me explain why baby sign language is very different to adult sign language.

Baby sign language is different to sign language as it doesn’t follow the same structure. Baby Signing is based on the concept of keyword signing. Keyword signing is used in conjunction with speech and is usually used with hearing children and adults. Generally, keyword signing will be used for communication when one person can speak and the other one can’t. Keyword signs are used to compliment the spoken conversation and are used by the non-verbal child or adult to communicate back and respond. Some of the gestures used are often borrowed from sign language or may be modified to be more easily understood or performed.

Babies can understand most of what you are saying from the age of 6 months but they are unable to speak back to you until a year or even two later. They try their hardest to communicate through their body language but keyword signing provides a more effective means of communication to help them get their point across. They can easily communicate through the use of baby signing well before their vocal chords are developed enough for speech. Through this communication method, they suffer less frustration because they are able to let you know what they think and want without the usual guessing games.

A baby that is less than 12 months old will have the ability to copy hand signals. If your baby is already waving hello or goodbye, they are certainly able to add more gestures to their vocabulary. Being understood is very empowering for the child and they recognize early how rewarding it is to have communication skills.

They are able to produce these hand signals at an age far younger than they are able to talk. Most babies are ready to use these baby signs by the age of 6-9 months whereas some babies may not speak until 12 months. For others who follow a slightly delayed speech development, they may not be able to communicate with words until they are over 2 years old. In this case, Baby Signs can be an invaluable tool, allowing them to express themselves almost a year before they would have naturally been afforded that opportunity.

Parent’s who take the time to nurture their child’s development by teaching Baby Sign Language are also more likely to spend quality time with their baby. They are more likely to seek out ways to improve their child’s development which flows on to have many positive benefits other than just the accelerated speech development. If you have more questions regarding “What is Baby Sign Language” or how to teach your baby to sign, head over to Toddler Interpreter for affordable resources or download your free baby signs chart and start today.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

What Age Should I Teach Baby Sign Language?

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What Age to Teach Baby Sign Language – Toddler Interpreter recommends that you start to teach your baby between the ages of 3-9 months to see the most benefit.

Sign Language for Babies is useful at any age before the child is able to speak in sentences. Most babies should be able to be understood by members in their family by the age of 31 months. Anytime before this age will be appropriate for using baby signs to bridge the communication gap.

Some parents decide to start to Teach Baby Sign Language from birth. However, starting with your baby this early will make it seem like a very long time until you see the Benefits of Baby Signing and it may discourage some parents from continuing.

Most babies will have the dexterity and muscle control to reciprocate the Baby Signs to you at the age of 6-9 months. It is important to note that you receive the benefits of Sign Language for Babies long before the baby is able to sign back to you. At around the age of 4-5 months, the baby will be able to recognize your baby signs, especially if you use them regularly and consistently. This can prove to be very beneficial as they have the ability to understand what you are communicating with them from a much earlier age.

 

The authors of Toddler Interpreter started to teach baby sign language to their daughter Scarlette when she was only 4 months old. In the video above, she signs for milk for the first time at the age of 9 months.

At 4-5 months, your baby almost certainly won’t recognize the sound of the word milk but they will be able to recognize the Baby Sign for milk. Even though they are not signing back to you as yet, you can communicate with them to let them know it is time for milk or time for bed. This can help to settle them down into their routine and they will feel more comfortable knowing that you are taking care of their needs.

Using the baby sign for milk before and during their feed will reinforce the association between the word, the sign and the outcome, leading to a better comprehension and understanding. Babies have no control over their environment, so being able to understand you will help them to feel settled. It is important to start slowly by introducing only one or two baby signs at this early stage so that you don’t overwhelm the little one with too many things to remember.

Although there is no right or wrong age to begin to teach your baby sign language, you will find baby sign language to have the greatest impact if you begin around 3-6 months of age. This will allow you to to be understood by your baby from a much earlier age. As they become older they will begin to use the Baby Signs to ask for things, especially if they have seen you using the signs consistently. If your baby is at the right age to teach baby sign language, head over to Toddler Interpreter for some affordable resources or download your free baby sign language chart here today.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

Benefits of Baby Sign Language

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The Benefits of Baby Sign Language extend way beyond the toddler years as the research is now showing.

Baby Sign Language can be used from as early as birth although most children are ready to begin signing back to their parents by the age of 6 months. The signs are often borrowed or modified from traditional sign language and are based on gestures that symbolize the action or meaning of a word. It is a simplified version of sign language designed to be easy enough for baby’s to begin using from 6 months of age.

NIH Funded Experimental Studies discover the Baby Sign Language Benefits

Baby Sign Language is not a new concept, although it still receives much media attention. The first studies were conducted as early as 1989; one of the most referenced experimental studies is an National Institute of Health (NIH) funded study conducted by Drs Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn. The study was designed to determine the benefits of Baby Sign Language and to determine if Baby Sign Language would delay speech development in children. The children were assigned into two groups in this study; the first group consisted of children that used Baby Sign Language and the second group consisted of children that did not use Baby Sign Language. The children were recruited for the study at eleven months of age. Their speech and language development was followed up until they reached three years of age.

The study regularly assessed the speech and language development of the children recruited into the study. The language assessments were designed to measure language comprehension and language production. These assessments were conducted at assigned intervals during the study. The assessments measured the children’s ability to put words into sentences. The child’s intellectual development was also measured at 24 months to determine the long term baby sign language benefits.

The average scores of children in the study that were in the group that used Baby Sign Language were found to be higher than the control group who did not use Baby Sign Language. By the age of twenty-four months, the signing children had a developmental advantage of three months over the non-signing children. By the time these signing children reached the age of thirty-six months, this advantage had increased dramatically. The advantage had now increased from a three month developmental advantage to an equivalent twelve month advantage in their overall language skills and comprehension by the age of thirty-six months.

Since this research was conducted in 1989 there have been many families that have begun to use Baby Sign Language in their home. To date there hasn’t been a single study that has shown there to be any disadvantages to using Baby Sign Language. Many childcare centres are also beginning to use Baby Sign Language, either through song or as part of a dedicated program.

Some parents seem to have a concern that if they use Baby Sign Language with their children that this may delay their speech development. The results of the NIH funded study demonstrate quite clearly that this is not the case. Baby Sign Language facilitates communication between baby and parent earlier in life and is thought by some to be an essential step in the learning process as it aids in the comprehension of words through actions that they understand. By providing a communication method to the baby earlier in life they understand the benefit of communication as they are rewarded with some control over their environment and their needs. This only leads on to a thirst for a more complicated language which is thought to be the reason that baby’s who sign with their parents speak earlier than those who do not. The benefits of baby sign language are not only reflected in the intellectual development but also in their social ability and the bonding of the baby with their parents. If you would like to experience the same baby sign language benefits as many thousands of parents worldwide, download your free baby sign language chart today or go to Toddler Interpreter for some affordable baby sign language resources.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

How to Teach Baby Signs

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Learning how to teach baby signs is easy; it really isn’t as difficult as it may seem.

If you are able to teach your baby to wave hello or goodbye then you have all the necessary skills required to teach your baby some baby sign language as well.

Sign Language for babies is based on keyword signing and is not the same as adult sign language. There are many systems that provide baby sign language based on ASL, BSL or AUSLAN but these are all based on adult sign language. Baby Sign Language should be specifically tailored to suit the age level it is aimed at which is 3-30 months. By 30 months of age most children are able to communicate and be understood by their families and the signs are no longer required. These Baby Signs should be used as a temporary bridging gap between pre-verbal and verbal years.

If you have decided to start teaching baby sign language there is one very important thing you need to remember. Signing does not replace speech. This is the largest difference that separates baby sign language from sign language for adults. You are trying to encourage communication so flood your baby with words. When you speak certain keywords, include the sign, don’t emit the spoken word.

Apart from that, there really isn’t much to it. If you follow the same pattern you would use to teach your child to wave hello or goodbye then you will pick it up in no time at all. Here are some simple tips to get you started.

Make sure that you use the baby signs in relevant situations. If you are signing for milk, make sure it is just before their feed time and reward them with the milk to enhance the comprehension.

Ensure your baby is in the mood when you are about to teach baby sign language to them. If they are tired or hungry they are not going to be interested. If this is the case, just sign to them for consistency and provide them with their needs. Don’t make it a negative experience or they are likely to want to forget about doing it.

Make sure you sign to them while they are watching and so that they can see your hands clearly. Don’t make it too complicated. Although they are attracted to movement, you want to make it as easy for them to copy as possible. This is why baby sign language is specifically designed to be within the capabilities of the baby and shouldn’t involve finger spelled signs.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

How Long Until My Baby Can Sign Back to Me?

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If you have started using infant sign language with your little one, you may be wondering how long it will be until your baby can begin signing back to you.

Each baby will follow their own unique development timeline so the answer will be different for each child. In general, babies can begin signing back to you somewhere between the ages of 6-12 months.

If you started teaching baby sign language really early on in their life, don’t despair. Even though this seems like it is a long time to wait, you have already provided them with a valuable head start. Some parents have reported that they started signing with their babies at a really early age but gave up because the baby wasn’t able to do the signs back to them at that point in time. Interestingly, the baby started to sign to them 5 months later, even though it had been months since they saw that sign. If you started early, just relax knowing that at least your baby can understand you.

By the age of about 4-6 months, the baby will be able to respond to your signs. They may not be able to replicate them or specifically ask for something using baby signs but they will be able to understand your signs. You will need to rely on their body language and facial expressions to see if you have been understood. If you sign to your baby for something and they bounce around, flap and get all excited it is a pretty good indication that you have been understood.

The signing progress follows this simple path. At first, when you begin using baby sign language, it will be foreign to both of you. At this stage only introduce one or two signs. The next stage is where you are comfortably and unconsciously performing the sign every time you speak that word. Shortly following this phase you may realize that your baby understands you.

This phase will continue for a little while until your baby develops the ability to have some control over their hands and limbs. At this stage the baby will be eager to show you their signs every now and then but it may not be consistent. Make sure you offer a lot of praise and encouragement during this phase. If they have signed for something, reward them by giving them what they signed for. If this is not appropriate, re-direct them to something else using a different sign. Let them know they have been understood. This will be a great bonding moment for you both and the excitement will be shared equally. Don’t be alarmed if it takes another week or two until they sign to you again; if you are patient it will come. The next stage will keep you on your toes. Once they have worked out a few signs they will want more and more. Keeping up with them will be your biggest hurdle; they may even make up a few signs of their own.

Remember that the signs are a temporary solution and will be replaced by speech when the time comes. Always sign to the baby and speak the word at the same time to re-enforce the association between the sign and the word.

So it might seem like a long wait until your baby can sign back to you, but the reward can be as exciting as watching them take their first steps or speak their first words.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

Sign Language for Babies

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Sign Language for Babies involves the use of gestures to communicate with your baby while they are very young.

It all begins when they are very little by using some simple hand signals. These hand signals are universal meaning that they are the same in every language worldwide. These hand signals are often natural gestures that we use every day without realizing it. Many people begin learning sign language for babies only to discover that they naturally started this process without even knowing it. This process is just added to with some additional gestures through our Baby Sign Language program.

Communication involves the spoken word but much of what we say is also communicated through our body language. Using baby signing teaches the baby that there is more to communication than just words. It is really important that the sign is used with the word, signing does not replace the need for words, rather it compliments them perfectly. As you progress with your signing, it becomes a natural process that is used without thinking. It isn’t very difficult to get to this stage as the signs are easy to remember but also very natural hand gestures.  

Babies are fascinated with their parents and are naturally attracted to movement. Many think that they need to wait until the baby is nine months old to begin sign language however our personal experience was that our baby understood what we signed to her from about 4-5 months. This provided us with much enjoyment of course but it was also really practical. At this very young age there is little chance that she would have understood the spoken word for things like ‘milk’ ‘more’ and ‘sleep’. However, the use of these baby signs allowed her to understand us. When she woke in the morning, we would sign to her that we were making her a milk bottle and she would be both relieved and excited that we knew what she needed.

There is about a 5 month period where the baby understands your signs but can’t sign back yet, and this is when we found sign language to be very beneficial. From about 9-10 months of age she has started to sign back to us. No matter how in tune you are with your babies routine, there will always be a time when you need a little reminder that it is ‘milk’ time, and there is no doubt with her little hand opening and closing at us that she knows exactly what she wants. Sign language for babies can be a wonderful way to communicate with your baby and it brings many opportunities for two way conversations and shared experiences. 

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

Sign Language for Toddlers

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Sign Language for Toddlers is an invaluable tool for toddlers to communicate before they have fully developed their speech.

The toddler years are full of frustrations and tantrums; providing some mutual understanding can help to relieve some of this tension. Their speech development is especially important during these first two years and is more rapid than at any other time in their life. Sign Language for toddlers can be used to compliment speech development and fill in the gaps where they don’t quite have the words yet.

 

Toddlers are exciting little people. Everything happens at such a pace; it is a time for growing, developing and exploring. Parent interaction during this crucial period is so important. Proper speech development will allow them to engage in proper social interactions which will develop their social skills. Speech and social development are some of the most important milestones; how they progress these two vital skills will play a major role in the way their future plays out.

Sign Language for Toddlers is the use of gestures to convey the meaning of certain keywords. Some begin this sign language much earlier and refer to it as baby signing or baby sign language. There is no difference between baby sign language and toddler sign language, just the name. These baby signs are very simple to perform and are universal gestures that can be used in any country worldwide.

Although toddlers are able to speak a few words by their first birthday, they are still learning their language skills right up until their third birthday. It will take this long for some toddlers to be understood by their family members let along strangers and other caregivers. Toddlers are so demanding and expect everything to go their way. They also know exactly what they want and when they want it. By providing them a means to communicate these things without the frustration of not being able to speak properly, you can reduce frustration. Frustration, especially in boys can lead to aggression problems later on. It shouldn’t be considered as a means to give in to the toddler, in fact, sign language for toddlers can often be used to re-direct the behavior to a more appropriate solution.

Some parents report that their toddlers revert back to baby sign language when frustrated. Not being able to spit out what they are trying to say but still keen to get their point across. Sign Language for Toddlers offers them a release for their frustrations allowing the temper to dissipate.

Teaching Sign Language for Toddlers is easy. Toddlers are very keen to copy anything that their parents do. Providing that the gesture is always used with the word, it will be picked up on very quickly. Choose some keywords that are important to your toddler. Try to chose words that are not spoken by your toddler yet. Learn the sign language gesture for these keywords and use these simple gestures every time you speak that keyword. Only ever use the gesture in a relevant situation so that your toddler understands the relevance of the gesture. They should catch on very quickly and be able to mimic and replicate your signs.

Children that may be suffering from a slight language delay are also great candidates for learning Baby Sign Language. A visual stimulus enables the toddler to develop their language comprehension as the words take on shape and have more meaning to the toddler. Sign language for Toddlers has also been shown to improve speech development when accompanied with the spoken word. Parent’s who use baby sign language are more likely to spend quality time with their toddlers and take a vested interest in their development.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.

What to do if your Toddler is not Talking Yet

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If all of your friends toddlers are babbling away and your toddler is not talking yet you may have reason to become concerned. One of the things parents often use to gauge their child’s development is how early they start talking. Babies start off experimenting with noises from an early age, usually consisting of babbling noises, the typical “goo goo” and “gaa gaa” sounds, these will turn into “ma ma” and “da da”. These babbling sounds eventually progress into Mommy and Daddy. So how do you determine whether your child has delayed speech development and what do you do if your toddler is not talking yet?

On a daily basis your child will find different ways to shape their mouth and change the noise they are making; the first step in their speech development. Parents naturally spend a great deal of time talking to their baby’s but they do this instinctually and mostly to enjoy the social interaction it offers. Many don’t realize that this is also essential for the development of their speech and language skills.  

Babies recognize the sound of their parent’s voices from even before birth; they become familiar with us when they are in the womb. Parent’s voices are comforting for them, especially for newborns before their vision is fully developed. Babies and toddlers mimic their parents; that’s how they learn. The more verbal communication you engage in with your child, the faster they will learn.

By the time your child is the age of twelve to eighteen months your baby should be saying words like Mommy and Daddy. Over the next year of your child’s speech development, they will learn to put together small sentences and communicate their needs to their family members. By the age of 21 months most children can be understood by their family. If your child cannot communicate with family members and be understood by the age of 30 months there would be cause for concern. At any stage, if your child is not meeting the age appropriate developmental timelines you should seek professional opinion. Trust your instincts, more often than not parents know best.

If your toddler isn’t talking yet there are things you can do to encourage speech development. Keyword signing, otherwise known as  Baby Sign Language has been shown by researchers to increase language acquisition by up to 3 months. Children using sign language have the language re-enforced to them by the parent as the gestures are used in conjunction with the word. Parent’s who use sign language with their children are often more aware of their communication with their baby’s and flood them with language on a daily basis.

Gesture based baby sign language also improves word comprehension as the gesture is a natural movement that mimics the meaning of the word. Reading to your child is another important strategy that will go a long way to improving your child’s language skills. When they are exposed to reading at an early age they pick up on the way language ebbs and flows and are more likely to have an interest in books later on.

So if you are concerned that your toddler is not talking yet, assess the developmental timeline as make sure they are reaching the recommended milestones. Not all babies develop at the same rate and the normal range can differ by months. If you are looking for ways to encourage speech development because your toddler is not talking yet, keyword signing and reading are both great places to start.

Teaching a simple keyword based communication tool such as Baby Sign Language can help to accelerate your child’s speech comprehension and development. More importantly it can also provide an invaluable head start if you find out later that they suffer from a speech delay. For more information visit Toddler Interpreter.

Toddler Interpreter teach Baby Signs and they offer the best Free Baby Sign Language Chart  available online and their Baby Sign Language Book is used by parents and childcare centres in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to Teach Baby Sign Language. Sign Language for Babies is easy using Toddler Interpreter’s comprehensive Baby Sign Language Dictionary. Sign Language for Toddlers can help reduce frustration and Baby Sign Language has proved very beneficial for Premature Babies, children with Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome and other babies at risk of developing a speech delay.