Jun 13 2008
Autism : Consider Teaching Baby Sign Language
My niece was a very early walker. Barely 9 Months old and she was off!
Language did not come so easily. Her first word was Da Da, to his delight; however, for her it was a word that meant everything. If she wanted you she called you dada, if she wanted that toy, it became dada. As you may imagine it can be quite difficult to figure out of all the objects in the world, which one of them currently titled, “dada.”
Finally, the word, no was added to her vocabulary. And shortly after came the tantrums.
At 25 months old, it was impatience with us and frustration with her that led to teaching her baby sign language.
The first signal she learned was to share, it may not have been the correct sign for share, but with children, you have to go with what they designate as what sign means what.
It took a while to teach her a few simple signs; however, the most important were more and please. Please became her way of asking for things, and she was certain to ask for more of her favorite things. Pointing at the appropriate object she was referring to was a real break through for her as well,
The tantrums became less when she figured out that her hand signals could allow her to communicate what she wanted or needed.
By three, we were actually getting words to go with the signs and she was starting to use the words with the signs.
