how old does a baby have to be before I can start to teach them American Sign Language?

Question

my nephew is only 2 weeks...so when can i start teaching him...when will he be able to understand?

Answer 1

It's never too early... Start now!!

Answer 2

To repeat what the others have said, start using Sign with the baby right now just as we use our voices with a baby from the beginning.

I would do both. This is called SimCom. Signing and talking at the same time, expressing the same concepts and nouns.

Studies in multilingual environments have shown us several thing. In Sign/Oral households, babies start using Sign about six months earlier than spoken language and creativity is enhanced. There is no delay to oral development due to the Sign exposure. If anything, the dual mode communication enhances oral skills.

In multilingual communities, such as are common in Europe, a multiplicity of languages while young causes no problem and the children have less problem adding other languages later in life and are less likely to speak with an accent.

The link I've added below claims some additional benefits to mixing Sign with oral speech, but I doubt if we really know if IQ is enhanced as they claim. After all, often the more expressive person SEEMS brighter than the less communicative person even though neither is smarter than the other. Maybe, but I don't like unfounded claims based on wishful thinking.

Another thing I believe in for the benefit of the child and the whole family is -- turn on the Captioning chip of your TV and leave it on -- forever! There will be a constant exposure to corresponding written and oral speech. This means when the child goes to school and is exposed to reading as a learning task, they will already be familiar and comfortable with the shapes of letters and words.

Put them on your lap, if you can, and read from books using both ASL and oral speech. If done right, it'll make you more expressive too!

So to summarize: start using it with (not "teaching") them right now. There are only pluses, and no real negatives.

Answer 3

"Baby Sign"
Main article: Baby Sign
In recent years, it has been shown that exposure to sign language has a positive impact on the socialization of hearing children. When infants are taught to sign, parents are able to converse with them at a developmental stage when they are not yet capable of producing oral speech, which requires fine control of both breathing and the vocal tract. The ability of a child to actively communicate earlier than would otherwise be possible appears to accelerate language development and to decrease the frustrations of communication.

Many parents use a collection of simplified or ad hoc signs called "baby sign", as infants do not have the dexterity required for true ASL. However, parents can learn to recognize their baby's approximations of adult ASL signs, just as they will later learn to recognize their approximations of oral language, so teaching an infant ASL is also possible. Typically young children will make an ASL sign in the correct location and use the correct hand motion, but may be able only to approximate the handshape, for example, using one finger instead of three in signing water.

Social & Emotional
Newborn babies are thought not to understand what is happening:

Watches Parent face when being talked to, average 6 weeks (range 4 - 8 weeks)
6 – 9 months

Knows Familiar people and starts to withdraw from stranger
Begins to turn around when name is called
Starts to become anxious if primary care giver is out of site
Stretches arms to be picked up
Initiates gestures such as cough, poking out tongue
[edit]
Cognitive / Creative
Creative development could very well be seen as how the child learns in its environment through experimenting in different ways of doing everything. 6-9 months

Looks for fallen objects by 7 months
Plays ‘peek-a-boo’ games
Cannot understand “no” or “Danger”
8-12 months

Watches people, objects, and activities in the immediate environment.
Shows awareness of distant objects (15 to 20 feet away) by pointing at them.
Responds to hearing tests (voice localization); however, loses interest quickly and, therefore, may be difficult to test informally.
Follows simple instructions.
Reaches for toys that are out of reach but visible
Recognizes objects in reverse
Drops thing intentionally and repeats and watches object
Imitates activities like playing drum

Answer 4

Start now. Babies can actually communicate with you earlier because they cannot vocally use words but will be able to sign to you. We did it with my daughter and it worked great. In fact it will stimulate their brains and make them smarter in the long run. My daughter is only 2-1/2 and she speaks better than most 5 year olds.

Answer 5

I began exposing my baby since he was 1 month old to a dvd called "Baby babble". Today he is 15 months and knows around 30 words. Since he learned the basics like eat, drink, please, thank you, it was time to move to other words. Now we use a program called "Baby Signing Time". We have not suffered any baby crying frustation.

People think that it can stop their actually speaking skill and that is not correct, our son began to talk at the age of 9 months and today he says about 10 words clearly.

Try them you will love it and it is a fun play to play with your baby.

Answer 6

Usually at 6 months. I'm planning on teaching my son (he's only 3 1/2 months). It can't hurt to try it at any age, but from what I've heard/read, they usually don't start to "get it" until 6 months old.

Answer 7

First of all, does his mom and dad want him to learn it. The parents have a say in this.

Secondly, at about 6 months they start waving and etc. At that point you can begin teaching if the parents are okay with it.

Answer 8

I think you should start right away, it should be no different then a non-hearing impaired parent. Your child will probably learn to sign more easily than speaking.

I'm sure there is a message board out there for parents like yourself, you should sign up so you can have other folks to talk about raising children in a signing home.

I'll let you know if I find one for you to check out!

found one, here you go:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/deafparenting/

Answer 9

A baby can actually learn to sign before he learns to talk. It is never to early. A baby actually understands what we are saying before he can respond with words. With sign language he can sign what he wants and he will probably be less fussy too. This worked for my babies, I signed with them.

Answer 10

as soon as you can tell he is picking up on thing.s my little boy started at about six months..my bosses inlaws are deaf and he needed to learn//as well as my bosses 16 month old son now..when you teach him a new word like mama or daddy show him the sign as well.. i would say around the time he says his first word..

Answer 11

I began teaching my son ASL when he was born... you simply have to use the language consistantly. My son began signing back to me when he was a couple of months old, simple things, nothing complex.
Raevyn