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Baby Talk

What is "Baby Talk"? Baby Talk is a concept and practice of communication with babies at the earliest possible using various methods of communciation. I prefer the term Baby Talk to Baby Sign which is as prevalently misperceived, as both signed and spoken versions are used in Baby Talk classes.

The innermost idea behind "Baby Talk" is that babies can communicate earlier in sign language before they can talk in speech language. It is nothing new in the visual-manual-speaking world, that Ameslan parents talk to their babies in ASL/Ameslan. It is as natural as in the vocal-auditory world, where everyone talks English or another spoken language to their babies. The underlying idea about "baby signing" is simply that babies are capable of coordinating their manual system (hands, fingers, arms, etc.) earlier before they can coordinate their vocal system (lips, tongue, diaphragm, glottis, etc).

Baby talk is one of the current trends in child development (and business, to be blunt). Baby talk began drawing its public attention in the mid-1990s. As a result, there are some prevalent misconceptions about sign language that must be clarified. See the other article "Misconceptions: Myths and Clarifications on Baby Sign".

Benefits

Research finds that infants and toddlers can communicate their needs in sign language relatively longer before they can express their needs in speech language. Parents as well as teachers find benefits in signed communication with children at the earliest possible.

  • helps reduce guesswork.
  • reduces frustration; less crying; minimalizes the "terrible two".
  • builds closer bond with their parents and siblings.
  • allows a baby express more than their basic needs.
  • Research shows that being multilingual expands cognitive processes and intellectual skills.
  • It boosts lingual and intellectual developments. Research shows that children and infants, who sign, show stronger lingual development than others who do not sign.
  • jumpstarts literate skill.

Again, it is nothing new among ASL parents who have been talking with their children in ASL, like any other humans who speak different languages. It's not about sign language; it's about allowing infants (deaf or hearing) communicate at the earliest possible, for language development works the same for all languages, signed or spoken.