By Shari Rudavsky
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
MIAMI - Many parents of infants no longer listen eagerly to
hear their babies first words. Now, they watch for them.
Buoyed by a growing literature on "baby signing," many
parents are opting to teach their pre-verbal children a rudimentary sign
language. Through gestures, children less than a year old can indicate they're
thirsty, crave milk or need a diaper change.
Karleen Pipho, now 3, could even sign the word "please,"
rubbing her tiny hand in a circle on her chest, before her small lips could form
the word.
"I always told her, "Ask nicely," recalled her mother, Tina
Pipho, in a phone interview, "and to this day, when she really wants something,
shell resort back to signing."
Baby signs, however, are more than a just-too-cute way for
infants to inveigle themselves further into a parents heart. Without an
alternative to words, children often resort to screams. Signs offer an
alternative, calmer mode of communication.
"Theres no downside," said Linda Acredolo, co-author of "Baby
Signs: How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk." "For most babies
this is just a bridge until the words are flowing."
DON'T GIVE UP
While parents can start signing to their children as early as
they want, theres no way of telling how soon the baby will respond, Acredolo
said. For that reason, experts encourage parents to keep trying, saying and
signing words simultaneously. While you can make up your own signs, most experts
recommend drawing on the basics of American Sign Language.
Long before children develop a sufficiently sophisticated vocal
system to speak, they gain an appreciation for language. They may try to imitate
speech, but the sounds that ensue little resemble language as adults know
it.
"The process of speech production takes time," said Kathleen
Vergara, associate director of educational services at the University of Miamis
Debbie Institute. "They start to imitate the linguistic sounds they hear in
their environment, but developmentally their productions are not perfect and as
their spoken language is developing, their receptive language is much more
highly developed."
About 20 years ago, Acredolo, a psychology professor at the
University of California, Davis, noticed her year-old daughter Katie sniffed
whenever she saw a flower. She asked one of her graduate students, who had
expertise in language development, if this proved her child a genius.
The grad student, Susan Goodwyn, knew that most children engage
in similar activities - most, for instance, wave goodbye long before they mouth
the words. The two secured a $500,000 government grant and followed 69 babies
from the age of 11 months to 3 years.
The parents of 32 infants signed with their babies; the
remaining 37 sets of parents did not. By age 3, children exposed to sign
language performed better on verbal development tests than those who did not
sign. A follow-up found the signing children continued to out-perform their
peers five years later.
IN 15 LANGUAGES
In 1996 Acredolo and Goodwyn published the first edition of
their book, popularizing their practice. Since then, "Baby Signs" has been a
bestseller and now appears in 15 languages, including Spanish and Croatian,
Acredolo said.
The book has morphed into a business. About 80 consultants
nationwide offer workshops for parents or child care providers, said Linda
Easton, marketing manager for Baby Signs, Acredolo and Goodwyns company.
Hollywood, Fla., resident Kristen Bortle, who learned of the
practice after her son Jack was born, plans to launch workshops this fall.
Like many of the parents she hopes to reach, Bortle embarked on
the program to communicate with her son. "I really wanted him to tell me when
he was hungry and when he wanted something to drink," Bortle says.
In the ensuing time, Jack, now 20 months old, has mastered a
range of "words" - "more," "milk," "music" and "mommy." Often, he
strings these signs together to form basic sentences, "more fish" or "more
music." Sometimes, he provides a running commentary on the signs, moving his
hands and lips together.
HANDS OFF
Recently, as he played with another toddler and the game took a
rambunctious turn, he signed "no" and "touch" repeatedly. Understanding what
he was trying to "say," Bortle swooped in and defused the situation.
"It was a way for us to intervene without a lot of
screaming," she says.
For some children, signs serve as a placeholder for words that
they just cant fit their mouths around.
At times Jack will sign and speak simultaneously, his mother
says. Sometimes, he learns a word first and then the sign. Still, there are many
times when signing works better than speaking, Sara said in a phone
interview.
"Just in excitement, it might be easier to get the sign out.
Or when were in a loud situation, or maybe he's got food in his mouth, or its a
situation where its best that he's not speaking," she says.
Despite such staunch anecdotal testimonials, child development
experts say that the scientific evidence is not as overwhelming as the gushings
of a mother.
"I don't think there's any definitive research one way or
other whether it works," says Vergara of UM, who is also grandmother to
3-year-old Karleen Pipho. "I wouldn't say don't do it and I wouldn't sit down
and strongly advocate it. I think its just an individual choice."
At Nova Southeastern University's Family Center Parenting
Place, director Sande Gruskin encourages parents to try baby signs with their
children, just as she endorses infant massage. Both practices help strengthen
the parent-child bond, but neither one will necessarily boost a child's IQ, she
says.
"What's underlying any of these things is giving parents
opportunities to make connections with their children," Gruskin says. "It's
not about making a smarter baby."
© 2003, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
