Parents, teachers and caregivers, of young children, are always looking for ways to foster learning in a fun playful way and to build strong relationships with interactive activities. With all the choices that are available we would offer these considerations for using sign language, to communicate, play and sing and sign songs.  Research across the U.S. and in many other parts of the world have shown that hearing children receive many benefits as a result learning sign language along side verbal communication.
1. IT’S FUN AND PLAYFUL Parents and teachers alike have discovered that young children, into elementary school, love to learn to sign and are genuinely excited to participate in signing activities. It is a fun playful activity for families to share.
2. EARLY COMMUNICATION  Young children have the ability to use their hands to communicate wants, thoughts and desires often many months before they can say the word. For very young children, as young as 10 months, this offers a way for parents to give their children communication skills and ease the frustrations of the crying guessing game.
3. REDUCES COMMUNICATION FRUSTRATIONS  Parents around the country have been reporting for years that signing gives them and their children a usable communication tool that enables children make clear wants and needs long before they can speak and thereby reducing the crying game frustrations.
4. INCREASED VOCABULARY  Hearing children who learn to sign have been shown to have up to twice the usable vocabulary, signed and spoken, than their non-signing counterparts.Signing offers children an additional way to communicate that is stored and accessed in a different part of the brain from verbal memory. It is a wonderful means of scaffolding or a way to build skills that will raise a child to the next level of learning. For infants it is a way to communicate using words prior to verbal skills being established. For toddlers it is a way to expand their usable vocabulary by getting more information and expanded language skills.
5. GIVES CHILDREN HEAD START ON EDUCATION  Children who sign have been found to have twice the usable vocabulary of non-signing children. Signing also provides children with a way to manipulate letters, sounds and to spell before they are able to write.
6. STIMULATES BRAIN DEVELOPMENT  Signing has been shown to improve IQ scores.
7. HELPS BUILD FINE AND GROSS MOTOR SKILLS  A great way for children to move their hands and bodies and develop hand–eye coordination.
8. SELF-ESTEEM  Learning to sign enhances children’s self esteem and helps to encourage a real enthusiasm for learning.
9. LEARN VOCABULARY TO A SECOND LANGUAGE  We Sign uses American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary. ASL is the 4th most common in the U.S.
10. IMPROVES MEMORY AND RECALL  Signed words are stored in a separate part of the brain, learning sign along with spoken words, enhances memory and recall of language.

To help detect any communication disorders your child might have, learn more by clicking here.

For sign language resources close to you, Google American Sign Language.