Comments on: Baby Signing a Practical Way of Communicating

By: Jamie Birdsong-Nieroda

Jamie Birdsong-Nieroda — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:58:49 +0000

It brings me such joy to read your lovely responses to my article! They really brought tears to my eyes. It is such a powerful experience, and I love the feedback from other avid signers! I would love to hear any more stories!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:22:57 +0000

Thank you for sharing this. We have had a similarly wonderful experience with signing and it continues to amaze me every day with our second child and also to facilitate lovely conversations. It was so helpful to read your interpretations also, it’s given me a few new ideas! Hooray for signing!!

By: Friday favorites: top 5 baby and toddler hacks

Friday favorites: top 5 baby and toddler hacks — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:29:07 +0000

[...] sign language. Before I had Zoe, I never would have dreamed this possible but preverbal babies as young as six to nine months really can communicate with ASL sign language. It makes perfect sense when you think about it – babies learn to wave hello/goodbye around that [...]

By: Ali

Ali — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:18:56 +0000

At about 15 months, our signing granddaughter put together a three word signed sentence…”Hungry, food, please.”

By: Steffie

Steffie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:44:47 +0000

I started late with my son (13 months), but being able to communicate with Seth beyond the cavemanesque “grunt n point” stages has been so rewarding. There are fewer tantrums, and we can talk about the things he’s actually interested in! At 19 months, it’s a coin toss now as to whether he picks up a word or a sign when he adds to his growing vocabulary. Sometimes both!

One of the more frustrating things pre-signing was his worse teething days. Now, with the addition of the “hurt” sign and pointing at his mouth, I know his teeth bother him, and can help alleviate his distress. Before, he would fuss until he cried, and grow more frustrated as he was offered drink, breast, food, toys, and the sling, until finally being offered the homeopathics. The first time we strung it all together with only a little groaning and guessing, he laughed in relief. So did I!

Definitely planning on using the method with my second son, due literally any day now. I don’t think I couldn’t!

By: Baby Signing a Practical Way of Communicating

Baby Signing a Practical Way of Communicating — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:45:22 +0000

[...] In that moment, I realized the potential that signing had for a deeper level of communication. Attachment Parenting International leader Jamie Birdsong Nieroda, of New York, tells her story on Th… window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: "", status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true}); [...]

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:54:43 +0000

Wow…what a wonderful article. You beautifully illustrate how using sign language with babies is so much more than being able to sign a few words to meet basic needs! I love how you talk about how it really helps deepen the parent/child bond by allowing you to really SEE into your child’s preferences and personality. I had similar experiences with my daughter showing me through signs what she was observing, including one with a flower!

We were outside taking a walk and she kept signing flower. I was pushing her in the stroller and she kept turning around and looking at me, signing FLOWER. Looking around I didn’t any flowers so I kept responding something to the effect of yes, honey, you like flowers. She finally got very insistent in her signing…she turned around, looked at me, very emphatically signed flower and then even more emphatically pointed to the ground. When I looked at where she was pointing I realized that there were some flowering weeds growing along the sides of the street that I completely overlooked. Weeds to me, but flowers to her and she wanted me to stop so that she could get out of the stroller and explore them. It was so amazing! I couldn’t help but laugh as I got her out of the seat and watched as she delighted in playing with the “flowers!” It filled my heart with gratitude as I realized that if she had not been able to communicate with me through sign, I would have missed this truly memorable moment with her.