Maternity Network

Your child will want to “talk” to you well before their muscles are fully formed at around 18 months. Even though parents and carers are attuned to what the child is saying, there can often be a lack of understanding. Baby signing can reduce frustration and help to build the bond between you. You will be able to respond appropriately when your child wants something, (even if it is to say No!) as well as having the joy of closer communication when they “tell” you about every day things like seeing the ducks or hearing a fire siren.

Baby signing is about making an appropriate action to describe something, and can be started when a baby can identify individual objects. As your child develops the ability to say more words the signing will naturally reduce, but it may still be useful when they are tired or the need is urgent.

Baby signing is especially useful if a parent or carer is deaf, and where different languages are spoken in the family. It can be the bridge to communications, and research has shown that it can help children’ communication skills.

Learning signing at home could suit you better if you want to include older children to help them to feel involved and develop a stronger bond within the family.

Some parents may think that by communicating with their child via signing will stunt or delay their child’s language skills, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. A child who “bum shuffles” or “commando crawls” soon discovers that walking is much faster and speaking is faster than making actions so you may find your child speak clearer and sooner than expected.

The Maternity Network vets their therapists by collecting their qualifications and insurance.The Maternity Network takes not responsibility for the treatments or services provided by the therapists listed in this site. We do our best to ensure they are qualified but cannot guarantee this information as they are self employed, working for themselves, not for the Maternity Network.