Baby signing

Also called Baby sign, Infant signing, Baby sign language, Sing and Sign, Tiny Talk

Signing with hearing babies before they can talk, what it honestly does and does not do, and how it relates to sign language proper.

What it is

Baby signing is teaching a hearing baby a handful of simple gestures, usually borrowed from British Sign Language, so that the baby can sign milk, more, all done and sleep before they can say those words. Classes for parents, often set to songs, have been widespread in the UK since the early 2000s, and several commercial programmes run them.

The idea is sound and old: babies control their hands before they control their mouths, and a baby who can ask for milk with a hand is a baby who does not have to cry for it. Deaf families have always signed with their babies, and hearing babies of Deaf parents produce first signs at around the age hearing babies babble.

Baby signing is not sign language, and the classes are honest about that when pressed. It is a dozen or two signs, used with speech, in English order, by hearing families with hearing children, and it fades as the child talks. It is closest in spirit to Makaton, which is sign-supported English, and furthest from BSL, which is a language.

Who it can help

Hearing babies and their parents, for the months between understanding and speaking, roughly from eight or nine months to two years. The clearest benefit is practical: fewer frustrated tears, and a parent who knows what the baby wants. Parents also report enjoying it, and the classes are a reason to leave the house with a baby, which is worth something on its own.

The claim that it makes children talk earlier or boosts intelligence is where honesty matters. The early American studies said so; later and better-controlled studies, including a UK trial, found no lasting language advantage over families who simply talked to their babies a lot. Baby signing does no harm to speech, and it does not appear to do the magic it is sometimes sold as. It is a nice thing, not a necessary one.

For a baby who is deaf, or who has Down's syndrome or another condition likely to delay speech, signing is not baby signing at all. It is the start of that child's real communication and it should be taken further, with the National Deaf Children's Society or a speech and language therapist, rather than stopped when the class ends.

How it works

The parent makes the sign every time they say the word, in the moment it applies: milk as the bottle appears, more as the second spoonful comes, all done as the tray is cleared. The baby watches for months, then one day makes the sign back. First signs typically arrive a couple of months before first words, and a signing baby often has a small signed vocabulary at a year.

The signs most programmes use are BSL signs, sometimes simplified for small hands, so a baby who signs milk is making a sign a Deaf adult would recognise. Some programmes use made-up gestures, which work just as well for the baby and less well as a bridge to anything.

As speech comes, the child says the word and drops the sign, without being told to, over a few months.

Getting started

Pick five signs this week, milk, more, all done, sleep and a favourite thing, and make them whenever you say the word. Do not test the baby or wait for a sign back; that comes when it comes. Use real BSL signs, which any BSL dictionary site or the National Deaf Children's Society's resources will show you, so that what your child learns is real.

A class is optional. It is a pleasant way to learn the signs and meet other parents, and it is not a course of treatment. If your baby is deaf or has a condition affecting speech, ask your health visitor for a referral to speech and language therapy and to the Teacher of the Deaf where relevant, and treat signing as the start rather than a phase.

Where to get help

The National Deaf Children's Society for any baby with a hearing loss, and its resources show real BSL signs for family use. Speech and Language UK for hearing babies and toddlers whose talking is slow to come. Your health visitor is the NHS route for concerns about early communication, and language milestones sets out what to expect at each age.