My Signing Bright Babies

 

Hi! We are the Hoff Family...Matthew, Nicole,Jaryn, and Kamden. We live in Sunny South Texas and spend our days raising our children in a Godly home. Matt and I were highschool sweethearts and are best friends. We married on New Years Eve 2001 and had our first son on Matt's birthday February 10th 2003.  Kamden was born Nov. 2005. The Lord has really blessed our little family!

  

 

We read Baby Signs by Susan Goodwyn and Linda Acredolo when I was 7 months pregnant and on bed-rest.  The concept made sense and we were anxious to communicate with our baby and have him "talk" back. When Jaryn was born, we began signing right away.  We started with the "diaper" sign because he hated diaper changes.  He would cry until he was purple and gasping for air! We wanted to show him the sign to make him feel comfortable and recognize the necessary routine.  

He soon recognized the sign and the sound of the word and was calm during diaper time.  It was such a relief! It wasn't very long after that when he signed back to us! He let us know when he was about 3 months old that he wanted his diaper changed! For weeks we were in shock and denial and we kept saying it was "just a coincidence". We didn't tell a soul unless he could demonstrate right before their eyes!

 We did a sign that was natural for him-bringing his fists together.  Baby Signs is about doing signs that your baby can relate to and do.   When Jaryn first started signing we really had to pay attention, and his sign wasn't exactly what we taught him. Instead, he would bring his hands together and hold them.

I was amazed that this little baby who couldn't even hold his head up was signing to me.  I contacted the authors, discovered that he was on the the youngest signers ever, and was encouraged to become a consultant.  I joined the Baby Signs team in August 2003.  As an instuctor, I have seen many babies about the age Jaryn was learning to sign.  I give credit to the parents who started signing at birth.  

 

            

I look forward to sharing the joys of signing with you and your baby!

 

At 3 months old Jaryn began to use a baby sign we had been teaching him since birth. It is a sign for when he has a dirty "diaper". We made up our own version because it was natural for him to bring his hands together.  Here he is at 4 months using the sign-bringing fists together. It really is amazing-you have to see it to believe it.

Jaryn soon learned the sign for "Milk" which is opening a closing your hand like milking a cow.  He was only 20 weeks old!

 

 

 

Kamden took after his big brother and learned the sign for "Milk" very early on at 3 months old!

 

Whats’s all this talk about babies talking?

                          What doctors say...

  "Baby Signs is one of the best things you can do for your baby. That's why I recommend Baby Signs to new parents and why I enthusiastically recommend it to you."  

  —Robin Hansen, Pediatrician Read More

 

What the media says...

 

 "It really helps a lot. What I found incredible is that they are not only naming things, like cat, but are also coming up with abstract gestures like ‘later’ and ‘sad.’  

 --Hattie Kaufman, CBS This Morning

 

"Babies are a lot smarter about language than we thought and long before they can talk they can speak in symbols and gestures. "  

  --Dateline, NBC

 

"Teach your baby sign language? Why not? It's fun. It's useful. And it could boost your child's IQ."

 --Sesame Street Read More

 

"The authors' research has shown that 11-month-olds who learned gestures [Baby Signs] outscored their peers in language abilities a few months later, a bonus that remained in place at age 3. Now the team has completed data showing that those same children outperformed their peers on a standard IQ test given at age 8. Indeed, the 32 children who had learned sign language as babies did an average of 12 points better on the IQ test. They scored an average of 114, while the 37 children who had never learned signs averaged 102. The researchers controlled for family income, education and other factors that influence IQ scores. The average child in the USA gets a 100 on the test."

 --USA Today

                                What parents say ...

 

"I have a baby signer! I always pat his diaper when I change it, so that he will learn the sign, and today I put him down after he got up from his nap without changing his diaper, so i could grab his outfit real quick, and he reminded me that I need to change the diaper first... He patted his diaper! I grabbed him up smiling and cheering, and put him down again, he patted it again, so I changed it right there! My smart little Tater! He did it twice today when he had a wet diaper, we'll see how he does tomorrow, I will try to wait for him to tell me before I change it. This is so cool! My baby can talk to me!"

 --Candice, Baby Signer in FL and mom to 8 month old Dade

 

Noah signed for milk!!  I put him in his highchair to eat, and he got this funky look on his face and started arching his back.  He was not happy.  So I proceeded to get the baby food ready, and let him fuss in the highchair.  When I came back with the little dish of food, he kinda turned his head and got this look on his face...it was a really sweet look.  And his hand was doing the sign for milk!  I thought it was just a coincedence that his hand was moving that way, so I asked him, "Do you want milk?  He starting doing it again.  So, I nursed him instead of the baby food.  :o)  It was sooooo cute!!!!  Nicole thank you for teaching me the "MILK" sign to teach to my babies!!!"

 --Kelly, Baby Signer and Mom to Twins in CA (Signed at 8 months)

I had to THANK you so much for introducing us to Baby Signs  I can not believe how fast that my kids picked up on it! Today, we were at Denny's (yuck I know) and we were sitting there and Austin my two year old who is delayed in speech sign's more milk please I was shocked he has always done them right after us but, never by himself!!  Dillon does more and up! I am looking for the baby sign book with bedtime and animals now~ I believe in this so much now if you want and think it woudl help out I will use your Baby Signs link in my siggy's!!

--Michelle, Mom to Dillon and Austin both Baby Signers!

 

Around the age of 7 months, I began using the signs for "milk" when we would nurse and "more" when eating solid foods.  Allison picked up on the milk sign within a month or two of me using it.  Now if she's whining and I think that's what she wants, I ask her "Milk?" while signing and she does it back at me.  There is no doubt in mind that she wants to nurse!  Sometimes if she is upset, she will sign for milk, since nursing calms her.  At her one year doctor appointment she was crying for the dr.  He looked at me and said "what does this mean" and he was doing the sign for "milk".  I knew exactly what it meant, she wanted momma to calm her with nursing!  I also love the "more" sign ~ it's a great alternative to whining and pointing to her food!

--Shari, Mom to Allison

 

I've also been trying out the signs with him. He has started imitating the sign for Stars...I know it's something odd to start with but since he likes Dora & they have Estrellas on there he understands what  I am talking about I also started with Cheerios.Thank you Gal you are the best.

--Rosey and Isaiah (11 months)

Kamden shocked me today and signed 'more' and the funny thing is his sister was teaching it to him without me knowing.  Yipee my baby is communicating with me and not just chanting hi dada all the time.  

--Judi & Kamden (10 months)

I'm so excited because I told you if I sign book she will go get a book. Well, the last couple of days when I do the sign for eat she stops what she is doing and runs over to her highchair and puts her arms up to get in.  She does do the sign for frog when I show her a picture of one.We have been teaching Alexis our own sign for I love you (Pattingyour heart with your hand) When her daddy came in this morning shelooked at him and did it. It just melted his heart:)

--Debbie, Mom to Alexis

 

I am staying at my parents house ...they have a fire place in their bedroom with fake logs and they turn it on every morning.  I have never had to stop Gus from crawling or walking into it because we have been teaching him the sign for hot since about 6 months.  When he touched something warm we would say "hot" and blow (doing the "hot" sign) and we would do it when his food is too hot too.  I always say "Be careful, its Hot - and then I do the hot sign.  Well, about a month ago he started doing his own version of the hot sigh and it is with his mouth open and its like he is making the "H" sound when his food is too hot.  Yesterday he walked towards the fire place, and I said nothing and he looked at me and said "H H H H HOT".  Baby signs is amazing!  I swear he is developing language faster than any of the babies in my babygroup.

--Lisa and Gus (12 months)

 

Dylan is now 13 months and signing away. She does about 10 signs now!! It is growing too. She is also talking so much more then her peers at school. Even the ones that are much older. She says well over 10 recognizable words and she can repeat almost everything we say on top of that, 13 months! Signing certainly did NOT delay her speech and has helped us to understand her in so many ways. For instance when she had the flu I wasn't sure when to give her food again afraid she would throw up again. I kept giving her pedialite and one morning she woke up and did the sign for eat. I was still too afraid so I said. Oh you must be thirsty. I tried to give her a sippy cup, she pushed it away and did the sign for eat again over and over. I gave her some dry waffles and she kept them down! I was so happy that she could express she was hungry and ready for that solid food after being sick for so long instead of crying and I would have NEVER figured it out.

To show you how smart children are, my daughter is very comfortable with doing the sign for more and at daycare she does it at meal time often. The other children started picking this up. Two other children a few months older started to sign more as well seeing how Dylan gets a response faster when she signs more instead of crying or whining. Dylan was out this Tuesday and those two children were doing the sign during mealtime, storytime. My daughter taught her friends how to communicate. How great is that?

--Donna Ackerman, Mom to Dylan 13 months