The image for this post is a bit artistic and I’m channeling my creativity here… but in a way, you could say that baby sign language and key word signing are siblings. They come from the same gene pool, but they manifest differently, and at times have different purposes.

What do I mean by that?

Key word signing is generally used by families and practitioners (speech therapists, teachers, disability workers, etc.) to aid communication for individuals who cannot speak and isn’t bond by age so much as it is ability.

Baby sign language on the other hand, is a tool that parents choose to use to aid communication between them and their pre-verbal baby or toddler.

They are the same in that they are designed to support communication between individuals who otherwise have great difficulty communicating – be it due to developmental ability, or a degree of disability or impairment. Typically they are both used with spoken word and support the non- or pre-verbal children/person to express themselves in the absence of speech.

Practitioners (mainly speech therapists) will often recommend key word signing for children with disabilities that impair speech production or that often result in a delay of speech and/or language. This is because signing uses different motor skills to speaking, making it more accessible to some individuals. The visual cue that signing offers also makes it very helpful for supporting the development of speech and language. Just because a person with a disability can’t speak, doesn’t mean they don’t have a lot going on inside their brain that they might wish to communicate with the world, and likewise use communication to connect with people they love.

Baby sign language, on the other hand, is often adopted by parents of young babies to aid in their communication before baby can talk. The theory around why and how this works is very similar to the research on key word signing. Babies can understand a great deal more than they can communicate, but do not yet have the motor skills needed to speak.

By giving babies and other children with language delays this wonderful tool, we are enabling them to be active participants in their world, express their wants and needs. This has a wonderful ripple effect for other areas of development, including social and emotional wellbeing, and other areas of learning too!

So, there you have it. Key word signing and baby signing are one in the same. They both offer amazing benefits for the individuals and families that adopt it!

And just a quick one to finish off – neither baby sign language, nor key word signing are Auslan (Australian Sign Language)! You can read more about that on this blog – Auslan vs Baby Sign Language.