What Is Baby Sign Language?
Baby sign language is a wonderful tool that parents, carers and educators can use to support communication, connection and language development with their child. Here in Australia, we borrow these signs from Auslan (Australian Sign Language).
Babies understand much more than they can say, so when we learn Auslan for babies, we are giving them a tool to share their thoughts, needs, feelings and interests.
What Are the Benefits?
Baby sign language is a powerful tool and provides huge benefits for the whole family, including:
- Promotes effective communication
- Increases connection
- Reduces frustration and tantrums
- Improves behaviour
- Better language
- Strengthens literacy learning
Baby sign language is also known as key word sign. The mechanism behind both is the same – a visual mode of communication when a child cannot speak. The main difference between the two is that the term “baby sign language” is used by parents with young babies, whereas “key word sign” is used by professionals (such as speech therapists or occupational therapists) and parents of older children who have significant speech and language delays.
How does baby sign language or KWS work?
Key word signing (or baby sign language) makes communication easier for children who can’t speak. A lot of the time, kids understand a lot more than they can say with words, so giving them a tool – like Auslan signs – empowers them to actively participate in communication.
Each time a child uses a sign to communicate, they are connecting with their care-giver. This connection creates what is known as a “positive feedback loop”. The child feels heard and understood by their caregiver and therefore wants to communicate more. Each time they communicate they get a little bit better, and therefore communicate more, and more.
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