It's not as hard as it may sound to you at first, I don't know the american sign language, and it was still very easy to teach my son. Even monkeys learn sign language, so why shouldn't a baby who is learning so much during the first year of his life learn how to use those hands and mouth to get a message across?!

WHEN TO START

Babies at around 8 months of age develop a sense of communication, starting to understand spoken words. They look at the gestures people make, like waving 'bye-bye'. The goal of signing with your baby is to make your everyday life easier for you and your child and to make it possible for your baby to let you know what's on his/her mind.

THE RESULTS   

The first time your baby will 'sign back' to you will make you cry, I PROMISE. It's as amazing as seeing them taking their first steps. Soon you will see your baby watch you every time you use a new word, patiently waiting for you to 'give' him/her a new sign.

THE SECRET

Watch your baby's gestures, babies will start 'making faces', like smacking their lips, sniffing with their noses etc., then look for a sign that resembles this gesture, imitate the sign, give them the word, show them the picture or object of it. Stay at your baby's pace, don't 'overload' them with signs, give them about three to start off with.

EXAMPLES     

My son started doing the lipsmacking, so when I took his bath, I showed him the fish stickers on the bathroom tiles, smacked my lips and said 'fish', I repeated it a few times and everytime he was in the bathroom with me, I would show it to him again. Within a couple of weeks, he knew his first sign. Then when we saw a fishtank, I showed him the fish and also in books, so he understood, that not only the stickers in the bathroom are fish, but that fish can look different.

He also started the sniffing very early, so I showed him sunflowers and gave him the word 'flower'. He looked puzzled, when I showed him roses later and told him, that those were flowers also. But he picked it up quickly and now points every flower out to me, that he sees anywhere (and he won't give up sniffing until I let him know, that I saw it :o)

By watching your baby closely, you will soon find out, what he/she is most interested in, like swinging at the playground, soon they will 'ask you' to go outside to the swing, instead of hanging on your leg, making that typical 'uh uh' sound, which can mean just about anything from 'thirsty' to 'tired' to 'pick me up'... you get the idea! When your baby is interested in looking at books, try to find some that have simple pictures of flowers, fish, ball, cars, animals in them, and use the story time for learning new signs. Teach other family members, so they can participate and communicate with the baby. It gives older siblings an opportunity to play with the baby and help out. So are you ready to start??