Will teaching ASL to a toddler “stunt” their language skills?
Question by Jynnipher: Will teaching ASL to a toddler “stunt” their language skills?
I have a 17 month old son and I’ve been teaching him ASL, he talks with his hands all the time but only says “da” when he points at things. He can say mama, dada, and hi – but anything beyond that is a no way.
Granted – I know his language skills are still developing, but my friend (who has a 15 months old son) is saying “no mama” and “bye” and my son has yet to put two words together, much less say “bye” (if I ask him to say bye, he waves).
I know kids develop at different stages, but I’m wondering if teaching him ASL causing him to talk to me via sign language verses trying to talk. He does babble, so I take that as a good sign. He learns new signs pretty fast (in a day or two), but he just won’t try to say the words; he prefers signing over trying to speak.
I’m not overtly concerned, yet. His next doctors appointment isn’t until March 26th, and I’ll talk to the doctor – but I’m wonder what you think.
Thanks!
Best answer:
Answer by Peruvian90
I’d definitely try to enforce a verbal language before focusing on sign language. I suggest to stop teaching him sign language at least until he gets a handle on English.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Tags: Language, skills, stunt, Teaching, Their, toddler
May 15th, 2011 at 1:28 am
Well I have heard many people say that this is a way to help children learn to express themselves before they are actually able to do it with words.
That being said, my cousin is a speech pathologist and she is very smart. She is also a very good mother! She has a son who is probably 4 or 5 now but when he was a baby she taught him ASL and it was amazing. He would sign for the things he wanted, and I really believe it made such a difference with him as a baby. Now that he is older, he is very smart for his age, and his reading skills are excellent.
Of course a lot of this has to do with different factors such as the child, the parenting, the school, etc.
But the results I saw from this were only positive.
I would definitely do it. I’m a firm believer in teaching kids anything you can when they’re you can when they’re young- their brains are like sponges.
May 15th, 2011 at 1:38 am
I’ve had alot of foster babies and kids. 250 and boys are generally slower in verbal language development. I had one boy that was quite normal and didn’t speak till he was 3. As long as there is no issue with his hearing I wouldn’t worry. He’s obviously bright to learn the ASL. Communication is an odd thing. If he can get his point across he is communicating. It’s not important at this juncture to worry about how he is doing it. Continue to work with him verbally. Get picture books and point out items and say their name. Richard Scarry’s big book of words is fantastic. http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Scarrys-Biggest-Word-Book/dp/0394873742#noop
(Show me the kitty where is the truck?) You will be amazed how much he knows.
As a side note. As a child develops things happen in a blink of an eye. One day they are crawling and the next day they are running.
May 15th, 2011 at 1:53 am
i think teaching both is a great idea and your friends child is developing quite fast your child is where they should be and I bet your doctor says the same. I think that you should just keep working on basic English also and stop worrying how fast other peoples kids develop. Your child is right on track repetition is key right now for your young child.
May 15th, 2011 at 2:16 am
teaching hearing children sign language is not supposed to slow down their speech. its supposed to do the exact opposite. that’s what all the sites and books say and that is what happened when i taught my son sign language. your son is still quite young to be talking so i would not worry about that yet. it’s really good that he is learning lots of signs and so quickly too!!
first, i would make sure to say the word you are signing every time you do it. when your son signs, say the words every time so he hears them. he should start copying soon.
i also think you’ll find that once he starts speaking all the words will start coming very quickly. just keep encouraging him to speak the words. also if he knows that many words by signing, he’ll be quicker to learn to speak them so keep expanding his signing vocabulary.
May 15th, 2011 at 2:32 am
As long as you are saying the word while teaching the sign it should help him with his language skills. He may also really surprise you all of a sudden. Like…
Okay, I went to visit in-laws in another state. My daughter was 16 months old and not saying anything very consistently, not even mommy or daddy. She WAS signing well, but not speaking hardly at all. Her cousin, 6 months older, was speaking clearly, very very well and had been at 16 months. Thankfully no one had the bad manners to point out that my daughter was speaking much slower apparently.
Then we went to visit her great-aunt and I said to her “What are you doing? Come in here please” and she said “I gotta go check out this thing” and then left. Her great-aunt and I stared at one another. First word? Forget that, she skipped to first SENTENCE. And strung 7 words together, complete sentence, used “I” and thing… I mean, it was like she went from being a slow speaker to this sentence showing she was very much grasping language, and was mostly being shy about speaking. After that I used to lay in bed and listen to her when she was first laid down for bed or nap practicing words. She just really hates to say it wrong. Even now she knows her name, and will say it quietly to me, but it has a z in it and an h and so she has a bit of a problem pronouncing it… so she won’t say it to others.
I wouldn’t worry about it unless she’s 2 and still not speaking. And her saying “mama” and “dada” and “hi” is STILL above what my daughter was doing at 16 months. Then all of a sudden she showed us that she understood the language, she was just taking her time working on the verbal.