Learning simple sign language allows babies have their say

IRISH parents and carers can now learn how to teach hearing infants sign language so they can tell when they are hungry, thirsty, have a pain or need their nappy changed.

Later this month Diane Ryan, an American speech and language therapist, will begin a series of baby-signing classes in Ireland.

And she says there's no fear that baby-signing retards speech development.

Studies going back 10 years show that babies who are taught a few simple signs not only speak earlier but have larger vocabularies. They also become better readers and have higher IQs.

Mrs Ryan says that studies also show that babies who sign are less frustrated since they have a way of expressing their needs.

Baby signing first started in the US in the early 1990s where interest in the technique quickly caught on and spread.

Mrs Ryan who moved from Orlando, Florida to Kinsale, Co Cork, last September, says teaching a hearing baby to sign is a simple and natural process.

"Signing is an extension of natural baby gestures - they point to things or they hold up their hands to be picked up. Parents only need to learn a few simple signs for babies to benefit."

Ms Ryan, who is married with two grown-up children, began baby-signing classes for parents in the US about two years ago.

She says: "I taught my grandchildren to sign when they were babies and they are all doing fine. Once they learn to talk they just stop signing."

She has revised her American programme to include Irish sign language. "I have also developed a quick-start programme so parents only need to teach their babies five or six signs to benefit."

Her classes, to be held in Dublin and other major cities in Ireland, are in response to numerous inquiries from Irish parents who discovered baby-signing through her website and wanted to learn more.

Anne O'Connor, a child clinical psychologist and founder of Irish parenting website Rollercoaster.ie, says parents should not feel they are missing out because their babies don't know how to sign their needs.

"Most parents, particularly mothers, very quickly pick up on what their babies' cries or gestures signify. Experience is the big teacher for parents," she says.

Mrs Ryan will host two free information seminars in the Stillogan Plaza in Dublin on January 22-23 with a workshop for those wanting to learn baby-signing.

Parents can learn all they need to know in one hour-and-a-half session.

The cost is 25 for a single parent or individual or 35 for both parents.

More information on baby sign language is available at www.kindersigns.com.