is communicating with their baby may be less likely to neglect or abuse them. It is possible
that parents who get into the habit of communicating with their babies through sign may
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develop into parents who listen more to their speaking children and adolescents.
Subsequently, these parents may be more responsive to their children s needs, which
would hopefully result in healthier, more well-adjusted, adolescents, and adults.
(Garcia2) The fact that communication is key to anyone s success is evident. Furthermore,
utilizing something as simple as sign language to ease the pain of abused children is a
worthwhile endeavor.
Another reason parents should utilize the program is brain development. Signing
and using words at the same time may be stimulating both hemispheres of the brain. Also,
when a parent is teaching signing, they will speak to their babies more, which will help
them understand the language earlier. Finally, some studies that were done in support of
Dr. Garcia s book, Sign With Your Baby, have shown that the average IQ for signing
babies was 114, while the non-signing baby was 102. The study also conveyed that signing
babies shared a greater interest in books, and by the age of two they possessed a
vocabulary of fifty more real words.(Garcia 2) While raising a child parents should
provide the best environment they can for their infants. By teaching their children sign
language they are increasing their children s abilities to communicate more effectively,
which will aid them as they embark into adulthood.
Parents and their children are confronted with numerous challenges on a day to
day basis, and by teaching signing to babies we are lessening the multitude of challenges
that the lack of communication can create. Parents who teach sign are utilizing a tool,
which has primarily been for the benefit of deaf children, which is forming a bridge
between silence and understanding. Anyone who has engaged in any kind of relationship
can begin to understand how harmonious that relationship was based on the level of
understanding by both participants. Sign language for babies is a beneficial tool that should
be introduced internationally, and might have an overwhelming effect on future
generations.
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Work s Cited
Ford, Jack, and Peltz, Perri. Baby Signing ABC News: 20/20 11 Oct. 1998
.
Garcia, Dr. Joseph. Sign With Your Baby 1 Jan. 2000
.