Can Sign Language Help a Hearing Child Who Has a Speech Delay?

My son has autism and although he doesn't specifically have this problem, I have read that working on all the the senses can help with speech. So I would think this would be a great idea, even for a child without autism. Actually I'm reading something for older people which says that if you use all your senses, do things differently, it can help your brain develop new connections that can help with memory and many other things.

We have a lady at work, who's nephews kid has a speech delay. He is 2 years old and he is learning baby sign language as well and it seems to help him a great deal. He is actualy very proud of the fact that he can do something the other kids can't. Maybe this site will help you a little. http://babystrology.com/baby-learning/baby-sign-language/ This one has some information you might find helpful. https://www.babysigns.com/

Hi AngryKitty, I think it can. Sign language has helped my family some. I mainly got into it for my oldest son's sake, due to him being autistic and non-verbal (at the time). I bought some videos a few years ago through Signing Time after reading reviews about it from others on another site. I was skeptical to say the least, but was willing to give it a shot, so I started with one video. To my amazement, both of my kids took to it quickly. So I bought a few more throughout several months time. I have to say, it is pretty easy to learn. And you can use either hand. However, I'm pretty sure with some words, like 'play', it requires both, though there might be a way around it, like spelling the word out if it is short enough (4 letters and under), instead. My kids have since gotten tired of the videos, so I've given up on it...for now. Oh and it's never too late to start. My oldest son was 8 when he started and my youngest was 5. Which makes me about 30 when I started. So as you can see anyone at any age can learn. I hope this helped. Good luck!

Sign language does help a child with a speech delay, whether Autistic or not. I know several people who have used it with children who are considered otherwise normal and I used it with my Autistic son (who is speech delayed) with excellent results. Sign language isn't difficult to learn, especially if you're only learning baby sign language -- which tends to focus more on single words than on sentences and phrases, as far as I can tell. There are several good dvds out there that you can watch with your child that will teach both of you various signs. I wish I could remember the names of the first two dvds I bought for my son. I know they both showed the signs being done along with verbal and visual reinforcement of what the signs meant. One of them included signs like mommy, daddy, please, thank you, sleep, sorry, etc. People who are left handed, like myself, actually sign with their left hand. It doesn't matter or change the meaning of the sign. So a person having limited use of the right hand would have no trouble signing left handed. I actually studied sign language in high school and was taught that if you're left handed you use your left hand as the primary signing hand and your right hand is the secondary hand (some signs require use of both hands). It's definitely worth trying. If sign language doesn't work, I would recommend trying PECS (picture exchange) for communication. That would at least give the child the ability to communicate his wants and needs to the people around him, and that can always be reinforced verbally. My son went from signing some items to showing me pictures of things he wanted to actually saying "I want...(whatever it was he wanted)." Now we're up to "May I have..." or "May I please have..."

Hi angrykitty, I heard about using sign language to help a non speaking baby to communicate when my son was a tot. The idea was they could tell us when they were hungry, wanted picking up etc. I don't think that leaving it to 23 months is too late as infants are amazingly fast learners. I never used this method myself but believe from what I read that it was very simple, not the same way as learning actual sign language for the deaf. I am sure you would be able to teach it yourself,your baby can understand you so show him how to tell you when he wants food by rubbing his tummy and just work it up from there. If you work up your own sign language between you it should be really simple and you'll both understand it, I wouldn't pay some therapist to show you both as you can make your own up based on common sense. Hope that helps.

In other way, sign language can help but lets not forget that this child is not born deaf.He/She has only speech delay.As a parent,your responsibility is to help your child grow normal.