cute signing baby!...baby sign language

Advantages

Baby sign languageis a way to teach infants how to communicate using hand gestures. Hand gestures are easier for a baby than controlling their vocal chords.

• Being able to sing accelerates your baby's progress to words as well.
• Studies show that signing babies develop larger speaking vocabularies than non-signing counterparts.
• Baby sign language makes baby's life easier too.
• Researchers have found that using sign language with baby does help to improve their language learning IQs.
• One of the best things about this trend being embraced by parents and non-deaf children is that research has clearly demonstrated that using sign language does not mean that a child will not laern to talk.
• As your baby gets better at signing you can add more signs to increase her vocabulary. As she/ he learns to say the word, you will notice the signs falling out of use and your baby transitioning to speaking.

Disadvantages

Limitations in Communication

Another disadvantage in parents teaching their baby to sign is that they are the only ones who can communicate with the infant. When the child is left in the care of grandparents or day care providers who don't know sign language, the baby will become frustrated, because she won't be understood as easily as she is at home.

Lack of Universal Knowledge
While any method of sign language will work well within your family, your child will not be able to communicate effectively when not in your care or in trying to communicate to other children or caregivers. This can put additional strain on your child as she tries to communicate her needs.

Delayed Speech

Psychologist Linda Acredolo, who is co-author of "Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk" and a proponent of baby sign language, said that parents who sign with their children must also use spoken language, to aid the child's verbal ability. Several of her studies have shown that while sign language is often sufficient to aid communication, children do better when parents speak as well as gesture. If that is done, children who learn signs may have a better verbal capability than their nonsigning peers because they understand the purpose of language at an earlier age and use that to aid them verbally when they are physically able to speak.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/267089-disadvantages-of-baby-sign-language/#ixzz1gc3choZI