Avoid wishing you were a mind reader and let your little one tell you what they need

Minimise your baby's frustration

It’s never too early to start communicating with your child, and apparently it’s never too early for them to start communicating back. With baby sign language classes you could skip those 3am tantrums and get your baby to answer the question: “milk, dummy or nappy change?” themselves.

TinyTalk instructor Carol Sutton-Houghton runs hour long signing sessions for babies and toddlers in Cambridgeshire and Herts. For the first half hour babies and mums sing nursery rhymes and sign along to the words while in the second half, toys are brought out so the children can interact with each other, and the parents can too.

“With signing, from about 6 months onwards a child can learn to understand what their parents are saying and communicate back,” says Carol. “Their vocal chords don’t tend to develop until they reach 18 months so signing bridges the gap until then.”

In terms of benefits she says, “Signing stops frustration, makes children confident communicators as they get older – because they will have always been able to communicate – and means they can be understood.

“I signed with my own daughter and it was incredible that from 7 months onwards we could communicate with each other and she never cried for anything, except when she was in pain.”

Although some parents worry signing could hinder speech development, Carol makes it clear there is no evidence to support this. In fact, she says, “There is a lot of research to prove it actually speeds up speech development.”

Cambridge based Sing and Sign, teacher, Lorna Dunn, gives her classes themes so one week the focus might be emotions, and the next week bath-time. She says catchy music and repetition play an important role in learning gestures, even for very young babies, “We get babies from 12 weeks to 2 years and people ask: will it make a difference when they are so tiny? First of all it’s really good for the parents to get into the habit of signing all the time and the little ones love the music too.

We never sign a word without saying it as well. The emphasis and repetition help the babies really grasp and understand what you are saying to them.”

She explains, “The real point of the classes, other than the babies enjoying themselves, is for the parents to learn the signs and feel happy and confident using them at home where they can put them into context.

“I am really keen to make sure that parents take away the signs they want to use and they follow the lead of their baby and what they are interested in too.”

SureStart offer drop-in sessions with speech and language therapists to help with your baby’s budding communication skills. For more information on TinyTalk classes contact Carol on 07951601107 or at carols@tinytalk.co.uk. And to get in touch with Sing and Sign, contact Lorna on (01954) 204355 or at singandsigncambridge@yahoo.com.

By Ella Walker