Sign Language Requires that One Communicate Without Multitasking

I had a parent share with me that one of the hardest part of signing is that you actually have to use your hands and eyes to communicate and most of the time we're too busy to have our hands and eyes free. We are so used to holding our phones and ipads in our hands, that we often don’t have time or the ability to use our hands to communicate. Our eyes are often so focussed on the screens in our lives that we run the risk of losing the ever critical skill of eye contact. We are so busy doing things and multitasking while with our babies and children, that we often don’t take the time to just focus on communicating with our babies. The beauty of sign language is just that...it requires that you put other things down, and give that quality time that involves your undivided attention to your child.

By exposing our children to sign language, we are exposing them to a more effective way of communicating - one that incorporates body language and facial expressions. Studies have shown that listeners learn from nonverbal cues most often, especially in deciphering feelings and attitudes (Mehrabian, 1972). When our body language conflicts with our words, effective communicators are able to focus on the nonverbal messages.

Sign Language Can Be The Foundation for Good Communication Skills

The foundation of good communication:

Eye contact is a subtle, but very critical aspect of communication. If a person has good eye contact, the chances of him developing communication skills is much improved. When you give your baby good eye contact, you are not only connecting with him in a beautiful way, but you then are a role model for him as well. We want our babies to understand the notion that one can communicate a lot through one’s eyes and through one’s facial expressions.

By encouraging your baby to give good eye contact, you are establishing the foundation for sign language as well as effective auditory communication. It is very difficult to learn sign language without eye contact. This is one of the primary beauties of this particular mode of communication. With an auditory language such as our spoken English, many people now try and communicate while looking at their phones, or their ipads, or televisions. When you do not make eye contact, and keep your eyes looking at the task at hand, you allow your face to remain expressionless. Then when you do look up and try to communicate with the same expressionless face, you lose the ability to connect with the other person. Effective communicators are good at giving eye contact, good at using their bodies, hands and facial expressions, and are good at receiving information from others through the eyes, hands, faces and bodies of others. You develop speech without the use of your eyes, but it is much more difficult to develop sign language without the use of your eyes. Sign language naturally helps babies become effective communicators.

Increased Awareness and Sign Language

When asked what she liked learning from sign language class, one of the moms responded that she now has a greater appreciation for ‘observing’ . She felt that had she not learned sign language, there are a lot of subtle cues that she would would have missed in her baby’s efforts to communicate. Now she is hyper aware of how much information gets expressed from her baby’s eyes - whether they are big and round, or small and closed, whether the eye brows are raised or wrinkled - these are parts of signs that would typically be missed in a baby’s early efforts to communicate meaning. Likewise, a baby who learns to sign will also be more in tune with the subtle cues the parents are including in their nonverbal communication. For example, you will often see a baby who is learning to sign, raise his eyebrows and shoulders, and tilt his head in an effort to express "I don't know". This awareness on the part of both baby and parent contributes to increased bonding and understanding in a special relationship.