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First signs may look similar
Your
baby's first signs may look very similar. This is more likely if your baby is
younger. Although the movement of the hand may be similar, the location where
the sign is made will give you a good clue as to the sign that your baby is
trying to make. For
example, the signs for milk, bye-bye and duck all have very similar hand
movements but the location of the hand movement will allow you to determine the
sign that your baby is making. Your baby may sign milk to the side
of her body, bye-bye in front of her body, and duck close to her face.
Also, look for the objects around your baby for a clue
to what she might be signing.
Creating categories with signs:
over and under
generalizations
It is a natural and very important developmental step, in learning language and
more generally symbolic manipulation, for your baby to begin placing objects
into categories and testing the objects that are included or excluded from
those categories. This developmental milestone begins at a very young age for
babies who have been taught to sign since they do not need to wait until they
can speak to begin creating these categories. As your baby begins creating,
testing and recreating categories you may find that she may use one sign for
many different objects or she may use one sign for only one object within a
larger category. For example, your baby may use the sign for "cat" to refer to
all animals with four legs or she may use the sign for "car" to refer to only
one toy car.
Remember to reward her attempts, recognize the amazing learning that is taking
place and then help her to clarify the category:
Yes, that does look like a "dog" but it is really a "cat."
Isn't that a cute "cat"?
Yes, that is a "car" and this is also a "car."
That is a little toy "car" and this is a big "car" that we ride in.
Your baby may also use a sign or create a sign that she then uses for
everything. This is equivalent to a speaking baby who learns the word "that."
Suddenly everything becomes "that" either spoken or by using a sign. This is
because of the way in which you speak to your baby - she often hears you saying
sentences such as "Do you want that?" or "Is that what you want?" Your baby
intelligently concludes that the word "that" is a variable that potentially
stands for everything. You can help her to move through this phase by asking
for more information and offering choices that include signs in the following
way:
"I don't understand what you want?"
"Do you want the dog (make the sign for the word dog) or the train (make the
sign for the word train)?"
"Show me with your hands."
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