A New Language for Baby

Infants don't have to cry to get what they want. They can use sign language instead, Scott McKeen discovers.

The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, February 26, 1999

Languishing in front of the tube, wathing a gripping episode of Teletubbies, a baby of 10 months waves down mom and signals for a bottle of the good stuff.

No crying, no fuss. He just moves his hands in a pantomime of milking a cow -- the international sign for milk. Mom smiles, signs back her agreement and fetches Junior's bottle.

No, this is not science fiction, but a portrayal of what's now possible at a U.S. university research facility where babies as young as nine months are taught sign language, long before they can speak.

In a pilot program at Ohio State University, infants and their teachers learned to use a number of specific signs from American Sign Language to communicate with each other.

Researcher Kimberlee Whaley says parents, when they think about it, won't be surprised to hear that children can communicate physically, before they can verbally.

"Think of an infant raising their hands up in the air," says Ms. Whaley. "What do they want? They want to be picked up, and we all recognize that."

What we didn't recognize is that kids also have the cognitive ability, and the motor skills, to sign for simple words, such as eat, more, stop and share.

It's almost spooky to think that babies who aren't even walking yet are capable of basic understanding and communication.

That's not the half of it, says Ms. Whaley. She says it's not unusual for babies to teach the signs to adults who have forgotten them.

It happened to Ms. Whaley when one baby girl indignantly reminded the researcher of the sign for juice.

"I felt about two inches tall," said Ms. Whaley, an associate professor of human development and family science.

The sign language, she says, has allowed for much more effective communication between teachers and infants.

"It is so much easier for our teachers to work with 12-month-olds who can sign that they want their bottle, rather than just cry and have us try to figure out what they want. This is a great way for infants to express their needs before they can verbalize them."

It's interesting, too, tht some babies will grunt to be noticed, then use sign language to get more specific about what they want to say, she says.

Some of the parents are enthusiastic supporters of the research.

Ms. Whaley tells the story of one dad who was able to ask his daughter if she wanted a cookie, and then receive a positive reply, across a noisy roomful of birthday revellers.

Researchers are also hoping these basic communication skills will allow babies to deal with negative emotions in a more positive way. It's not unusual for babies to push one another when frustrated. Ms. Whaley is hoping tht teaching them signs for stop or share will end some of the less-desirable behaviour.

One fear about the program was that it would stunt the babies' verbal skills. If anything, the opposite seems to have happened, says Ms. Whaley.

"We introduce the signs to them naturally, as part of our everyday life in the classroom. We always speak the words as we sign, so the children learn both. At lunch time, for example, we'll ask them if they're ready by asking them if they want to eat and using the sign for eat."

The researchers are embarking on a larger, two-year study and hope to answer questions raised by the early study: How early can babies learn sign langauge? And is there a gender difference? Girls appear to learn, or use sign language more easily.

Ms. Whaley thinks children of six or seven months, who are able to sit up on their own, will learn basic signs.

But what about at night? What happens to a hungry or wet baby when mom and dad are alseep?

"They revert back to crying," Ms. Whaley says.

THE RESEARCH

What: Babies who are too young to speak are being taught sign language.

Where: The research is being done at Ohio State University's A. Sophie Rogers Infant-Toddler Laboratory School, which accepts babies as young as six weeks old.

When: Sign language is being introduced to babies who are as young as nine months. Some have learned as many as 30 signs, including: all done, juice, now, five minutes and sleep.

Who: These babies are healthy and normal and this is the first time sign langauge has been formally taught to infants outside a special-needs setting.

Why: Researchers believe parents and kids will benefit from clearer communication. Imagine a baby being able to communicate why he or she is crying.

The Edmonton Journal

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