About Baby Signing

Seal, Brenda C.

doi:10.1044/leader.ftr5.15132010.np

Cited by 2 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…A second concern specifically regarding the more sign has been raised by Seal (2010). Seal cautioned there is the possibility that the sign might be over-generalized to represent the name of all objects/actions or as a generic requesting word.…”

Section: Promises Pitfalls and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, more is motorically easy to sign (Fristoe & Lloyd, 1980; Seal, 2010). Signing facilitates understanding of the concept the word represents, provides a means of nonverbal communication, and supports the development of spoken words (Dunst, Meter, & Hamby, 2011; Lederer & Battaglia, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Closer inspection of the research and practices involving more , however, reveal some concerns (Seal, 2010). In terms of semantics, the vocabulary development research from the 1970s reported on small numbers of participants (Bloom & Lahey, 1978; Nelson, 1973).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Although some children do learn more early in the single word period, many do not. Another concern is the potential use of more as a general all-purpose (GAP) word for the objects the child is requesting (similar to calling every object thing ; Olswang, Rodriguez, & Timler, 1998; Seal, 2010). From a pragmatic perspective, this lack of specificity is likely to cause communication breakdown and frustration (Zillich & Ahlers, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…When signs are iconic, they help children learn the meaning of words more easily. For example, the sign for give me is made by extending one arm away from the body and then with thumb and closed forefingers touching, moving the arm back toward the body (see Figure 1; Seal, 2010). Professionals working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), such as the developers of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS; Bondy & Frost, 2001), do not teach more before teaching concrete, easy to represent words with pictures.…”

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confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Teaching Children With Language Delays to Say or Sign More: Promises and Potential Pitfalls

Lederer

2015

Young Exceptional Children

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Section: Promises Pitfalls and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teaching Children With Language Delays to Say or Sign More: Promises and Potential Pitfalls

Lederer

2015

Young Exceptional Children

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Manual Activity and Onset of First Words in Babies Exposed and Not Exposed to Baby Signing

Seal¹,

DePaolis²

2014

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Support for baby signing (BS) with hearing infants tends to converge toward three camps or positions. Those who advocate BS to advance infant language, literacy, behavioral, and cognitive development rely heavily on anecdotal evidence and social media to support their claims. Those who advocate BS as an introduction to another language, such as American Sign Language (ASL), advocate early bilingual language learning. A third group warns against BS, emphasizing that it competes for attention with, and thereby potentially delays, spoken language acquisition in hearing infants. Empirical evidence to support any of these camps has been scarce. In this retrospective investigation we analyzed videotapes of sixteen infants from 9 through 18 months of age; eight had been exposed to BS, and eight had not been exposed to signing (NS). We compared their manual activity and found no differences in the quantity of manual activity accompanying vocal activity and no qualitative differences in the handshapes used during manual and vocal activity. More babies in the BS group reached the 4-, 10-, and 25-word milestones than babies in the NS group, but the differences were not statistically significant. In addition, monthly lexical growth from 12 to 18 months did not reveal signing to have a statistical impact on vocabulary acquisition. Discussion of these findings points to a tight relationship between manual and vocal activity in all sixteen babies, a relationship that aligns with previous theories and research on gestural and vocal development. Failure to find a statistical difference between the two groups’ development of words, however, calls for temperance in claiming that baby signing facilitates early word learning and cautions against claims that baby signing interferes with word learning.

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About Baby Signing

Cited by 2 publications

References 19 publications

Teaching Children With Language Delays to Say or Sign More: Promises and Potential Pitfalls

Teaching Children With Language Delays to Say or Sign More: Promises and Potential Pitfalls

Manual Activity and Onset of First Words in Babies Exposed and Not Exposed to Baby Signing

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