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We Sign's Five Steps for Successful Signing with Toddlers & Preschoolers

So much has been written and continues to be written about how to sign with babies that sometimes I think people believe that if you have a toddler it is to late to begin signing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Toddlers will learn to sign faster and you will experience the results of your efforts more rapidly. Signing with toddlers will benefit them greatly in developing language skills and enhancing vocabulary.

Toddlers are always on the go and so the goal for signing with them is two fold. The first goal is to provide signs, just as with babies, that help them to express their wants and needs. The second goal is to use signs that are of interest to them and present them to children in an interesting way.

There are five simple steps for signing with toddlers that you can use to keep the signing process for you and your toddler simple, interesting and fun.

Step #1. When you are signing with toddlers and preschoolers, it is important to get their attention. Signing is a visual language and so they need to be looking at you to learn words. You can accomplish this in many ways and especially with Step #3.

Step #2. You do not need to know lots and lots of signs to begin signing with children this age. First, start with some simple signs for communication like stop, sit, yes, no and quiet that will help wit silent commands. Secondly, pick words that are of interest to your children like animals (lions, birds) or objects (ball, book, etc.) or actions (sleep, sing, sign) that will be used everyday. Finally, you can pick signs that help them to learn core information colors, numbers or their abc’s but keep in mind the next step for this group of signs.

Step #3. It is very important that when you decided to incorporate signing into the lives of young children that you are consistent and age appropriate. Consistently use the signs when you say the words, consistently sign throughout every day, consistently sign the correct sign no matter what the children may sign and consistently sign day in and day out. The second part to this is to be age appropriate. For younger children you can sign fewer words and add more as they become successful with the ones you have taught them. With older children, teach them as much as they wish to learn. For educational materials (ABC’s, numbers, colors) just be sure that the child’s gross and fine motor skills are capable of these lessons.

Step #4. Create playful signing times that children will come to expect during the day. These special times must be fun, interesting and enjoyable for the children. Three special signing times that I like are: One, Sign-along Song Time where you teach children signs that will be used in a song and the sing and sign the song together. Two, Read-Along Time, where you read books and sign certain key words (animals, objects or other words you are having them learn) and have them sign them with you. Three, Sign-Along Story Time where you pick certain words, characters in the story or actions they do or animals they encounter and have the children sign these words along with you.

Step #5. Be creative. Signing is a fun activity for children and nothing about how to use it to encourage language growth or early learning is written in stone. There are a variety of ways for you to take this process and be very creative with it. Here are four ideas that I’ve used successfully. One, create new songs. Take songs that you and the children know well and write new verses. Use and ASL dictionary or words you have learned in the We Sign series to sign new songs. Wheels on the Bus, maybe you could sign wheels on the car and sign wheels and car, or wheels on the fire truck etc.. Two, create chants that deal with things that the children love. For example, Tommy may like ducks so you could chant Tommy likes ducks quack, quack, quack, Tommy likes ducks, quack, quack, quack. Then go around the room to other children, use their name, the animal they like and the sound of the animal. Three, create signing games. Have stuffed animals in a bag and when you pick one out ask for someone to sign the animal. (You can expand into a type of board game where you move one space forward with every correct sign.) And four, with older preschoolers, you can play finger spelling games like: Can you guess what I’m spelling – (Sign but don’t say words) C A T…and the kids will say cat!

Signing is a wonderful way to use movement to make songs, stories, rhymes and games fun and interesting for children. It helps children to learn and to develop an enthusiasm for learning. But above and beyond just signing, it is the parental or teacher or caregiver interaction with signing and songs, stories, rhymes and games that is the key component in all of this. So, follow these five simple steps, get involved, learn a little and have lots of fun. We Sign videos and DVD’s provide you with lots of fun activities that range from communication skills (Babies and Toddlers) to playful songs for vocabulary building (Play Time and Fun Time) to fun songs for learning (ABC’s, Numbers, Colors, Rhymes, Animals and more) to traditional family and school favorites (Santa’s Favorite Songs, Christmas Carols and Patriotic Songs). Use these DVD’s and videos to learn activities that you can do with your children.