What Are the Benefits of Teaching Sign Language to Babies with Normal Hearing?

Abstract

Sign language instruction is often seen as an exclusive benefit for individuals with hearing loss. However, an examination of child development reveals there is a language gap of about three months between the age of acquisition of verbal language and sign language, with sign language presenting in earlier stages of development. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which (a) teaching sign language to babies with normal hearing produces a beneficial result, if any, on the child's communication and (b) teaching sign language to babies with normal hearing impacts parent-child bonding, if any. The second purpose of the study is to compare claims from various parenting websites about the alleged benefit of teaching sign language to babies with normal hearing to results from my data. Results indicate that sign language transforms meal time experiences with infants and their caregivers by providing meaningful gestures to infants before they can communicate verbally. Additionally, biases related to sign language shifted to reflect more positive opinions over the two months of the study when sign language was exposed to the infant and their caregivers.