Running Head: BABY SIGN LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 1

Baby Sign Language and Its Impact on Early Language Development

Sarah Vinluan

Chaminade University

ED 723 Language Development: Theory to Practice

Jessica Martinez

Spring 2018
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LITERATURE REVIEW

Sign Language with Infants

Most children do not begin to speak until they are between one and two years of age

(Barnes, 2010). This can make communication between a parent and infant very challenging

during the first couple years of life. Young children often throw tantrums as a result of not being

able to express themselves, which increases parent frustration. Proponents of infant sign

language believe that symbolic gestures can alleviate these frustrations, in addition to having

many other benefits.

Around ten months of age, infants are able to grasp objects, hold up and give objects, and

point to objects of interests. These intentional gestures are called “deictic” (Barnes, 2010) or

“symbolic” (Goodwyn & Acredolo, 1993) gestures. At this age, an infant’s oral-motor skills are

underdeveloped in expressing themselves through spoken words, but their hands are able to

accomodate the brain’s communication goals (Seal & DePaolis, 2014).

“Long before children are able to develop control of the articulatory actions required for

meaningful oral communication beyond babbling, they master many gross motor skills used in

manual modes of communication, such as sign language” (Barnes, 2010, p. 23). This is one

reason why many believe that sign language can solve the communication barrier in the first two

years in life. Symbolic gesturing tends to be acquired more easily at earlier ages compared to

vocal language (Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000). This has led to the development of baby

sign language.

Baby sign language is not a complete sign language system (Barnes, 2010). Instead, it

uses simple gestures such as lip smacking to mean “fish”, a swooping arm motion to mean
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“plane”, palms facing up and out to ask “where is it?” and a finger tap to communicate “more”

(Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000). These gestures are easy for both the parent and infant, as

well as being effective for communicating interests, observations, needs and wants.

Advocates of baby sign language report of the many benefits that can come about from

using it. These benefits include reduced frustration for infants as it gives them a way to express

themselves, opportunities for infants to participate in conversations, strengthened bonds between

child and caregiver and even early language development (Barnes, 2010). Although there are

many reported benefits, scholarly evidence and empirical studies have found conflicting

evidence on whether baby sign language makes a significant impact.

Effects of Baby Sign Language on the Early Stages of Language Development

Expressive and Receptive Language

Studies have shown that baby sign language can have a positive influence on both

expressive and receptive language. In a study by Goodwyn, Acredolo, and Brown (2000),

researchers observed that baby sign language allowed infants to express their observations in

daily life with a surprising amount of detail. Without the infant's’ ability to communicate through

gestures, this ability would otherwise go undetected. In a 1998 study by Goodwyn and Acredolo,

their results showed that infants signed their first word a little bit before they verbally spoke their

first word, however, both occurred around 12 months. The difference between the first signed

and verbally said word, which was less than a month apart, was not significant. In regards to

receptive language, the results of this study also suggested that baby sign language fosters the

development of comprehension skills, specifically during the second year of life.

Rate of Vocabulary Acquisition

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Some research studies have suggested that using baby sign language can increase the rate

of vocabulary acquisition. Goodwyn and Acredolo (1998) suggest that the more symbolic

gestures that an infant learns, the larger the infant’s verbal vocabulary will be by the end of their

second year. Studies done by Seal and DePaolis (2014) and by Goodwyn and Acredolo (1998),

both show evidence that infants who learned baby sign language verbally said more words and

specific target words earlier than their peers who did not learn baby sign language. Although this

suggests that baby sign language speeds up the rate of verbal vocabulary development, the

differences between the two groups of infants were not extremely significant.

Infant Directed Speech

One of the most well documented factors that affect language acquisition is the amount of

language directed to the child, also call infant directed speech (Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown,

2000). In a study conducted by Goodwyn, Acredolo, and Brown (2000), their results showed an

increase of infant directed speech among parents and infants who used baby sign language. The

researchers found that symbolic gesturing seemed to “pull” infant-directed speech from

caregivers as they acknowledge an infant’s message or elaborated on it. In addition, they also

noticed that baby sign language led to greater opportunities to use infant directed speech as the

child is able to communicate more with the adult.

Topic Selection

When speaking with typically developing infants, the conversation is often controlled and

led by the adult. The results in a study done by Goodwyn, Acredolo, and Brown (2010) suggest

that baby sign language allows the infant to control the topic of the conversation or activity. The

symbolic gestures made by the infant increases the chance that adults will figure out what the
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child wants to talk about and shift their own attention to that interest. This shared focus makes it

more likely that any information that the parent provides about the object of focus will make a

lasting impression on the child because infants tend to pay better attention to objects that they are

genuinely interested in (Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2010). Ultimately, this teaches infants

how valuable language can be, encouraging them to explore other forms of communication such

as speaking.

To Sign or Not To Sign?

Some argue against using baby sign language as they fear it will overload an infant’s

working memory or hinder spoken language acquisition (Seal & DePaolis, 2014). Others argue

that enabling a child to communicate nonverbally will decrease the child’s willingness to learn

how to articulate words (Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000). A study done by Seal and

DePaolis (2014) show evidence that as infants grow, their symbolic gestures accompany

vocalizations with increased frequency. Their results also show that as young children learn

words, symbolic gesture begin to decrease.

From the information and evidence presented in this review, baby sign language does not

seem to hinder verbal language acquisition. However, the benefits may not be as significant as

reported. In children who signed their first word before saying their first word, the difference

was not significant. This is also true for studies that argued baby sign language increased the rate

of vocabulary acquisition.

In regards to the other benefits, such as increased infant directed speech and infant

engagement in topic selection of conversations, these may be due to the caregivers’ efforts to

create a language-rich environment. The caregivers who participated in many of these studies
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became more invested in their infant’s language development. The intense language interactions,

environment, and support may ultimately be the reason for the many benefits of baby sign

language.

Conclusion

The current literature about the impact baby sign language has on early language

development covers many potential benefits. However, these benefits are not as significant as

they are reported to be. Also, the cause of the benefits may actually be the increased parent

involvement in an infant’s language development. Lastly, many of the studies investigating

signing with infants are not recent. More current information should be studied in American

families who decided to use baby sign language with their infants.
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REFERENCES

Barnes, K. (2010). Sign Language With Babies: What Difference Does It Make? ​Dimensions of

Early Childhood, 38,​ 21-29. Retrieved June 9, 2018, from EBSCOhost database.

Goodwyn, S., & Acredolo, L. (1993). Symbolic Gesture versus Word: Is There a Modality

Advantage for Onset of Symbol Use? ​Child Development, 64,​ 688-701. Retrieved June 9,

2018, from EBSCOhost database.

Goodwyn, S., & Acredolo, L. (1998). Encouraging Symbolic Gestures: A New Perspective on

the Relationship Between Gesture and Speech. ​New Direction for Child Development, 79​,

61-73. Retrieved June 9, 2018, from EBSCOhost database.

Goodwyn, S., Acredolo, L., & Brown, C. (2000). Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early

Language Development. ​Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24,​ 81-103. Retrieved June 9,

2018, from EBSCOhost database.

Seal, B., & DePaolis, R. (2014). Manual Activity and Onset of First Words in Babies Exposed

and Not Exposed to Baby Signing. ​Sign Language Studies, 14​, 444-465. Retrieved June

9, 2018, from EBSCOhost database.