Twelve-month-old Dallin Taylor can tell his parents whether he wants milk, juice or water, but he still can't speak.

Dallin communicates through sign language, even though he hears perfectly. He is one of many babies around the country whose parents are teaching them baby sign language so they can communicate before the child can formulate words vocally.

"They are able to communicate instead of just crying and being frustrated," said Dallin's mother, Tricia Taylor, a resident of Orem.

Tricia said that Dallin, who is teething, came up to her one day and signed to her that he needed medicine for his teeth. She went and got the medicine and put it on.

"It was so funny to see how excited he was that I did what he wanted me to do," Tricia said.

Tricia first heard about baby sign language from her coworker, Nancy Cadjan, who is a baby sign language instructor in Orem.

Cadjan has been teaching hearing parents a series of two, two-hour courses where they learn 100 signs. She first heard about baby sign language about 10 years ago and taught herself and about fifty of her friends. Cadjan, who has been teaching the course for three years, is now a certified instructor and used baby sign language with her own son Alex.

"It allows parents and children to communicate and get over that frustrating time when children...know what they want but they can't let you know what it is." Cadjan said.

Cadjan says children understand both verbal and sign language but the signs give them the opportunity to communicate about a year before they are able to verbalize.

Cadjan recommends parents start signing to their children when they are about 7 months, but it is never too late to start.

One of the reasons Tricia likes baby sign language so much is because it teaches her son that he can communicate with his parents instead of crying to get what he wants.

"Now that he knows he can do a sign to get our attention, he will just make up his own signs to get us to understand what he is trying to say, Tricia said. "I think it makes him think more too, because he has to problem-solve. He has to come up with some way to communicate with us. He knows that if he succeeds that we will understand."

The use of baby sign language is a relatively new trend so there is not much research to show the long-term effects. One of the main concerns about baby sign language is that it will affect a child's verbal speech.

Ross Flom, BYU professor of psychology with a specialization in child psychology, said teaching a child sign language would neither help nor impair their ability to learn verbal speech because, he said, a normal hearing child will learn verbal speech anyway. He does see some benefits in teaching a child sign language.

"One of the things that can help with learning a language is social interaction. ... (Using baby sign language) would just be one more form of social interaction." Flom said. "I think it would be great for that benefit alone."

Tricia says she would recommend parents try a few signs with their kids and see if they like it.
Copyright Brigham Young University 19 Nov 2004