The Snowball Effect- Baby Sign to Early Reading

We are all familiar with the “snowball effect”- it’s a process that starts out as something small, which then grows and builds upon itself.  I believe this is exactly what has happened with my daughters due to the use of sign language when they were infants.

For example, my oldest daughter used her first sign ‘MILK’ independently at 6 months old and quickly learned more than 30 signs.  Her expanding vocabulary, both sign and verbal, lead to an early interest in books because she learned that books contain “information” (pictures) and there was always something new to learn, sign, and talk about.  By 16 months old she was verbally identifying 15 letters of the alphabet (which she learned during bath time with foam letters) and currently, at 3 years old, she is reading and doing basic math.

Don’t get me wrong, my daughter has an amazing memory and I know this has definitely contributed to her ability to learn so quickly.  But I also firmly believe that baby sign language has given her this advantage, and more than anything has instilled a love of learning in her.  From the beginning, we established a special bond because I was spending quality time playing and talking with her.  She learned early on that I listened to what she ’said’ (signed) and what she had to say was important.  Then one day it was like a light went off in her head and she realized that every object around her had a ‘name’ (sign) and this started the process of learning vocabulary sooner.  I was able to meet her needs, and she looked to me as a source of new information (signs or verbal vocabulary).  Then once she was able to produce sounds more accurately, it was just a matter of her filling in the sounds with the vocabulary she already knew in her head.

Because she realized that books were a source of information (and initially it was just pictures of common things and animals), she grew to love them at a very early age.  Due to sign language, she was able to interact with me and the books even before she could say many words.  Book familiarity (knowing how to hold a book, turn pages from right to left, those things on the page are letters and words) came earlier than average, which lead to recognizing letters, remembering their sounds, and eventually to reading.

As you can see, it started out small with learning sign language as a baby.  But each baby step grew and evolved into something I never imagined possible.  While the “snowball effect” may not happen for every baby learning sign, I do believe sign language can benefit every child and can instill a curiosity and love for learning at an early age.