By Christina Gallagher
Imagine your baby being able to tell you she is hungry, full, thirsty, or in pain - all before she is able to speak?
A South African woman is teaching babies just that through the use of baby sign language.
Fifteen month old Hannah Gnesine can barely say Twinkle, from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but she manages to make a similar audible sound when her mom, Nadine Gnesine, sings the song to her.
Hannah responds to her mom by opening and closing her hands, looking to the sky and mimicking the shining light of the star. Her mom claps and Hannah looks pleased.
Hannah's first sign "word" was helicopter, something she would often see. "This would seem to be the only way to get into a baby's mind," Gnesine said. "The biggest breakthrough is that you get an early window into a baby's personality."
The baby sign language rage has caught on in the UK and the US, but it is just starting to become known in South Africa. Parents of infants from six months can take classes where they learn basic baby sign language which helps them communicate before they are able to speak.
Carla Resnick is the founder of Baby Hands SA and has been teaching sign language to her one-year-old daughter, Hanna, since she was six months old.
Resnick, a professional sign language teacher, said she started the programme to help children increase their intellectual development. She said baby signing can reduce the frustration often felt by caregivers trying to decipher what a small child needs.
"I have found it so useful, especially when Hanna wakes up in the middle of the night and signs for milk," said Resnick.
Participants in her workshops learn 60 signs for basic needs, animals, colours, family members, foods, medical needs.
Resnick said she hopes to start weekly classes where parents and their infants participate in activities, such as reading nursing rhymes and singing, while signing the key words.
Helen Smith said she took the class because she wanted her two-and-a-half-year-old son and year-old daughter to be able to communicate with each other. Although she only took the class a month ago, Smith's children are now communicating through sign language.
"With baby sign language, my son tells my daughter to eat more when she doesn't finish her food." Smith said their granny, helper and father have also begun using sign language to communicate with the children.
Donna-Lee Bennett, an educational psychologist, said baby sign language can also be useful for developing the bond between father and child.
"Sometimes fathers feel excluded because mothers have so much bonding time with their children. Using sign language may be a useful way to bring dad on board," she said.
Resnick said the signs are used in conjunction with repetition of the word. By repeating a word like thirsty, for example, and moving your hand down your throat, the child begins to associate the sign with the word.
Some critics say that using sign language with hearing children may delay their ability to speak. Resnick disagrees.
"The ultimate goal is spoken language. Baby signing is a transitional tool towards speech. Babies learn how language works and grasp concepts of language at a much earlier age," she said.
"If you are stimulated in your environment with something like baby sign language, it can maximise what you say, think, and feel, which makes for a well adjusted baby boy or girl," Bennett said.
Resnick said she hopes to train teachers across the country to teach baby sign language.
For more information contact Carla at babyhands.co.za or 084 572 9617.