A hands-on approach to communication

IT is slightly ironic but research suggests that babies who learn how to communicate through baby sign language, begin to talk before their non-signing counterparts utter a coherent word.
Miriam Devitt, a Killimer-based baby sign language teacher, has taught her daughter, Robin how to sign. She has also written an illustrated baby sign language dictionary entitled SuperHands, containing the first 40 signs that a baby and their parents can use to communicate.
“What you’re doing with sign is you’re bridging the gap between verbal and pre-verbal,” Miriam explains.
“From birth, babies understand a lot. They want to communicate. Within hours of birth they’ll mimic. They’ll respond facially to what an adult is doing,” she reveals.
“From three or four months they’ll understand words and intonation. If you start teaching them sign language from about three or four months, they’ll understand it and then when their hands catch up, instead of being frustrated, they can sign if they want their milk. Or they can start a conversation if they see a bird for example,” Miriam adds.
Miriam’s illustrated dictionary has been produced specifically for the Irish market.
“I started teaching my daughter baby sign language but I realised there was no course around here. It’s very new to Ireland. It has been huge in the States for about 25 years and big in the UK for about 10 or 15 years. Any courses available in Dublin were using British or American sign language. I wanted to teach my daughter Irish sign language, which is the language of the local deaf community. So it was important for me to use that,” she says.
“I went off and learned Irish sign language. There was a lot of interest with friends and their babies. My background is in writing and performance so I put a course together and started teaching in Kilrush, Ennis and Limerick. We’re starting in Dublin in a few weeks time and I’m going to be advertising the franchise to move all over the country,” Miriam outlines.
She says learning to communicate through sign language won’t deter a baby from talking.
“The research shows that babies who sign tend to speak earlier than those who don’t. My daughter spoke very early and very fluently. She’s three and a half now and speaks like a five-year-old. You’re not replacing spoken language. You’re using spoken language with the sign, so you’re getting two sides of the brain to communicate,” Miriam maintains.
“One of the first questions a lot of parents ask is ‘will this not make them lazy and make them not want to speak?’ But once they hear that the evidence shows otherwise, they’re more into it. It’s very new to this country so I’m pioneering it in a sense,” she added.
Miriam says the sign language courses she runs are enjoyable, yet not overly taxing for the parent or baby.
“It’s about spending time face to face with your baby. You’re talking slowly and playing games with them. I teach three songs and poems. There is certainly no hard work involved and the signs are very simple. Babies love trying them and they love just watching their parents singing and saying poems. It’s not difficult to learn and it’s certainly a lot of fun for the babies,” she suggests. 
Of course, it is a help if more than one parent or guardian can trade signs with the baby.
“I would encourage people to go home and show grandparents, aunts, uncles and other carers. If only one parent comes to the class, you want them to show Dad or Mum at home so you’ve got a consistency. You just start with one or two until they grasp the concept.”
Babies born deaf benefit hugely from learning baby sign language as early as possible.
“The majority of babies I teach are hearing babies but obviously it would work perfectly for deaf kids or for any child with a speech delay or a learning difficulty,” Miriam notes.
Information on classes in Killimer, Ennis and elsewhere, along with more details on baby sign language and the illustrated dictionary are available on www.superhands.ie