First steps:
More basics
Vary your voice
Vary the pitch of your voice and your intonation to make speech sound interesting. Babies react better to higher pitched sound because their ears are attuned to it.
Use illustrations or objects
Always try to illustrate a sign if you can do so. Babies struggle with concepts if they cannot visualise things. Some words - like yes and no - will just have to be learnt. But you can reinforce meaning by pointing to pictures of the word in a book, or holding the object you are talking about in your baby's line of sight.
Praise is important
When babies make an attempt to sign, it's important to praise them - even if they are not doing exactly what you want them to do! With regular encouragement, they'll want to sign again and will quickly get better at trying to mimic the gestures which you are teaching.
back
