As the grainy YouTube video opens, Laura Berg announces that her one-year-old daughter, Fireese, will demonstrate her sign-language skills. Fireese stares into the video camera and sucks contemplatively on her finger, but her focus sharpens when her mom asks, "Where's Daddy?"
"Dada!" says Fireese, flashing a chubby-cheeked grin and raising her right hand to the side of her head with her thumb extended.
"That's right," Berg says, raising her right hand in a similar motion. "How about mommy. Where's mama?"
"Mama!" Fireese chortles, spreading her fingers, with her thumb pointing toward her chin.
Berg would have been happy if the 2007 video of her daughter attempting more than a dozen signs had gotten 5,000 views. But the views kept coming. Now the video has more than four million views, and Berg has a signing-instruction business, My Smart Hands, with almost 200 instructors worldwide, and a new book, The Baby Signing Bible (Avery).
"I am definitely seeing an increase in interest," says Dr. Laura Jana, author of the American Academy of Pediatrics parenting guide Heading Home With Your Newborn. "It's definitely gotten into that upscale, 'What can I do to further my child's development?' realm, but it's also gotten just sort of mainstream."
Baby signing, in which babies are taught basic vocabulary from American Sign Language, remains controversial, with detractors saying businesses are making unproven claims regarding IQ improvement and accelerated language development.
Berg takes the middle ground, emphasizing the potential for enhanced communication. "It's something you want to do or you don't.
But I would say to parents, especially the older generations who say, 'I always knew what my baby wanted,' well, actually, you knew what your baby didn't want. If your baby's throwing food on the floor, you don't necessarily know what your baby wants, but you know what she doesn't want. Signing adds that extra step."
BABY SIGN BASICS
If you want your baby to sign back to you fairly quickly, wait until she is six to eight months old, says Laura Berg. Otherwise, you can start at four months. Start with one sign; milk is a good one. Every time you say the word, try to make the sign.
Once you're comfortable with milk, add another sign to your routine and build from there.
The sign for milk: Open and close your hand, using the same motion as if you were milking a cow.
Source: The Baby Signing Bible
