Moms say time spent learning sign language gave their children an advantage

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

A little more than a decade ago, using sign language to communicate with babies was gaining steam. At that time, and since then, mothers have signed up for classes and bought books and DVDs to learn how to interact with their preverbal babies. Many of those first babies who were taught signing are now in elementary and middle school. And their mothers are happy to report that the time was well spent.

Ann Brinkman, a nurse at Edward Hospital, says teaching her daughter, Sara, to sign has given her an advantage. Sara was born with Down syndrome in 1998, just at the time when signing with babies was becoming popular. A friend suggested that Ann and her daughter learn to sign even though Sara’s hearing was fine. Brinkman discussed it with Sara’s speech therapist, and realized Sara was not going to be able to talk as quickly as her older three kids. She registered for a baby sign language course offered at the Air Force base in Italy where the Brinkmans were living.

“I thought it was such a great idea,” Brinkman said. “I definitely wanted to do it.”

So Brinkman began signing with Sara when she was 10 months old. Using American Sign Language, Brinkman would sign simple words like “more,” “milk,” “all done,” “eat,” “book” and “bath.” Ann repeated the signs to Sara for months.

Then one day, Sara signed back.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! You really have been watching me all this time,’” Brinkman said. “I couldn’t believe she finally signed.”

Once she began, it snowballed as Sara continued to pick up more and more signs. As Brinkman would read alphabet books to Sara, she would sign along with the book to provide another visual. And, when Sara entered preschool and started to learn letters, Ann would sign the letter next to the written letter, helping her with letter recognition.

Brinkman isn’t the only one with the positive assessment.

About three years ago, Bolingbrook resident Alyson Ewald decided to take a baby sign language class. She thought taking the class at Edward Hospital would be a fun, inexpensive way to get out of the house with her 1-year-old. She, too, believes it helped her daughter, Abby, who is now in preschool, with language development.

“My daughter was an early talker,” Ewald said. “She’s a good listener. She’s got a very good vocabulary now.”

Both Ewald and Brinkman have found signing helpful in their professions as well. Ewald, who is an assistant principal in Romeoville, has found signing to be a helpful way to communicate with the special education children at her school. And in 2006, Brinkman became a certified instructor teaching baby sign at Edward Hospital.

The Brinkmans, whose children now range in age from 9 to 17, had another child after Sara, who also was taught sign language. The rest of the Brinkman children also learned, making signing a regular part of their lives. Brinkman says if they are in a place where they need to be quiet, like a concert or church, or in a crowded place like a water park or birthday party, they sign to communicate.

“It has had a wonderful impact on our family,” Brinkman said. “I think it also helps them feel like they have a connection to this other language that other people in the world are using. They recognize it and know the value of it.”