Benefits of signing

The table below is based on research by Dr Marilyn Daniels, professor of communication arts and sciences at Pennsylvania State University and compares vocabulary acquisition in children using signs and those only using spoken language:

And what’s more, this type of lead is typically maintained.

One of Daniels’ studies looked at two groups of children in their pre-kindergarten year; one group was exposed to signing, the other group not. She found that children who were signed to developed vocabulary faster than the children who were not signed to. Neither group were exposed to signing in their first year of kindergarten, yet a follow-up study showed that the children from the first group had maintained their vocabulary lead (Daniels, 1996).

Daniels explains this by the fact that signing enhances brain development, thereby giving a head start to children who are exposed to signing. In her book Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children's Literacy (Bergin & Garvey 2001), she states, that 'babies eyes develop very early and when information is taken in with the eyes the right brain is being used. All languages are stored in the left brain, so when babies are exposed to sign and speech, both the right and left brain are being used.' She goes on to point out how '… this is a wonderful advantage because you are using both hemispheres of the brain, building more synapses (junction of two nerve cells) in the brain.'

Better recall can be attributed to the fact that each language a person learns is stored in a different ‘memory store’ in the left hemisphere of the brain. Even at a very early age, sign language will have a separate memory store to spoken language, essentially giving a child two ‘databases’ to draw from. This allows a child to, for example, recall the sign that will support the spoken word or provide a clue to the meaning of the spoken word, or find the manual alphabetic letter that will remind them of how to spell a word.

Daniels also pointed out that the physical movement required to sign also seems to trigger a response in the left hemisphere of the brain and help to recall words.

Other studies, such as those by Drs Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn from the University of Davis in California showed that babies who were signed to understood more words and had larger vocabularies than non-signing babies (Moore et al, 2001).

Signing the alphabet enables children to spell words with their fingers (also called finger spelling). Finger spelling helps children recognise letter shapes and sounds. Being able to recognise letter shapes and letter sounds, together with understanding the meaning of the words formed by the letters, is the basis for reading.

Furthermore, the hand movements needed for sign language give young children a unique opportunity to practice moving individual fingers, bringing fingers into exact positions and practicing wrist movement. All of this can have a positive impact on writing skills when the child is older, as fine motor skills are important for holding a pencil and forming letters.  (Based on research conducted by Marilyn Daniels, professor of communication arts and sciences at Pennsylvania State University - www.marilyndaniels.com)

In her research, Dr Marilyn Daniels found that using sign language with hearing children enhances their facility for play by increasing their understanding and use of symbols (Daniels, 1996). And in their research, Drs Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn also showed that babies who were signed to engaged in more sophisticated play than non-signing babies (Moore et al, 2001).

In an article published in Children in Scotland magazine, Antonella Sorace, Professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, gave an insight into some of the benefits of learning a second language at an early age. She said that bilingual children seem to:

• be better at selectively paying attention, at inhibiting irrelevant information, and at switching between alternative solutions to a problem;
• be able to multi-task more easily;
• have a higher awareness of language and a greater ability to think and talk about it;
• develop reading skills earlier than monolingual children; and
• have an enhanced ‘awareness of the other’, i.e. an earlier understanding of the fact that other people may have beliefs, desires and intentions different from their own.

Being able to express feelings is critical to a child’s emotional development. Experience with signing children shows that in moments of distress, a child more often chooses the sign rather than the spoken word to express what is going on, even if they can already speak. This may be because signing feels ‘heartfelt’ and expressive, and in sensitive situations, might seem more private as it can be done discreetly and cannot be overheard.  (Based on research conducted by Marilyn Daniels, professor of communication arts and sciences at Pennsylvania State University - www.marilyndaniels.com)