Why do babies seem to grasp sign language faster than spoken language?
My grandson has taught his 12 month old sign language for “No more,” “Hungry”, “Eat” and more. He said he’s teaching his son because I took him (my oldest grandson) to sign language lessons at our local activity center when he was a kid. I don’t even remember it, but good on me!
It’s astonishing that the child can communicate things he couldn’t otherwise.
What are your thoughts on this?
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I think it’s amazing. But I won’t hazard a guess on the why and wherefore of it.
I think it’s amazing too. They video called me. My grandson offered his son another spoonful of food and I got to see him gesture that he’d had enough!
It tells me that babies have concepts that they just can’t verbalize.
If you consider it you have to conclude that both skills are a matter of language. And it’s a case of which motor skill develops more readily. At this stage, you can bet your boots that your great grandson certainly understands a great deal of what he hears, and clearly this is true for what he sees. Repeating what he hears is another matter. The motor skills required for vocalization of a language are exquisite and terrifyingly complex. It is miraculous that it comes so easily and so quickly for most of us. And I would bet that aside from that complexity, an even more likely reason that speech appears as late as it does in childhood is simply that it is a relatively recent acquisition in our evolutionary toolbox.
I agree it has to do with the ability to speak. I think it is great that he can communicate this way, I would just caution to encourage him to speak also if he is at an age where he should be able to. Some boys (more often than girls) have delayed speech, but can still be normal. When children can get what they want without speaking they sometimes develop speech more slowly than their peers. You also want to be sure he is hearing ok. Responding to sounds, his name, etc. Not that I assume anything is wrong with him, he’s only 12 months old, like I said I think it is great a young child can communicate without having to cry or show frustration before he is able to speak.
Years ago there was Koko the gorilla who could sign to communicate, I don’t know if they use sign with other gorillas and maybe apes and other animals. Koko knew a lot of words.
My grandson learned sign language for several things before learning to speak.
He is now 2½ years old, and learning Korean and English. I hope he continues with sign language as well.
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