Communicating with a little one can be a journey and a half! It's the start of getting to know who they are and developing your close bond.

But, of course, there's more than one way to communicate. Have you ever thought about teaching your baby sign language?

There are lots of reasons to try. Babies who develop sign language skills can sometimes communicate earlier than they would otherwise, giving you insight into their needs at an early age. And being multilingual can help children connect with different groups of people.

You can use "home-signs," which are signs your baby might naturally develop on their own, or a structured language like American Sign Language (ASL). We'll walk you through the basics and help clear up any confusion.

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Sign language is a real language

If you've been thinking of sign languages like ASL as incomplete languages or substitutes for language, now's the time to change that mindset.

Sign languages are real languages! But don’t get it twisted — ASL is not the same as English. They have different word orders and figures of speech. There are even words that are difficult to translate from ASL into English.

This means that babies who learn sign language alongside spoken language will be multilingual. And if your child is having trouble learning spoken language — for example, if they cannot hear — keeping them away from sign language is an outdated idea. Sign languages are full languages, with all the depth of communication you might get from spoken languages.

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Signing vs. gesturing

Motor skills are what your baby will develop in order to get around in the world. As the months go on, these skills will allow your baby to crawl, walk, grasp, and play.

Babies make all kinds of gestures as they learn to develop their hand motor skills. You can often find them stretching and pointing all over the place! This is a great way for babies to connect with others, but sign language is a little different.

Babies aren't the only ones who gesture. You might have people in your life who love to talk with their hands or who even have signature moves. And if you're trying to get a point across, you might draw something in the air. One big reason why this is different from signing is that signing, like all language, is kind of abstract. Don't worry if that sounds confusing. We'll break it down for you.

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Spoken language vs. gestures

Let's start with spoken language. The word "tired" means, well—tired! If you didn't know the meaning, you wouldn't be able to tell just from the sound alone.

Then let's think about gestures. You could come up with lots of gestures and movements that mean "tired." For example, you could droop your head, fake-yawn, or stretch like you're about to go to bed.

These movements are directly connected to the meaning. You don't need to speak the same language to get the meaning. This makes them different from spoken language.

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What about sign language, then?

You might think sign languages are more like gestures. And it's true that lots of signs started out as gestures, or "miming" some meaning.

Over time, though, these signs changed to be more like spoken languages. These days, a person who doesn't speak sign language wouldn't be able to guess most of what someone is signing. This is part of what makes a language a language!

The ASL sign for "tired" is a motion with both hands at the chest. People who know ASL know what this means, but other people might have a hard time guessing.

This makes sign language different from gestures. And it's why teaching a baby sign language will tap into the "language" part of their brain. Babies will learn to understand a sign as standing for a meaning rather than just illustrating it.

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Communicating early

One of the nice things about signing is that babies who learn it might be able to communicate earlier on than babies who only learn a spoken language — even as early as 10 months old. There's no big rush here, but it can be fun to get that early peek into your little one's mind.

The reason why baby signers often communicate earlier than other babies has to do with motor skills. Take a moment to think about all the complicated things involved in speaking out loud. You need to have control over your tongue, lips, teeth, and throat. And you need to understand how breathing is involved.

Compare that to what's involved in signing — the level of precision is still high, but you can do the basics just with the use of your hands. Babies can often figure out these movements faster than the mouth movements required for spoken languages.

Of course, this also depends on the exposure your baby gets to the language. If your baby observes a lot more spoken language than signing, they might try out spoken language first anyway. And if your child does learn signing first, don't worry! You shouldn't expect delays in learning spoken languages.

Babies and young children have brains that soak up language like a sponge. Learning multiple languages as a baby is quite common around the world. Especially at this young age, humans are more than capable of this amazing process.

A valuable skill

So why should you teach your baby sign language? Well, there are many reasons that have to do with your child's development. But let's think beyond that for a minute.

For many, sign languages are the main language they speak. ASL is typically the first language for those who are hard of hearing or Deaf. Though they often have to learn English as well in order to read books, communicate online, and get around the world, ASL can be an easier way to communicate.

Teaching your child ASL (or another sign language) can give your child access to a whole community of people they may meet throughout their life. Like foreign languages, this can lead to a new perspective on different cultures.

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Try it yourself

Communicating with your baby in sign language can be a wonderful bonding experience for both of you. Remember that sign languages are real languages, so your child will likely go through the normal stages, like sign-babbling. Just getting to witness this and be part of the process can teach you both a lot.

So go ahead and teach your baby sign language — you might be surprised at all the unexpected things you'll learn along the way.