Date of Award
6-24-2019
Document Type
Non Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Education
Program
Early Childhood Education
Capstone Instructor
Dr. Kelly Sadlovsky
Second Reader
Prof. S. Wueste
Keywords
Baby Sign, Infant Development, Language Development, Social Development
Abstract
In the past few decades, the use of intentional gesture to communicate with infants, known as Infant Sign or Baby Sign, has jumped in popularity as a means to get infants communicating earlier in life (Barnes, 2010). Baby Sign has been adopted into many families, care centers, and schools with a strong focus on the potential language benefits to be found in its use (Seal & DePaolis, 2014; Kirk, Howlett, Pine & Fletcher, 2013). This paper sought to discover what, if any, other developmental benefits could be gained for infants through the use of Baby Sign. A synthesis of current Baby Sign research was conducted in order to answer this question. This paper found that, along with some verbal language advancements, Baby Sign has the potential to aid in social development and stronger bonding with caregivers (Góngora & Farkas, 2009; Vallotton, 2012a; Karsten, Foster, Decker, & Vallotton, 2017). Social and emotional development being extremely critical, especially in infancy, Baby Sign could prove useful in assisting infant educators to bond with students.
Recommended Citation
Ramstad, A. (2019). Baby Sign's Developmental Benefits (Thesis, Concordia University, St. Paul). Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/teacher-education_masters/9Included in
Early Childhood Education Commons, Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons