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| Scientific Research |
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| Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, authors of the book Baby Signs®: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, have conducted over two decades of academic research on the use of sign language with hearing babies, including a long-term study funded by the National Institues of Health. Here are the highlights from that study: |
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| Participants |
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| More than 140 families joined the study beginning when their babies were 11 months old. Each family was randomly assigned to a signing or non-signing group. The groups were equivalent at the beginning of the study in terms of the following characteristics: sex and birth order of children, their tendency to vocalize or verbalize words, and the parents’ education and income levels. |
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| Assessment |
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| The children were assessed using standardized language measures at 11, 15, 19, 24, 30, and 36 months old. In addition, as many children as could be relocated at age 8 were assessed using the WISC-III IQ test, the most commonly used measure of children’s intelligence. |
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| Results |
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| Twenty-four-month-old signing babies were on average talking more like 27- 28-month olds, representing more than a three0month advantage over the non-signers. In addition, the babies who signed were putting together significantly longer sentences. Thirty-six-month-old signers on average were talking like 47month-plds, putting them almost a full year ahead of their average age-mates. Eight-year-olds who had signed as babies scored an average of 12 points higher in IQ on the WISC-III (Mean = 114, 75th percentile) than their non-signing peers (Mean – 102, 53rd percentile). |
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| Conclusion |
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| The Baby Signs® Program helps children develop both language and cognitive skills. |
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