According to Dr. William Sears, “The key to language development is for children to learn to speak comfortably before they learn to speak correctly. Children love signs, they love gestures, so signing is a wonderful way for children to learn to communicate.” By the ages of nine months and two years of a child's life, they develop fine motor skills that allow them to coordinate their tongue, teeth, breathing and vocal cords in order to speak and converse. Surprisingly, fine motor skills are not required in sign language. Learning sign language for babies has become increasingly popular as it is accessible through many sources such as books and videos. The number of parents and researchers learning how helpful it is to parents of infants is increasing dramatically, as the bond between child and parents increases significantly until their fine motor skills develop. Recently, Linda Acredolo and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, determined that babies have a desire to communicate. Acredolo and his team discovered that babies unconsciously produce signs and gestures to communicate with their parents. Unfortunately, some parents often reject the use of signs because they mistakenly believe that if their baby spends time focusing on mastering signs, it will take longer for them to learn to speak. According to Acredolo, Catherine A. Brown and Susan Goodwyn, signing speeds up the process of verbal language. Parents can decide whether they want to start teaching their child American Sign Language, use gestures and signs of their choice, or use signs derived from ASL. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay More and more research is being published that shows many benefits for preschoolers learning sign language at school. Maryland researchers found that preschoolers who were introduced to ASL, such as weather signs, colors, feelings and numbers, performed better on vocabulary tests than students who did not. haven't learned ASL. In sign language, almost all signs tend to sound like what they mean. Thus, it helps children connect signs to words and grasp the meaning of vocabulary. Research has also shown that learning sign language helps children learn the alphabet and spelling. In ASL, many hand symbols resemble the written letter. Young children who use the ASL alphabet to spell simple words such as DOG may have this mental image of how the word is spelled. Many children this age do not have the vocabulary to express how they feel to adults or other children the same age. Having some knowledge of sign language gives the child the ability to communicate what they are feeling differently. According to Wendy Crawford, director of Grenloch Terrace Early Childhood Center, in Sewell, New Jersey: “We learn actions before we learn words. When we get frustrated, we sometimes revert to these instincts. A parent can teach a few signs to their child and once they master these signs; the parent is then able to teach the child signs that they are mad, sad, or happy. Likewise, teaching a child to sign “sorry.” Children more often use sign language as a way to apologize rather than apologizing verbally. Sign language is increasingly,.