Over two decades of Baby Signs® research has shown that these proven benefits affect different areas of a child’s development. Using the Baby Signs® Program stimulates:

Benefits for Cognitive Development:

Using the Baby Signs® Program Stimulates Intellectual Development!

Baby Signs® babies are busily using their signs to learn about the world while children scored well above their non-signing peers are still waiting for the words they need to do the same. For example, a Baby Signs® baby may label a piece of broccoli with a sign for "flower" while smiling quizzically, essentially asking, "It looks like a flower, but what is it really?" We now know that all this early learning pays off down the road. When Linda and Susan revisited the children from their government-funded study of the Baby Signs® Program after the children had finished in cognitive tests well into the second grade , they found that those who had used signs when they were babies had higher IQs than those who had not.

Benefits for Language Development:

Using the Baby Signs® Program Makes Learning To Talk Easier!

Some parents worry that encouraging their child to use signs might slow down learning to talk. Actually, the opposite is true! With the help of a large grant from the federal government, Linda and Susan were able to show that using the Baby Signs® Program actually helps babies learn to talk. Just as a child who learns to crawl is more, rather than less motivated to learn to walk, so also a child who learns to sign more, rather than less motivated to learn to talk!

The groundbreaking research completed by Baby Signs® authors Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn showed extensive benefits for language development including:

By the time they were 2 years-old, Baby Signs® babies had significantly larger vocabularies than their non-signing peers.

By the time they were three years old, their language skills were more like that of their four year-old peers.

Baby Signs® Benefits for Social-Emotional development: