Does using sign language with babies interrupt or delay a child’s speech development?
A. Actually, research states the opposite is true. Using American Sign Language with your child can accelerate speech development. Since they are already using language in their heads and putting signed words together to communicate things, once their articulators are able to form the sounds, they quickly add speech to their signs. Gradually, they drop the signs and only use the spoken word. Much like crawling does not inhibit a child’s ability to walk; there has been no indication of a resulting speech delay from signs. See my website for supporting documentation resulting from 20 years of research by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn.
