Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, the 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 signs with hearing babies, including a long-term study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Their ground-breaking research describes the proven benefits of the Baby Signs® Program. Research Highlights:
Participants
More than 140 families joined our study beginning when their babies were 11 months old. Each family was randomly assigned to a Baby Signs® group or a non-Baby Signs® group. The groups were equivalent at the beginning of the study in terms of the following characteristics: sex and birth order of the children, their tendency to vocalize or verbalize words, and the parents’ education and income levels.
Assessments
The children were assessed using standardized language measures at 11, 15, 19, 24, 30, and 36 months. 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.
Results
At 24 months, the Baby Signs® babies were on average talking more like 27 or 28 month olds. This represents more than a three-month advantage over the non- Baby Signs® babies. In addition, the 24 month old Baby Signs® babies were putting together significantly longer sentences.
At 36 months, Baby Signs® babies on average were talking like 47 month olds, putting them almost a full year ahead of their average age-mates.
Eight year olds who had been Baby Signs® babies scored an average of 12 points higher in IQ than their non-signing peers.
Conclusion
Using Baby Signs® helps children develop both language and cognitive skills.
Click here to read more about Linda and Susan’s extensive research.
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