One of the hallmarks of Down Syndrome is that children typically take a bit longer to learn speech and some other skills.  However, our children’s needs don’t simply wait because they are not able to articulate them.  It is for this reason that so many parents opt to start teaching their children sign language.

By teaching sign language to our children with Down Syndrome, we are affording them the means to communicate, before the skill of speech comes into play.

I first came across Paige and her daughter, Eden, on Instagram and I was impressed with a video Paige shared of her daughter, not yet 2 years old, pointing to flash cards and signing to her mother.  When I reached out to Paige to ask if she had some tips she was more than willing to share what was working for she and Eden.

Here are a few tips Paige shares about teaching sign language to our children with Down Syndrome:

First things first I’d like to encourage you wherever you are at in your walk with Down Syndrome.  No step in the right direction is too small, all things should be celebrated and you should feel incredibly proud and do a happy dance every time your child masters something or you see a skill emerging.

I’m just going to tell you a little bit about how we’ve gotten Eden to take off in her ability to sign “ASL”. When she was about 6 months old I bought Baby Signing Time dvds.

Watch others & mimic

I would let her watch the signing times dvds when I would take a shower, and she enjoyed watching real kids, with real music. As time went on, we started singing songs with hand gestures because she liked it. It was slow going to get her to do the motions with me but we did a lot of hand over hand while I sang, I believe this encouraged her to mimic me and eventually, she understood that hand gestures do have meaning.

Make flash cards

We made flash cards of pictures of toys and things Eden knew from around the house ( maybe 10 to start), I put those in her toy bin so she could pull them out herself and look whenever she wanted to, then when I would play with her we could sit and talk about the pictures and do signs to the few things that were most interesting to her.

Repetition and Hand over Hand

As time went on, and Eden had seen me use sign language for awhile, I would do hand over hand to help her sign and repeat the object and what it does and the sign.

It’s a lot of ground work but it’s possible!

Things just take time, it is important to stay persistent, but not stress out. Try 10 minutes of pictures and signs and then go back to play, sing songs… do whatever it takes to make it fun for them! You can do this and they will catch on.

All kids are different, try not to compare your child too much and reach out to as many people as you can until you find what works. I know how tiring it can be when you feel like nothing is making things “click”. I’m a firm believer in taking days off from “trying” just play all day for a few days if you feel a burnout coming, sometimes that’s all our kids need and then after a break that’s when they surprise you!