Read and Sign

Shared by: Manette McDermott

Subject: Signing with your baby aids in developing a fluent reader

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Teaching sign language to your toddler can actually improve his ability to learn to read.

Reading is an integrative process that requires the brain to develop different neural pathways. The fluency of a reader depends on the child’s brain to develop the automaticity required to make the process enjoyable. Many children get stuck trying to ‘sound out’ words in print and fail to grasp the concept that words in print are associated to meaning ..the whole purpose of reading. Without meaning, the reading process becomes a deciphering nightmare for some young children, which often leads to a dislike or distaste for reading.

The families that make the reading of books with their infants and toddlers a ritual often help create better readers. Children learn to listen to books and to garner that the words have meaning, and that the one day they too will be able to associate meaning to the words in print. Children who do not have books at home or do not have parents, or siblings who are reading to them, never associate reading books with following a storyline, understanding a moral, discovering a mystery, sharing a laugh, or garnering helpful facts.

The first step in the acquisition of reading is the child’s ability to associate the printed word with a word that has meaning for him. Often, in the case of the English speaking reader, this association takes place when the child can apply the sounds of the letters, then blend these sounds into words that are recognizable to him.

The average child grasps this complex process when he is around age 5, sometimes earlier depending on the child. The child’s brain needs to be able to sound out the letters, then associate the sound with a word, then access the memory to remember the meaning of that word. By exposing a toddler to sign language, you are giving the child the ability to associate meaning without relying on the deciphering of the sounds associated with the letters. You are allowing the child to begin the first step in the reading process without requiring the child to stumble with the print.

Give the child a picture book and teach him the signs associated with the pictures and print. Because there are many signs in sign language that are iconic, many of the signs will be learned quickly and will be remembered easily. Continue to associate the print with the pictures with the sign, and eventually the child will be able to sign the word in print without the help of the picture. This first step in reading - the association of the printed word with a meaningful sign - keeps the reading process fun and allows the reader to automatize the semantic process and to begin the early development of critical pathways in the complex reading process.