My baby was progressing, but recently she has stopped signing completely, it’s as if she forgot how to sign.
Not to worry, your little girl has probably just been more interested in another task. She’s probably working on crawling or walking or is just taking a break. Now’s not the time to give up signing because if you do, she’ll have nothing to model when her mood comes back around. Continue to do the signs as you have been doing and pretty soon, your girl will start to sign once again.
My spouse doesn’t think this is worthwhile. How to I convince my family to help?
Bring up the research and show them how signing has all upside and no downside. Teach them a few signs and what they mean so they can help should the mood strike them. If that doesn’t work, ignore them and do it solo! Why? Well because once your baby starts to sign, I promise you that they are going to have to learn to sign or they will have no idea what your little guy is saying!
We speak two languages in the house, will my baby be confused?
Studies show that children who grow up in houses with more than one language tend to pick things up a little bit slower than children in a one language household, but this is not to be of concern since learning multiple languages is a wonderful opportunity. What you might consider is only signing with one language instead of trying to sign with both. This will keep the confusion down and help your baby bridge the gap between both languages. Just remember that your baby has a powerful ability to decipher patterns and with enough time will figure it all out!
Is it true that signing eliminates the terrible twos?
There is some truth to this, but eliminate it completely? Not likely. What sign language does is give toddlers who have minds that are advanced, but with limited vocabulary, a much improved chance to speak up about their wants and needs. Naturally, this gives a toddler more appropriate avenues to express themselves which eliminates outbursts such as kicking and screaming.