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Policy on the Baby Signs Movement

Policy current from 3 November 2006

In recent years in Australia, there has been a great deal of interest in the theory that teaching hearing babies to use sign language will enhance the development of their language skills.

There have been several books and other materials on the subject published in Australia, and the sign-with-your-baby 'movement' has received coverage on television and in the print media. Several state Deaf Societies/Services around Australia have some interest in the 'movement', with some endorsing the use of 'baby signs' and some providing classes in 'baby signs'. Deaf Children Australia has also leant support to the 'movement'.

After careful consideration of the issue and some of the publications, Deaf Australia has decided that it does not endorse the philosophy underlying the sign-with-your-baby 'movement'. The reasons for this decision are:

1. Few, if any, authors of publications about sign-with-your-baby appear to have sought the advice of native signing Deaf people, although some have approached hearing sign language linguists and other hearing people with expertise in Auslan. Deaf Australia believes that it is crucial that anyone who considers producing a dictionary, book, course or any other materials about Auslan needs to consult widely and work closely with Deaf native users of the language.
2. Authors generally have not made reference to the various editions of the Auslan dictionary produced by Trevor Johnston in 1989, 1997 and 1998 which are recognised as the most complete sources of information on the language.
3. There is a lack of exact references for many of the claims or research that are referred to and which are used as justification for teaching sign to hearing babies. The sign-with-your-baby 'movement' is not well founded in scientific research and promotes many inaccuracies.
4. For example, it is claimed that research has shown that Deaf children from Deaf families begin to sign at a younger age than hearing children from hearing families begin to speak. Most hearing children produce their first words around 12 months of age. There is some older research that showed that Deaf children with Deaf parents begin to sign as early as 7-8 months. This is very controversial research and is not accepted by all sign language researchers, some of who believe the early research was flawed for many reasons, such as it relied on parental report rather than observation by researchers . Therefore, it should not be stated as fact. In addition, if an early sign advantage actually does occur, it does not last because by age 18 months or so, signing and speaking children have similar vocabularies.
5. The research about improved intelligence and spoken language skills in hearing children who learn to sign is also controversial. It is difficult to know what the cause for these improvements actually is. Is it the improved communication that results from being able to communicate in sign and speech? Or is it the fact that only very committed parents learn to sign in the first place, and children with motivated parents always do better in any case? Deaf Australia believes that more scientific research is needed.
6. If used in the way suggested by the sign-with-your-baby 'movement', Deaf Australia is concerned that Auslan is in danger of becoming a meaningless fad like a diet or an exercise program. Since most hearing parents of hearing babies drop their use of sign language once the child starts to use spoken language, and very few hearing children retain any knowledge of signs, Deaf Australia does not believe that the sign-with-your-baby 'movement' ultimately advances community awareness of sign languages and deafness.
7. Because what is actually signed is not Auslan but simple gestures based on Auslan signs, used concurrently with English speech, Deaf Australia does not believe that the sign-with-your-baby 'movement' enhances the status of signed languages. Rather, it entrenches the wider community opinion that signed languages are 'simpler' than spoken ones.

Deaf Australia believes that endorsement of the sign-with-your-baby 'movement' could only come after a thorough critical review of the research and publications by Deaf people and sign language linguists, not by people who may wish to promote their own Auslan courses using this philosophy.

Deaf Australia believes that if organisations wish to offer classes to hearing parents to learn to sign with their hearing children, it is crucial to ensure that claims about benefits are based on fact.

Using Auslan with hearing babies could be promoted to parents as a fun and enjoyable way to communicate with children. However, Deaf Australia believes that it is not appropriate to make claims about signing making communication possible earlier than normal, that learning Auslan will reduce the frustration of children's attempt to communicate or that teaching Auslan to babies has a range of benefits for infant or child development.

Deaf Australia further believes that it is extremely ironic that there is significant time and effort being given to hearing babies being taught sign, but not for deaf babies, for whom Auslan is an appropriate communication method.

Deaf Australia is not comfortable with Auslan being used in the way promoted by the sign-with-your-baby 'movement', while access to Auslan is being denied to deaf babies and their hearing parents.

This policy was adopted by members at Deaf Australia's 20^th Annual General Meeting on 3^rd November 2006.

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