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We began signing with our daughter when she started eating solids (about four months) and now she is almost nine months and we are just starting to see results.  We do the simple signs of "eat" "more" and "all done" and she is starting to be able to do the more sign although its difficult to tell whether she is clapping (which is also a new trick) or doing the "more" sign.  Just hang in there.  I think it is working great for us. 

LMH

CheriseD

Several of my friends used sign language with their kids and it DID cut down on the toddler frustration in their house.  We have started using signs with our little girl, and although she can not sign back yet (will be 8 m on Sat), she DOES know what they mean.  Whenever we sign "milk" or "juice" or "get up" she gets very excited to let us know that she wants it.  If not, she just looks at us like 'no thanks mom.'  But everything I have read says to keep it up, be consistent, and look for results.  Most kids start signing back by 9 m....so just keep watching.  Good luck!

Cherise

I started signing when my daughter was a few weeks old...whenever I nursed I signed milk.  I know that she did not necessarily unstand what I was doing but it wasn't until she was about 6-7 months did she actually start signing it back.  Fast forward to present day...my daughter is now 17 months and knows over 20 signs.  She knows many animal signs, food signs and basic everyday signs (like driving a car, shopping).  Sign language is an amazing form of communication and even though she is starting to talk she still signs.

We've been signing since DS was about 4 months old for milk (before every nursing session), "all done", eat and fish because we have a fish that he loves to watch swim. His first sign was for fish while we were watching it swim, and he started doing milk a few weeks later around 7.5 months. It isn't perfect, but I know what he is doing. We are starting to add more signs now--more and please and continuing to work with our other signs. I'm amazed at what he is capable of communicating already, so go ahead and start signing! And watch, I bet she starts her own signs back to you sooner than you expect.

It is never too late to start!  I often introduce sign to children up to 2.5 years with language delays.  At 9 months, your little guy is the perfect age to introduce sign, ie, his brain is primed to learn and remember physical gestures.  Good luck and have fun

Baby Signs Inc. began the sign craze about 10 years ago. I went to the parent class when my son was 9 months old. I really recommend buying their series of DVDs. George loves them! I did the signs and read the sign books, but the videos are where he has picked up almost all of his signs. I've passed our set of dvds around our StrollerFit class, and signing is becoming very helpful to quite a few of our moms. My son (at 19 months) now has a spoken vocabulary of about 110 words and still uses 26 signs.

I signed with my son with great success.  I was a teacher for the deaf before I started staying home, so I started signing with my son at 2 months.  At 5 1/2 months he signed milk and from there he just exploded.  At 1 year he could sign 40 signs (compared to a child without sign saying only 2-3 words.) 

I recommend Dr. Garcia's Sign with your Baby kit.  It is based on 100% ASL, which I feel is important for developing language.  The benefits of using ASL go way beyond the preverbal stage.  Research is showing that preschoolers who sign have larger vocabularies and higher literacy skills.  Given this fact, I would stick to lanugages that go beyond the first year.  Baby Signs is not based on ASL.  only about 46% of their signs are actually ASL.  I would avoid these.   If you are intereseted in a class, go to sign2me.com and find an instructor.  All of their instructors are qualified to teach ASL... unlike a lot of the other companies that will sell the curriculum to anyone!

When we picked up our dd from China, we began to sign to her; she was 13 months and fairly delayed in many area (though you would never know now) Since she was hearing a lot of new types of sounds in the English languge I thought in might be a good idea to do both.  She will be four this week and now she is learning how to sign letters in her pre-school and she can remember how to spell many words because of it.  She loves it.

We did with our son, as well and I enjoyed it.  It will help when you are in a crowed room and they are a being a little loud, you can sign all "all done" or "quiet" along with "the look" and be quite effective.

I started signing with Adrien a few weeks ago. It'sa gradual process, but they pick it up eventually...generally around the time they're learning to wave 'bye bye'. Adrien just signed his first sign yesterday! It was 'all done' while I was feeding him. Just start out with a few and stick to those until your baby starts picking them up, then add one to two at a time afterward. 

Bryany Mommy to Adrien Dean 5.5.06

Have a look at this webpage for a quick sheet of signs you can print off:

http://www.weehands.com/images/getti...

Have fun with it and sign and sing as much as you can! 

Sara Bingham, Founder WeeHands™ http://www.weehands.com

I definitely think signing has cut down on some of the usual tantrums, but my son still gets frustrated by his confined vocabulary. It's really great when you get that first bit of feedback that your child understands a concept. You might want to start with some nouns like "milk" or "mommy" or"food/eat", something concrete that the baby can see. Concepts like "more" may be harder for a little one to wrap their brain around. Also, there are some nice websites to at least get you started, just google baby sign language and find one that gives you a visual as well as description of the sign.
Another adorable aspect of signing is sometimes your kid might come up with some signs of their own. For instance, my son always uses a straw and one day, trying to tell me he was thirsty he stuck his forefinger in his mouth and sucked in his cheeks, imitating the use of a straw. I thought that was pretty cool.
It does take time and patience, but the results are worth it! You will be able to communicate with your child, and that is priceless.

Hi there,
Yes it is worth it...
I wish I'd had started when I first saw signs my youngest had hearing problems... He is 3 now and we have finally been able to get him diagnosed and we have recently started asl with him as well as the useage of hearing aids which he has more fun taking apart than anything else...
His daycare providers have also started asl not only with him but also with the toddlers and other children.
It's a great second language for all children to learn... Good luck and don't give up!