My kid doesn't sign back

DeafTJ said:
I have almost never voice with my son, now age 7. He signs very fluently and can understand my Deaf friends also.

I also think it's mistake to voice with child if you want them to learn sign language. It will NOT hurt their speech or their English. Our son reads at 5th grade level!

What you can do to get your baby or toddler used to it, is to just do "game" with her/him. Say "for one hour today we are both not going to use our voice and sign only". At first it's a little tough, but then after the third or fourth time your baby gets more fluent and doens't mind to turn off voice.

Also this improves their receptive skills. And you can voice with them 23 other hours the day. :)

Then when they get older preschool, you can say, ok for 2 hours, no voice today. Whoever wins, will get new toy or icecream, whatever the gift!

This is what several of my Deaf and HOH friends did. Also try take kids to Deaf clubs during the day.

Get Deaf baby sitter who will not voice.

Hope this will help! But don't give up, because it's never too late! :)
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I agree with you completely. I always tried to keep the languages separate for my son, and as a consequence, he developed fluency in both ASL and English. He also has amazing code switching abilities. I also made a conscientous effort to expose him to fluently signing Deaf adults from the time he was a toddler, and I know that it was a huge benefit for him not just linguistically, but socially and psychologically, as well.
 
Did anyone ever answer the real question as to how do you deal with your child ignoring your sign language when you are trying to sign to him? I am usually quite frustrated. I still refuse to use my voice but then I become like banging on things or stomping or tapping him repeatedly to make him look at me. I don't know why he is refusing or how can I communicate with him without my voice if he is refusing to acknowledge me? I guess I have also tried just walking away from him and I am the mommy so eventually he will need me and need to communicate with me? feels pretty harsh to do that though.
 
CTerry, yes I believe there are answers on this real question in the above posts that others have contributed.

I tell you one way not to 'deal' with your non-signing child is to use or show frustration!

Babies pick up on this like crazy. It's how they get to know you in the beginning. When they pick up on your frustration and related to signing, they will associate those negative feelings with signing.

Does your baby ALWAYS refuse to look at you? Or only when you sign? Do they refuse to look at you only if you sign?

Try to figure out the situations when they refuse to look at you or when they refuse to sign back.

Are they:

Tired?
Hungry?
Distracted?
Bad mood?

But punishing them in any way is not going to reinforce their signing skills.

As long as they are safe, they don't really have to look at you if they don't want. They will look when they are ready to communicate. It can never be forced. But if you walk away from him or her because they do that to you, then they will never learn.

They need to see the positive reinforcement through an adult role model. But seeing other children signing, and other Deaf is always good for them as well.

I know a few Deaf friends that once they started including their kids at Deaf events, their kids realized that just because Mommy/Daddy are Deaf and they can get away with not signing well with them, that it doesn't work for all Deaf. This motivated them to learn more.

Try signing when he's hungry. He has to look at you to get that info, right?

I bet he'd look at your quickly if he saw a piece of pizza in your hands or some ice cream! :fingersx:

What about motivational signs? Signs for favorite books, movies, friends, animals, foods, etc.

What about when reading bedtime story and using signs?

You have to have faith in yourself and your signs, or your baby won't either. I'm not saying that you don't, but babies pick up on our non-verbal cues in amazing ways.

Try going their way sometimes. :)

Hope this answers the 'real' question! ;)
 
cterry7799 said:
Did anyone ever answer the real question as to how do you deal with your child ignoring your sign language when you are trying to sign to him? I am usually quite frustrated. I still refuse to use my voice but then I become like banging on things or stomping or tapping him repeatedly to make him look at me. I don't know why he is refusing or how can I communicate with him without my voice if he is refusing to acknowledge me? I guess I have also tried just walking away from him and I am the mommy so eventually he will need me and need to communicate with me? feels pretty harsh to do that though.
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LOL, when I would be discipling my deaf son with sign, he would quite often, as a toddler and young child, simply close his eyes so he didn't have to see what I was saying to him! Very annoying and frustrating! Hearing kids do the same thing is different ways. They also can "tune out" what they don't want to hear. It just looks like they are listening, when actually, it is going in one ear and out the other without stopping in their little brains. Deaf kids just have more obvious ways of ignoring us. The same wouldhold true for a hearing kid ignoring the visual language of a deaf parent. It is a natural and normal thing for kids to tune out what they don't want to hear or see. Annoying for parents, to be sure, but very normal.
 
Many CODAs learn ASL without voice during their first few years of their lives and many adult CODAs are very fluent in both languages.


I find that I am so bad with this . I start in ASL structure and finsh in Speak and English structure of sentence. I prefer to Sign with my family and Deaf friends
 
On a plus note, my daughter's been signing (a little more) recently!
Yesterday she finished eating, looked me in the eye and signed "drink". I gave her the drink and she signed "thank you". :D
 
I signed to my both boys since they were babies. I do not change for them but myself and my hubby's.

My hubby is an oral with GSL (German Sign Language). He voiced with sign to them and I voiced (on/off) with sign to them... We want them know what we are.

They sign very well like Deaf and can understand both world between hearies and deafies.

I questioned my boys out of curiously. My oldest son prefer me to sign with voice to him but my youngest son prefer me to sign without voice to him but they have no problem to accept what we are which is a great.
 
Thanks :D
If only my mum stopped trying to encourage me to stop signing. Haha. She's scared because she thinks she won't talk. People think they know better. Oh well, she'll see in time. :D
 
cterry7799 said:
Did anyone ever answer the real question as to how do you deal with your child ignoring your sign language when you are trying to sign to him? I am usually quite frustrated. I still refuse to use my voice but then I become like banging on things or stomping or tapping him repeatedly to make him look at me. I don't know why he is refusing or how can I communicate with him without my voice if he is refusing to acknowledge me? I guess I have also tried just walking away from him and I am the mommy so eventually he will need me and need to communicate with me? feels pretty harsh to do that though.
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My deaf son used to close his eyes when I was correcting him in sign. Used to drive me crazy! I just learned to out wait him, LOL.
 
Thanks for the updates guys.
I've kinda turned my voice off when I sign to my daughter; she's signing more now. I will voice new words occasionally until she has got used to them, then I won't voice them. It seems to be working out better in the long run. :)

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See, signing. :D
I'm so proud that she's signing.

We're having her hearing checked again, because last time it was checked it was a trainee nurse, and she kept turning the light on and showing these puppets in boxes, then when she looked, they played a sound and said she could hear the sound.

Apparently her eyes are her ears now. :D

So, we're having another checkup soon. I don't think she's deaf, but I think she has a few problems hearing. When she voices, she responds to the correct sounds or incorrect sounds if they're pronounced the same way.


i.e., she'll give me a kiss if I say "gizz" instead of "kiss", and "where's Bobba (momma)?" and she'll go to find her mum, etc etc. I've only done that a few times though.


Look's like lipreading to me, but she'll jump at really loud noises and cries if she hears someone shout loud, but if you talk to her quietly or in a "normal loudness", she doesn't even respond.

I suppose that's why I'm not convinced her hearing is 100%. Am I strange for believing she needs to be double-checked from these kind of things?
 
Nooooo- not strange at all. Because of her age, it is always a good idea to have her hearing checked if you feel there's something "not right." It sounds like they used VRA - and in my opinion, the results of the VRA sometimes aren't valid or reliable- especially if the person who conducted it may not know what s/he is doing. If they turned on the light, then played the sound- she may have been responding to the light - not the sound.
 
deafbajagal said:
Nooooo- not strange at all. Because of her age, it is always a good idea to have her hearing checked if you feel there's something "not right." It sounds like they used VRA - and in my opinion, the results of the VRA sometimes aren't valid or reliable- especially if the person who conducted it may not know what s/he is doing. If they turned on the light, then played the sound- she may have been responding to the light - not the sound.
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Haha, exactly what I said when I found out about it.

"No, they tested her eyesight" :D
 
You may want to see if they will do an ABR...but even the ABR is not that accurate. She might be old enough to do the standard hearing test (but you'll need to practice with her - beep = push button). I did that with a four year old before - the kid was prone to seizures so I didn't want them to use the VRA (lights) so we practiced on what to do. First we practiced on what to do at his home...and then I scheduled an appointment with the audiologist to practice in the sound booth. It worked :). It really depends on her age, maturity, and personality.
 
I'm sorry if this is a redundant post, but...

I feel when a child is that young, you must use ONE teaching method, and stick with it... because they are too young to discern your intentions, and doing two things can confuse them on which one you intend for them to do. This is foundation building at that point, you aren't just teaching the child, but giving the essential building blocks of learning itself.

Later on, when you find the right time that they can understand the difference between one teaching method and another, you can mix it up more, because you will have a foundation there to explain the workings of it.
 
This is not about teaching methods...we're talking about testing the child's hearing/ hearing loss.

Unless you were referring to the earlier discussions? ??
 
jenni-m said:
I'm sorry if this is a redundant post, but...

I feel when a child is that young, you must use ONE teaching method, and stick with it... because they are too young to discern your intentions, and doing two things can confuse them on which one you intend for them to do. This is foundation building at that point, you aren't just teaching the child, but giving the essential building blocks of learning itself.

Later on, when you find the right time that they can understand the difference between one teaching method and another, you can mix it up more, because you will have a foundation there to explain the workings of it.
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I respectfully disagree. She's coping just fine.
 
deafbajagal said:
You may want to see if they will do an ABR...but even the ABR is not that accurate. She might be old enough to do the standard hearing test (but you'll need to practice with her - beep = push button). I did that with a four year old before - the kid was prone to seizures so I didn't want them to use the VRA (lights) so we practiced on what to do. First we practiced on what to do at his home...and then I scheduled an appointment with the audiologist to practice in the sound booth. It worked :). It really depends on her age, maturity, and personality.
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Hmm. I'll try that with her. She is very, very intelligent. She sees something once, and she can do it, but she doesn't seem to listen. :D I'll try, but I don't have any beeping things in the house, I don't think.
 
InnocentOdion said:
I respectfully disagree. She's coping just fine.
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But yet:

That was the mistake I made with my daughter who is 10 years old now. I used both signing and voice with her and even today she still speaks back, not sign back. I wish I had kept both languages separate.

With my 2 year old son, I keep both languages separate. He didnt look at me at first when he was around a year old to 18 months...after that, he looks at anyone who is signing to him and he signs back. In fact, his ASL is much more fluent than his English. He signs like he is deaf.

My suggestion is to keep both languages separate. Up to you.
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Hmm. Maybe that's what I should do then.
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I essentially said the same thing, but gave the logical reasoning behind it as well. I don't understand why you consider one, but disagree with the other, when they are the same thing...
 
deafbajagal said:
This is not about teaching methods...we're talking about testing the child's hearing/ hearing loss.

Unless you were referring to the earlier discussions? ??
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It IS about teaching method. If you sign and move your mouth at the same time, and only intend to TEACH sign, how can the child know (without you having a way to explain it) that you want them to learn the signs and relay them back to you, and pay attention to those signs... and not just simply look at you funny, or turn away?

They don't know which one you want them to do, until they get older and get more ability to reason. You have to remember that the mind of a baby is like a blank slate, with only basic instincts.

Edit:
Sorry about this, I missed part of the middle discussion, I was responding to the title post... which is about their child 'not signing back'.
 
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