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Article Courtesy of About.com

Is there anything cuter than seeing a little baby using sign language? It is more than just cute: Researchers have found that using sign language with babies does help to improve their language learning and IQs. So more parents are using sign language with their infants, whether they are hearing or deaf.

It has long been known by parents of deaf children and deaf parents of hearing children that young babies can learn to sign and communicate before they learn to talk.

Baby Signing Does Not Hurt Speech Development

One of the best things about this trend being embraced by parents of non-deaf children is that research has clearly demonstrated that using sign language does not mean that a child will not learn to talk. For years, the deaf community’s ASL advocates had to face the argument that if parents used sign language with their deaf children, the children would not learn to talk. Even today, some parents of deaf children with cochlear implants are told not to use sign language so that their children will maximize the use of sound for communication.