Hearing children who are immersed in sign-language are often one full year ahead of their peers in their communication and literacy abilities by the time they enter school. Like typically developing children who sign, sign-language can help children who have autism communicate and often acts as a "bridge" to verbal communication.
I have been asked by many parents if teaching their child with autism to sign will delay their speech acquisition, or whether relying on signs will make their child "lazy" and not motivated to speak. There is simply no evidence to suggest that children who sign will take more time to speak. In my experience, and according to research, the opposite is true. Children with autism, who sign, actually speed up
the process of learning to speak. Time and time again, I have witnessed children with autism leap from signing to speaking in a very short period of time. Some will take longer than others, but I firmly believe that there is no down-side to signing with your child.
I've had similar questions from concerned parents when they find out I sign with my infants/toddlers during their pre-verbal/early verbal stage. So many people think it delays speech, but in my experience the opposite has been true! Once they make that connection and realize that they are able to communicate, it seems to inspire them to want to communicate more! It starts with signs, but quickly turns to speech.
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