Children know more than they sometimes receive credit for. They also learn a lot of nuanced skills each day. Six-month-old Jane McCullough, for instance, has mastered sign languge, to the point that she adorably babbles in ASL while communicating with her deaf grandparents.
According to the National Deaf Center, around 11 million people are deaf in the United States alone. From there, fluency in American Sign Language can vary, with some deaf individuals not learning ASL, while hearing individuals learn it to communicate with deaf family members. For baby Jane, she is hearing, as is her mother, but signing is heavily ingrained in their world, with incredibly heartwarming results.
A little baby adorably babbles to her deaf grandparents using sign language
Babbling is characterized as a stage of child development and language acquisition in which the baby experiments with utteirng vowels and consonants in various combinations. They may not make coherent words—though maybe in some language they do, it can’t be ruled out—but it is a major milestone in verbal communication.
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Similarly, Jane appeared to be doing the ASL equivalent of babbling through sign language as she sought to connect with her deaf grandparents. Jane’s mother, Mara McCullough, is a child of a deaf adult, or CODA.
Her signing does not include any particular words or sentences, but similar to verbal babbling, Jane is experimenting with gestures in different combinations to communicate as she knows her deaf parents would. On top of that, Jane is loving every second of it.
Bridging a gap
Jane already loves signing as a means of communication. In fact, her mother shared, “She always lights up whenever she watches them signing to her,” adding, “She gets really excited.”
“Being with them every single day, seeing it every single day, just like she is,” she continued, “seeing it modeled and seeing it communicated to me every single day.”
Jane channeled that love and appreciation into action in the sweetest way possible, and Mara has taken to capturing those sweet interactions on video.
“I just saw her in her little chair start signing, and my parents started signing back to her,” recalled Mara. In the deaf community, sign babbling is very common among babies, and Mara is glad that her videos can help raise exposure to the Deaf with a capital D culture, language, and experience. “Now, the world is seeing that, not just the deaf community,” she cheered, “More people are realizing babies have the capabilities to babble in sign language.”
Mara shared a video of Jane babbling in ASL earlier in July and it has since gained immense traction. With this newfound platform, Mara has some additional lessons she’d like to share. “Make sure they are learning from someone who is a native signer – someone who is deaf or someone who is a CODA, like me, a child of a deaf adult – so that they are getting the proper signs,” she explained.
Do you know any ASL or know someone who does?
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