VIDEO. These babies communicate in sign language and "cry a lot less"

Sitting cross-legged on the playroom cushions, a little boy frantically bangs his tiny dot against his chest, staring wide eyed at the camera aimed at him.

"He is afraid," explains Maude Payen, taking him on her knees.

This gesture means “fear” in sign language ”.

In the crèche Les Petits Chaperons Rouges, in Gennevilliers (Île-de-France), Maude Payen oversees the gestural communication program.

Since 2014, she has been teaching the basics of sign language to toddlers.

The goal: to give them a way to communicate their desires and their emotions, even if they don't know how to speak yet.

“It reduces frustration.

Babies cry a lot less, ”explains Maude Payen.

Express the needs

The concept comes from the United States.

In the 1980s, Joseph Garcia, a sign language interpreter, noticed that children born to deaf parents communicated earlier than other babies.

His idea was to adapt sign language to teach it to toddlers.

It is not a question of making constructed sentences, but of signing simple words which are enough to help children express their needs: change the diaper, ask for water, say that you are tired ... is that much later, in 2006, that sign language for babies arrives in France with the book

Signe avec moi

by psychologist Nathanaëlle Bouhier-Charles.

READ ALSO> Coronavirus: these interpreters make sign language finally visible

Marie Cao, alias Little Bunbao on social networks, notes a growing interest from parents in this method.

This former sign language interpreter shares her advice and experience on Instagram and YouTube.

It was the birth of her first daughter, Bao, four years ago, who introduced her to sign language for babies.

"She was in pain, she cried a lot," explains this mother of two children, author of the book

The Great Guide to Signs with Baby

.

Spontaneously, I set up sign language to allow her to communicate if she is in pain, if she is afraid and what bothers her.

"

“At six months, the baby's brain begins to register the signs and connects the signs with sound.

We see the first signs appear around nine months, but it can also be later, ”explains Marie Cao.

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Help with wearing a mask

In a column published in early March in Le Figaro, neuropsychiatrists and psychologists warn about the consequences for children of wearing a mask in adults, in particular in terms of delayed language learning.

An element that is also pointed out by a Chinese study published in June 2020 and a survey by the University of Grenoble in January 2021.

Faced with this obstacle, the use of sign language could be of great help.

“It's a tool.

This will allow people who know some signs to be able to compensate for wearing a mask.

It's not magic either, but it can help, ”explains Marie Cao.