Sign Language.

Every post of Utbt is worth linking here. Very well researched and informative, thanks to her interests in child development. This recent post of hers talks about Sign language in children. The pros and cons.

At one stage the baby realizes that every object in her wold has a ‘name’. THIS correlation is a major milestone and her little brain is working hard, to rewrite a new, slightly complex schema that accommodates this new realization. This correlation occurs irrespective of words+object association or words+sign association. This association takes place much earlier in a baby who uses signs. Also the communication and the gratification because of the communication enriches her experience and her schema is getting more and more complex. On a two year scale, sign language baby vs non-sign language baby, the sign language baby definitly has the cognitive edge.

This post might also have answers for Lakshmis questions about brining up a child in a multilingual environment.