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Results of Baby Signs Study by Acredolo and Goodwyn, Higher IQ
More than 140 families were studied when their babies were eleven months. Each baby was assigned to Baby Signing or Non-Signing group. Both groups were about similar at the start of the study in terms of: sex and birth order of the children, their tendency to vocalize or verbalize words, and the parents’ income level and education.
Both groups were assessed at 11, 15, 19, 24, 30, and 36 months old using standardized language measurements. As many children as could be relocated at 8 years old were assessed using the WISC-III IQ test, the most commonly used measure of intelligence in children.
The result of the study showed that at 24 months old, the group of Baby Signers were on average talking more like a 27 to 28 months old compared to the Non-Signing group. This is a three-month advanced in language than the Non-Signing group. The Baby Signer group were putting much longer sentences. The 36 months old Baby Signer group were talking like 47 months old making them about one year ahead in language development than the Non-Signer group. At eight years old, the Baby Signers had an average of 12 points higher in IQ on the WISC-III than the Non-Signer group (114 vs 102).
This long term follow up showed that babies who learned Baby Sign from 11 months old had a more advanced language and cognitive development.
Baby Signs, New Edition, by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, Page 28, Contemporary Books, copyright 2002
Brilliant Babies of Maine
Leo Leonidas, MD, FAAP, Assistant Clinical Professor in Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston; Attending Pediatrician, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, Maine
Please send my your suggestions and comments to improve this site:
lleonidas@pcpediatrics.org
I wrote and designed this website for parents of our practice. Before you use ideas from this website, please discuss it first with your clinician if you are not with our practice.
copyright Leo Leonidas 2002
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