The Efficacy of Baby Sign Language in Reducing Problem Behaviors in Typically Developing Children
Abstract
Baby sign is an emerging trend that is speculated to reduce the instances of tantrums, emotional outbursts, and frustration in typically hearing infants (Nelson, White, & Grewe, 2012). Despite its proclaimed benefits, little research has been conducted to evaluate the true efficacy of baby sign in reducing problem behaviors in typically hearing children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether or not baby sign could be used as an alternative and augmentative communication modality in increasing communicative intent and decreasing stress. A single subject, AB design was used to examine the changes in behavior in a typically developing child 11 months of age. The researchers introduced baby sign to the participant using an adapted version of the milieu language teaching procedure (MT) and recorded the number of problem behaviors exhibited during baseline and treatment sessions. Sessions were video-recorded to obtain inter-rater reliability and percentage of non-overlapping data was calculated to determine overall efficacy. Results showed that the treatment using baby sign was effective in reducing problem behaviors by 50% percent. These findings have implications for the positive effects of baby sign use in typically developing populations.
Subject Area
Speech therapy
Recommended Citation
Dinh, Nguyen-chau, "The Efficacy of Baby Sign Language in Reducing Problem Behaviors in Typically Developing Children" (2018). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI10822567.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI10822567