Researchers studied five infants, two of whom were deaf and had deaf parents. In the deaf households, communication took place through American Sign Language.

Scientists found that both hearing and deaf children babbled in the language used in their homes. Hearing infants produced sounds, then syllables, and eventually meaningful words. The deaf infants did the same with their hands. At first they would make the hand signs for basic letters and numbers, stringing them together without meaning. Just as the hearing infants were beginning to offer meaningful communication by their first birthday, the deaf infants’ signing had reached the same point by their first birthday.

REF: Hands-on babbling. Science News, v. 139, Mar. 30, 1991. p. 205. Image: Sign Language Alphabet by Jazz Davis CCA By SA 4.0

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