What are the pros and cons of teaching sign language to a baby?

I saw an item on television about teaching your child baby sign language. Do you have any opinions on this subject? My son is 6 months old and they said to start teaching this at 7 months.

Your question brings up a couple of issues. First, true sign language, BSL, is a real language, with all the components of other languages. It uses the same areas of the brain as other languages do. Learning more than one language in early life is an advantage in the long term, so in that sense it's a great idea. But do you have the skills, the time and the persistence to really introduce this as a second language? Are there other ways that you would like to spend time with your baby? This will take time away from something, so think of what the balances would be for you and your baby. Teaching sign language has to be a family effort in which signing is introduced as a normal part of daily life. Is everyone prepared to do that? For children who have a hard time learning verbal language, we regularly use sign language to open up those brain pathways that are needed to learn about communication generally. For language-delayed children, the use of sign is the first step towards developing verbal communication. For children without those special challenges, however, I don't think we have real data on any special benefits of teaching formal sign language. On the other hand, you may be referring to the programme called Baby Signs, which uses gestures to enhance vocabulary development in the early months. This programme is certainly worth looking at, as it does seem to push ahead that part of early language development. However, nothing sparks language development like using language with and around your baby. At 6 months, she is already learning a great deal about your family's first language; she's not idle at all. You don't have to push her, but the two of you could have fun with this if you wish.