Baby sign language uses purposeful hand movements to support communication before spoken words are established. The Wonder Weeks app tracks developmental leaps and offers activities, a diary, and a parent forum; it can help structure play routines, but baby-sign practice still depends on choosing and modeling signs consistently. In a sign, handshape means how the hand or hands are formed, while movement describes the direction, path, repetition, or change. Location and palm orientation also affect meaning, so a handshape or motion alone may not produce a clear sign.
Table of Contents
- What the Wonder Weeks App Offers
- Handshape and Movement Work Together
- How to Practice During Daily Routines
- Which Sign System Should You Use?
- What Baby Signing Can—and Cannot—Promise
What the Wonder Weeks App Offers
The Wonder Weeks app follows developmental "leaps," predicts fussy and skills phases, and includes more than 70 play activities. It also provides a diary and parent forum, giving families places to plan activities and record observations.
The Wonder Weeks describes these app features here. Use those features as a routine-setting tool. For example, choose one communication activity during a play period, practice the same sign during meals or dressing, and note which gestures your child attempts.
Handshape and Movement Work Together
Handshape is the hand's form: an open hand, closed hand, pointing finger, or another configuration. Movement is what the hand does, such as moving upward, repeating, opening, or traveling toward another location. A sign also depends on where it is made and how the palm faces.
Changing one of these features can change the meaning or turn a sign into an unclear gesture. Gallaudet University Press explains these sign components in *The Signing Family*. When learning a sign, watch the complete model rather than memorizing only the most noticeable hand shape. Practice the handshape, movement, location, and palm orientation together.
How to Practice During Daily Routines
Choose one useful sign connected to an object or action your child sees often. Say the word, make the sign, and connect it to the real object or activity.
NIDCD milestone guidance supports watching communication behaviors such as gestures, sounds, and responses during everyday interaction. A consistent routine gives your child repeated opportunities to connect a gesture with meaning. NIDCD provides speech and language milestone guidance here.
- Model the same sign during the same routine.
- Keep saying the spoken word while signing.
- Pause briefly so your child has a chance to respond.
- Treat approximations as communication attempts.
- Respond when your child points, gestures, vocalizes, or copies you.
Which Sign System Should You Use?
ASL, or American Sign Language, is a complete visual-spatial language with its own grammar. It is not universal, so families should use the sign language or sign system that fits their linguistic community.
The Gallaudet Clerc Center explains ASL and sign language as primary communication. This matters when copying signs from apps, videos, or family advice. Confirm that the model matches the language your household uses, then practice the full sign rather than adapting isolated movements.
What Baby Signing Can—and Cannot—Promise
Babies may communicate with gestures before spoken words are established, but development varies. Look across a range of behaviors, including copying, pointing, shared attention, vocalizing, and responses to people. Research has not established that baby signing reliably improves long-term language acquisition in typically developing hearing infants. Reviewed studies found no evidence that it harms typical language development, so families can use signing as a practical communication support without treating it as a guaranteed language advantage.
Fitzpatrick and colleagues summarize this evidence in their systematic review. The Wonder Weeks app is informational and developmental, not a substitute for professional care. If you have concerns about hearing, speech, or development, discuss them with a clinician rather than relying on app predictions. The Wonder Weeks states this limitation in its terms.