A baby attempting to communicate with her deaf grandparents through sign language has gone viral on TikTok.
The video, posted by Mara McCullough, 27, showcases her daughter sitting in her baby rocker, babbling animatedly in sign language.
McCullough, from St. Augustine, Florida, told Newsweek it has been amazing to see her 5-and-a-half-month-old communicate through sign language before learning to speak.
"It's almost hard for me to believe my baby who isn't even half-a-year-old yet is beginning to try to communicate with us," McCullough said.
"It fills me with joy knowing she is going to be fluent in American Sign Language and sign with her grandparents," the 27-year-old added.
The video, which has been viewed more than 8.8 million times and liked almost 2 million times, shows the hearing baby excitedly waving her hands and mimicking sign-language gestures.
Her grandparents, who are both deaf, respond to her enthusiastic attempts using American Sign Language (ASL).
Taking it in turns to communicate, McCullough's baby even observes her grandparents before sharing her own babbles and facial expressions.
Research, published in ProQuest scholarly journal, has shown that babies can start to learn and use sign language, even before they develop verbal skills. "My parents witnessed the same with my hearing brother and I when we were babies," McCullough told Newsweek.
Viewers on TikTok are understandably impressed by the baby daughter's display of early sign-language acquisition, commenting on their "beautiful relationship."
One TikTok user said: "The way she waits and pays attention to their signs as if truly conversing with them."
Another wondered why sign language is not offered as an option in school. "I would have taken that over everything else, and still taught my kids the very basics when they were babies."
Speaking to the reaction on social media, McCullough said: "We get a ton of comments from viewers expressing how emotional our videos make them.
"I think some are surprised by how complex sign language is, too," she added.
McCullough also said that there is some concern within the deaf community that hearing people who are not native users of ASL are creating sign-language tutorials for profit on social media.
The danger, McCullough added, is these videos are often misleading and showcase the wrong signs.
"I want to emphasize to parents that, if they want to learn sign language, go with video content created by deaf people or native signers that may include CODAs [Children of Deaf Adults]," McCullough said.
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Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Daniella Gray is a Newsweek Family & Parenting Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on family dynamics, childhood ... Read more
