Sign with your Baby

Teaching your baby/toddler sign language is so beneficial that I dont understand why everyone isnt doing it. My 21 month old has been signing since she was 9 months old. I think she is so easy going because since understanding the concepts she has been able to ask for what she wants like: help, more food, or tell me when she doesnt like something by signing finished, etc. I feel like all parents should do whatever they can to make life an enjoyable experience for their children (one that is balanced with play and learning) and this is a great way to make them happier, not to mention you as well. This DVD is 15 mins of how to sign with your baby and the benefits of it and a vocab menu that shows you how to produce certain signs. It isnt difficult to start, you only start with a few signs. The hard part is identifying your babys version of the sign once they start producing so you can reinforce it. It does not delay speech (my daughter is a chatter box). In fact there are arguments that it enhances speech because the child learns earlier there is a word assigned with an item/concept/etc. and how to manipulate that concept by engaging it through signing. I like Sign with your Baby because it uses real ASL signs (most of which make sense so theyre easy to remember) and Joseph Garcia is not annoying to watch. If you cannot afford this you can rent it from your local library.

This DVD was fantastic! It provides everything one needs to get started right away. I was especially pleased with the plethora of signs demonstrated on the DVD.

Received this DVD and it never worked. Would not play in any DVD player that we tried. Waste of money.

Very informative! I dont have children...YET, but I wanted to get this for future use! Im very happy with my purchase! :-)

Wonderful tool to begin your journey with! I learned that we cant start signing with him just to stop - the signing always makes a difference for your baby, even when he decides not to sign back. My son became more frustrated and uncomfortable without signs once he was introduced to them...kinda keeps me on my ps and qs now.

Purchased as a gift for a hospice family.

This is more for parents to learn and not so much for babies to watch. That said, it was pretty good!

Purchased as a gift for my nephew - his daughter currently has a trach and we thought it might be wise to introduce her to sign language so that we could still communicate.

A little cheesy and so stuck in like 1989-1992 ish?!?! But for those that havent had any exposure to sign language, I guess it is okay. Gave to my mom in law to watch.

Im a professional sign language interpreter and I often had friends who became mothers and asked me about signing with their babies. I always encouraged it and even taught them a few signs but didnt know much about actual books/DVDs or programs until one close friend asked me to recommend one and I started reviewing them. Joseph Garcias DVD was the best I came across. For one, he uses and teaches American Sign Language, not some made-up stuff for babies. And since sign language is a visual language its best to learn from a DVD and actually SEE the signs being shown. Its just too hard to try to learn signs from a book or flash card. I taught my sisters twins to sign but since I wasnt yet a mother I left out a few signs that werent obvious but would have been very helpful...signs that are mentioned in the DVD. When I watched it I even thought why didnt I think of that one! Then I became pregnant and had my own child. Obviously I started signing with him from the beginning since its my second language. He started signing milk at 8 months. Then came more, eat, all done and bath not long after that. He picked up signs very quickly and had a pretty impressive sign vocabulary by his first birthday. It was SO helpful to be able to communicate with him. He never pointed and yelled/whined for things like I always see other babies do. He can tell me when he wants to eat or sleep or play. He can tell me if he wants more or is finished with something. Babies who sign also usually start speaking early as well. My son turned 16 months old a few days ago and he can sign over 50 signs, speak over 120 words and even say 12 words in Spanish! Its amazing! I highly recommend teaching sign language to your child and this book/DVD is a really great way to get started.