Sign with your Baby

baby gift

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.

We used this with both of our boys. It takes practice, but it does pay off. Both were telling us what they wanted long before they could verbalize. This saved us from frustration and crying tantrums. That was my main reason for using it. But it is also fun to see what the children were thinking about and talk to them about it before they had actual language to do so.

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

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.

Good reference for some essential sign language for baby.

Wow, really thrilled with this DVD! It is not to show to your child, but rather to teach you as a parent or caretaker how to most effectively go about teaching and communicating via sign language with your hearing (or hearing impaired) baby of age 6 months or above. Bought it used on Amazon for about $1.50 plus shipping, so a real steal. Its so well presented, so educational, you wouldnt really even need to buy a book before applying your knowledge. Several seasoned experts as well as signing parents give tips and demonstrate their points with anecdotes or footage of their own babies. [I did buy another signing video before this one, but its really not suitable and way overstimulating for baby. Maybe better for little ones age 1-3.] My baby is four months old now, but her dad, grandma, and I are getting started learning the signs so we can communicate with her at the earliest! Its clear shes eager to have more communication options in her repertoire! :) Best wishes to all in their efforts to communicate with their babies and children.

I like the fact that is it ASL and not some made up stuff. Garcia is a very knowledgeable and easy to watch guy. I recommend this for the money and how it is pretty much all you need for a beginner .

excellent

I checked out this video and the book that goes with it recently because we were trying to find some of the signs my daughters other videos did not have in them. I really enjoyed watching it and learned many new signs. However; it is a bit outdated and very long if you watch it straight through. I highly recommend you watch this video in sections. I like that it has many tips for helping your loved one learn sign language and for parents to encourage more sign language use. I also like the signing section at the end of the DVD. The quickly and alphabetically go through a number of signs. This helped me a lot to learn the signs that we were looking for. I recommend this video to parents that are starting out sign language training with a baby. It was a good resource. It helped us utilize our Signing Time knowledge and now our little one signs all the time.