Customer Reviews

Amazing Baby: A First Guide to Baby Signing

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I was at the International Toy Fair in New York City in February, I stopped in at Dolphin Books and was introduced to their new book on baby signs, A First Guide to Baby Signing. I was impressed because it was authored by a professional who actually works with sign language, Katie Mayne, a teacher of the deaf.

As a language expert at Play on Words, I see parents increasingly interested in teaching sign language to their babies. Sign language provides babies with a way to communicate with hand movements long before their vocal mechanism is ready to say words. Allowing babies and toddlers to express their needs and wants earlier, relieves frustration and gives us a peek into their thoughts and desires.

The author's expertise accounts for the simple but accurate information and inclusion of important tips such as making sure family members and care givers can recognize and use signs too since the purpose is to provide a means for your child to communicate. Her tip to keep background noise to a minimum correlates with research that says babies learn language better in a quiet environment, since they have a harder time distinguishing foreground and background sounds.

The yummy colors and kid-friendly graphics surround captivating pictures of babies and moms signing 44 basic words divided into ten categories from "starter signs" relating to your child's basic needs of hunger and thirst, to "indoor", "outdoor" and "evening" signs. The categories of signs as well as the sequence in which they are introduced are based on language learning while individual signs were chosen to link to earliest speech sounds and words spoken. Step-by-step photographs make learning easy and fun.

Grab this inviting manual and start signing with your child. Your reward will be a gesture of "I love you" far before your child can say the words.

I love a book with pretty pictures any day- and this gets 10 stars for that! It is a great starter signing book.

The description above says - great for small hands for handling- maybe the other books in their series- not this one, careful with the toddler- you may get pages ripped out here!

There are about 58 signs to learn here. They are organized with tabs to find easily AND has a great index in the back. It is missing a few signs I wanted to learn and teach as "bike", "bubbles" and "blanket"....but you can't have it all! I wish it was in a three-ring binder format and that one can buy additional pages/sets to use/learn if they continue with signing.

If you are serious about the child learning signs- imo- DVDs are great in addition to books! I am also watching "baby signing times" with my non-verbal toddler- visual DVDs are SO helpful!

Overall- great book!

I've been using the Baby Signing Time Volume 1 and Volume 2 DVDs to teach my grandson American Sign Language since he was 14 months. I ordered this book, as well, and it has become one of his favorite books! He understands that the illustrations show signs and he's mastered them, but his favorite thing about the book is the numbers at the top corner of the pages where the signs are illustrated! I think it's because they're outlined in concentric circles that sets the numbers off and he is nuts about numbers (as well as letters and signing). I bought the book to supplement my own knowledge of sign language and it's beautifully laid out with excellent, simple instructions for each of several rudimentary signs, illustrated by photographs of toddlers and adults making the signs. As a teaching tool, both for adults and children, it's an excellent buy and backs up the DVDs beautifully, although I wouldn't rely on it alone to learn to sign. I would probably have put the book on the shelf and left it there after a few readings except for my toddler grandson's joy in the combination of the circled numbers and the photographs of little ones like himself using the sign language that he loves so much. NOTE: he's not hearing-impaired--just not very good at talking yet--and the signing reduces his frustration at not being able to say what's on his mind. But I'm certain this book would be useful in working with a hearing-impaired child, as well.

not very many signs in this book. About 8 per page. I would skip this and check it out from the library or better yet, get a more comprehensive signing book from the library. This one is not comprehensive enough for our needs.