Customer Reviews

Baby Signs

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Baby Signs is clearly designed to be a first introduction to the concept of signing with young children. The book has 162 pages. The first 109 pages are a conceptual introduction to signing with infants. In this conceptual introduction, the authors: (1) describe through examples how babies naturally use familiar gestures to communicate (e.g. waving "bye-bye" or using the motion from the Itsy Bitsy Spider when they see a spider), (2) provide anecdotes about how they observed their own children using "signs" before actually trying to sign with them, and (3) thoroughly describe the results of their research program on the use of sign language with children. The basic results of their studies were that signing speeded up the ability to communicate by 6 to 18 months, that signing increased the rate of subsequent verbal communication, and that signing had long-term positive impact on IQ and language ability. This is done with many examples of children and families in their study, so it is very engaging.

The final 53 pages include (1) responses to specific questions many parents have asked about the process of signing with children, (2) illustrations of 53 signs, and (3) Rhymes that can be used to teach children signs.

I read this book when my daughter was 3 months old, and I knew very little about the topic except that signing with babies was a new trend. As I read the touching examples of other parents using signs with their children, I often found myself with tears in my eyes as I imagined being able to have meaningful communication with my daughter far before I'd ever imagined. This book created a vivid and personal picture of how signing could create a better relationship with my daughter. The research results it described also allowed me to respond confidently to questions from my parents and others about how signing would impact the acquisition of verbal communication. In fact, we purchased this book for my parents and my in-laws and all enjoyed it.

We began signing with our daughter when she was about 9 months old. By the time she was 1 year, we had outgrown the Baby Signs book and found we needed more specific examples of signs in order to keep up with her. At this point, we purchased Joseph Garcia's Sign with Your Baby. Sign With Your Baby has a much more complete set of illustrated signs, with most of its text devoted to this. Although Sign With Your Baby had some of the conceptual introduction of Baby Signs, it read much more like a reference book and was less personal.

In conclusion, Baby Signs and Sign With Your Baby fill two very different needs. If you know very little about the concept of signing with children, buy Baby Signs. If you are looking for a great baby gift, buy Baby Signs. If you are signing with your child and want the grandparents to buy into the concept, buy Baby Signs. If you are already sold on the idea of signing and want an excellent reference with many illustrations of signs, buy Sign with Your Baby. An additional suggestion is to buy an overall ASL signing book.

I purchased this book when I was pregnant intending to teach sign language to my baby. As a speech-language pathologist, I recognized the value of early communication through the use of sign language. This book provides excellent information on how to introduce your own signs to your baby as well as fascinating stories about other childrens' experiences with using baby signs. The book is easy to follow and parents do not need to use a formal system of sign language. The book also contains a chapter of answers to parents' questions.

Teaching baby signs to my daughter was easy and fun to do. She has done very well with signing. At 13 months, she had an expressive sign vocabulary of almost 30 signs and could put 2 signs together to form a phrase. This was remarkable, since the average child doesn't put 2 words together until 18 months. Baby Signs has enabled my daughter to communicate earlier, allowed me to see what she really knows, and reduced her frustration in communicating. Now that she is speaking, she uses signs to clarify words I don't understand. What a wonderful gift this has been to our family!

I now teach a developmental play class for parents and infants. I teach baby signs as part of the class. Parents have been very enthusiastic about learning signs and I always recommend this book.

This book should be given to every parent before they can leave the hospital; required like child safety seats. The deceptively simple approach to non-verbal communication with children in the 10 to 24 month range presented here is nothing short of magic. Our twin grandchildren's mother got the book at a baby shower. The parents and we the grandparents (who have daily contact with the girls) decided to try signs as the authors suggested, beginning at 10 months.

I was leery at first, feeling as some reviewers have that this was simply what parents had always done. Not so. I wish I had know about this 30 years ago with my own kids.

As the book predicted, they took a couple of weeks of repeated use before the girls began understanding and using signs, but once they did the results were astounding. No more whinny children -- they tell you they are hungry, thirsty, the water is too hot or cold, they want more, to do it again, they understand that its all gone....

It is not ASL, nor could it be. Children of this age do not have the finger control necessary to do ASL. It does not delay speech, it accelerates it. I suspect is gives the children an immense head start in intellectual areas.

The signs they show in drawings and pictures are very helpful, but nothing prepares you for the joy you feel when your child invents a sign to tell you something new. You soon discover for yourself much of what the book's "testimonial" accounts have predicted. Baby Signs -- give a copy to someone you know.

The only real fault with Baby Signs is that if you try it you become addicted: our web site is proof of that. http:members.xoom.com/jfitch2/babysigns.html

I see in these reviews some differences of opinion about whether to use "correct" ASL signs, or the made-up (and simpler to do) Baby Signs suggested by the authors of this book. After reading this book, we got an ASL dictionary and tried using ASL signs, but found that our baby at 1 year didn't have the manual dexterity to do many of the ASL signs. With our next child I will try using more of the Baby Signs.

This book was a quick read (important for those sleep-deprived new parents!). The information was easy to understand yet backed up by plenty of research to convince me that it wasn't just someone's crazy idea. It worked great and was such a pleasant addition to our lives! Like other reviewers, I recommend this book to all new parents. It is so fun to see other babies signing "more" to their folks and remembering when my sweetie was little...

My husband and I LOVED this book and what it did for our relationship with our child. The book gives good arguments for why teaching your child baby signs can be very fruitful, and gives clear instructions for going about it. We started in earnest with our daughter at about 8 months; by 15 months she was learning new signs *every day* and had a vocabulary of over 50 signs. After a slow start, she quickly grasped the concept of baby signs and used them to the utmost. It was extremely rewarding to see her be able to communicate so effectively. The book tauts how this method will accelerate your child's verbal development; at the time I remember thinking that it didn't matter if this were the case--it was just so much fun signing with her! Now she is 22 mos, and is talking up a storm. Many folks have commented on her large vocabulary. Was it due to Baby Signs? Who knows--whether it was or not, the experience we had because of this book was well worth the effort.

When we bought this book three years ago it was for several reasons. First, a good friend highly recommended the book. Second, it was the easiest to use and seemed to be the most well researched of the baby signs books available at the time. Other books, such as those by Joseph Garcia, did not spend as much time researching the results of using baby signs. Also, other methods seemed restricted to American Sign Language, whereas this book encourages you to learn signs from your child as well as teach them. Last, this book was the most economical. This book taught me how to communicate with my children before they could talk. It's great to see our oldest (three years)signing with his 17 month old brother. We've recommended this book to family and friends and even given it as a gift to parents-to-be. Everyone we know who owns this book has nothing but postitive results.

I bought Baby Signs along with Joseph Garcia's Sign with Your Baby, and what a difference in how useful they are. While Baby Signs offers some good advice, it falls short compared to Sign with Your Baby. The numerous scenerios seem designed to convince a parent that signing is a good idea, something one might already assume about a buyer of a signing book. A significant portion of the book is devoted to the authors' research, which may interest some but did not help me learn to sign effectively.

I highly recommend Garcia's Sign with Your Baby. Garcia's book (and video and chart) are clear and were very helpful. Unlike Baby Signs, it is almost entirely devoted to explaining how to sign, including how to create your own signs. Whether parents develop their own signs, as Acredolo and Goodwyn suggest, or uses the simple signs Garcia explains, a baby can learn to communicate. Our son understands and signs for milk, more, all done, diaper change, and many other things.

I had heard of sign language for babies before my son was born and was convinced that I would try it when our baby was old enough. I started showing our son a few signs at six months and I must say that although this method takes much patience and effort, BOY DOES IT HAVE A GREAT PAYOFF! Our son started to sign back to us right after his first birthday and by the time he was 14 months old, he had over 20 signs in his repetoire! He could tell us when he was thirsty, hungry, wanted more or was finished, and when he wanted his blanket. He can tell us about Barney and Elmo and airplanes. Now that he's 19 months old, he is trying to say the words rather than sign them, but he still uses 10 or so signs. Once he began signing our stress level really decreased. He wasn't screaming for a vague item, but telling us calmly what he wanted. I would recommend this book for its encouragement to stay with it as well as its encouragement of parents to be creative with making up signs that don't exist. I initially used a book called Signing with Your Baby. Its approach is different in that it uses pure established signs. (If you are looking for more of an actual handbook, that's the one to use). We ended up using a combo of both methods. I would highly recommend Baby Signs to anyone with an infant, young toddler, or expecting a baby.

I have a son with a severe speech delay. His Speech Therapist recommended this book because she wanted us to be able to communicate with him as easily and as quickly as possible.

It does spend a lot of time "justifying" the use of signs (of any kind) with babies - for a very good reason! These authors were the FIRST to publish a book on signing with hearing babies, and they were facing a world of skeptics and needed to substantiate their claim that this would be beneficial to babies.

As far as the signs being "non-ASL", well this book actually does have some ASL (about 80% of the signs are ASL in fact). In the glossary many things are listed twice - once is the ASL version and once is an easier version, and it tells you which is which. And the non-ASL signs were not just chosen out of the blue, they were selected based on observations of signs that babies themselves were creating!

It is fine if you prefer to use the ASL signs only, but you may have to wait a bit longer for your baby to learn some signs. The fact is that most families will only be signing with their babies until they can speak fluently at about 24 months, so it is irrelevant for these families if the sign is ASL or not. The whole point is communication, so if you and your baby both understand it, you have succeeded.

The authors of this book are both PhDs in Child Development, not ASL. So they focused on the developmental benefits of signing, rather than the signs themselves. As a Mom of 3 kids, knowing that I am teaching them in a way that is developmentally appropriate for them is importnat to me, and this book does it.

Also read their newest book, Baby Hearts, which focuses on the emotional needs of your baby and how to meet those needs!

We used this book with my first son. His first sign was fish at ten months old. By the time he was 18 months he knew over 50 signs. I was so eager to DO SOMETHING with him. He was too young to color with or play ball. Baby signs was the perfect thing for us! Baby Signs really helped his language development. Now my son is four and is as smart as a whip. We are teaching my 11 month old baby signs now, too - with my four year old's help! So far our baby can sign dog, frog, fish, eat, duck, and all done! You will feel so much more connected to your child by using baby signs. It's great fun!