Customer Reviews

Sign with your Baby

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I'd heard about signing with the baby from several friends and I was very intrigued with the idea. The science - that babies can understand far earlier than speaking, and that they want to communicate before they can vocalize - made perfect sense to us. We had trouble finding materials online, and we bought this set as a leap of faith.

The DVD was very well done - we get a bit of the expert opinion from child development experts, but it mainly focuses on how the signs are taught, like the little game with Mr. Potato Head and his shoes to teach "shoes" We were completely won over with the clips of little children signing. My husband got a bit teary-eyed when a baby signed, "More Daddy!"

We started at about 7 months, and we realized by 10 or 11 months, that our son understood the three signs we were using. We started adding more, and we were amazed that he actually understood the signs. He would be crying and we would be frustrated at what he wanted, and out of frustration, I would make the sign for "milk" - and he would calm down instantly! At about a year, he made the sign for milk, and "finished" but it was sporadic. We were a little discouraged that he was about 13 or 14 months and still not signing, but it was like a switch turned on suddenly one day. He was suddenly signing everything back, learning new signs easily.

Many people said that teaching him signs would slow down his verbal speech, but that doesn't seem to be the case. At about 20 months, my son knows more signs than words, but he uses words correctly (usually with the sign). I agree with Garcia's view that when kids use sign, we as parents talk to them more, so they are actually getting exposed to more speech, which is how they learn to speak. Like if my son makes a sign for "bird" I will say, "That's right! That's a bird on the tree! It's black bird - it's a crow. Do you know what crows say? They saw caw! caw! caw!" so a simple sign is giving me the chance to really engage with my son.

Sign language has helped my son avoid frustrations by telling us when he has a dirty diaper, or is hungry, or wants to wash his hands. The DVD and dictionary of signs, and the mat with simple signs are all great!

I'm 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 didn't know much about actual books/DVDs or programs until one close friend asked me to recommend one and I started reviewing them. Joseph Garcia's 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 it's best to learn from a DVD and actually SEE the signs being shown. It's just too hard to try to learn signs from a book or flash card. I taught my sister's twins to sign but since I wasn't yet a mother I left out a few signs that weren't obvious but would have been very helpful...signs that are mentioned in the DVD. When I watched it I even thought "why didn't I think of that one!"

Then I became pregnant and had my own child. Obviously I started signing with him from the beginning since it's 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! It's amazing!

I highly recommend teaching sign language to your child and this book/DVD is a really great way to get started.

Teaching your baby/toddler sign language is so beneficial that I don't understand why everyone isn't 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 doesn't 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 isn't difficult to start, you only start with a few signs. The hard part is identifying your baby's 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 they're easy to remember) and Joseph Garcia is not annoying to watch.

If you cannot afford this you can rent it from your local library.

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 .

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.

I was hoping that it was going to show more words to learn, it focused on how it was to be taught, and how it worked with other people. More of an informational dvd than anything

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.

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

The book arrived in good time and packaged great as well. Haven't read the book yet, but I would buy from this seller again.