Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Baby signs

Darr's co-worker asked him about signing with your baby so I thought I'd post what we've been reading to learn how to do this with Henry. So far we haven't had any signs come back to us but we're currently practicing the following words:
  • milk
  • kitty
  • more
  • eat
  • drink
  • dog
My First Baby Signs
The good
: It's a board book (there are a series of them from the same authors) so you and baby can read it together without having to keep the pages out of baby's reach. Also, babies love to look at the faces of other babies and this book is full of 'em, which helps keep baby interested. The book provides you with basic words and describes how to make each sign. Since it also shows baby making the signs, you can get an idea of what to look for from your own kid.
The bad: Each book only has a handful of words. And because it is created for babies, there isn't any information about how or why you might want to sign with babies.

BabyTalk
The good
: There are a few chapters in the beginning that cover the basics (why, how, etc.) of signing with babies. It is littered with illustrations, which I like. It is easy to read and breaks signs into sections - starting, secondary, advanced. There is also a section on combining signs. If you're looking for a quick and painless entry into signing with your baby, this is the book. The bad: Darr called this one "Baby Signs for Dummies" because it is beyond easy to read and I think he hates the goofy illustrations.

Baby Signs (available at Powell's for under $10)
The good: The thinking person's book on baby signs, full of all sorts of information. (Noodle's mom lent us this book.) I like the Ten Steps to Success section. It also covers what progress you can expect and outlines how to recognize when your baby is ready to learn signs. The bad: It's a little more word-intensive so if you have been deprived of sleep lately, it might be too taxing on the brain. There are illustrations but they aren't nearly as cute as the ones in BabyTalk.

3 comments:

Dr. A said...

And google search for "baby sign language" reveals many online resources.

One speech pathologist/mother/friend of mine suggested as soon as baby knows how to wave she can communicate by sign.

Cathy said...

We did signs with Quinn and are doing them with Liam. My favorite is "please". Whenever I have the remote, Quinn crawls over, pulls himself up, reaches, and then signs "please" How could I not give it to him? Seriously.

Victoria said...

I started signing to LM when he was prob. 7 mos...he learned how to sign back eat and nurse before he was one.

We started showing him the Baby Signs brand videos at 1 b/c he needed nebulizer treatments 3x a day, and that was the only way to get him to be calm.

He took off!! Those videos are like crack. I'm kind of sad that he didn't learn as much from me, lol.

I had a strict no-tv-before-1 rule tho (although I think Dad cheated on that a bit), so I didn't want to do the vids before then.

If you're into it, I'd reccommend them. He knows SO many signs now, and also words. The repetition in the vids has helped his language explode. Awesome.

ImpostorMom(.com) reccommends the Signing Time series -- I didn't know about that before I bought the others, so I can't say.