Baby Sign Language Basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers

by Monta Z. Briant

Book Overview

In this newly expanded edition, a renowned baby-signing expert provides more than 300 American Sign Language (ASL) signs, illustrated with the same clear, easy-to-understand photos and descriptions.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401921604
• ISBN13: 9781401921606
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Hay House
• Length: 466 Pages
• Weight: 1.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.6" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

Exactly what I was looking for.

I love this book. Has just what I was looking for without a long drawn out version. I do t have a lot of free time but I still wanted to learn the basics

Great and easy read, so excited to start signing!

I bought this book after hearing a podcast on Pregtastic with the author as the guest speaker! I was inspired to teach my baby sign language! I just started teaching him when he was 4.5 months old, we'll see if he picks anything up! The book starts off with some advice, why should you sign, and other tips and tricks. The rest of the book is 300+ useful signs! I keep it in my baby's play area and pick up words here and there and sign to him. The author makes it fun and easy by giving a written description of the sign as well! She includes cute pictures of her and her young daughter signing together.

easy to learn

This book is a quick way to teach your hearing baby sign language. They are easy and practical signs to use in your everday use!

Why not have a bilingual toddler?

This is a compact and well designed introduction to ASL for infants. The book is very small (about 4" x 4") and can go anywhere the baby goes. The first 40 pages seek to motivate the reader (speaking babies who learn to sign test with higher IQs). The next 160 pages cover 'how', and aim to make the non-signing parent the perfect instructor. The last 100 cover 60 signs. Each sign is a two page layout with 'text' on one page and a photo demonstration on the other. The words are: airplane, baby, ball, banana, baby, bear, bed, bird, blanket, car, cat, change, cold, cow, cracker, daddy, dance, dog, drink, duck, eat, elephant, finished, friend, gentle/pet, giraffe, go, grandma, grandpa, happy, help, horse, hot, I love you, jump, keys, milk, mommy, monkey, more, mouse, music, no, pain, pig, play, please, scared, share, shoes, sign, sit, sorry, stop, swing, telephone, thank you/welcome, tiger, walk, water and where. Briant highlights 10, calling them lifesavers: cold, gentle, help, hot, no, no-touch, pain, scared, share, stop. There are several interesting discussions about 'learning language'. In particular, Briant advises against 'teaching'. Instead, she advises simply adding 'signs' to your normal chit-chat with baby. It is just like a baby learning to verbalize English. Mom and Dad just talk a lot around baby, and presto... baby starts talking. Additionally, kids will pick up words that interest them most. Briant begins the book describing a conversation with her 10 month old baby regarding elephants. Her baby was terrified of elephants and thought any loud noise signified their presence. It seems like a fairly advanced issue for 10 month olds to worry about, but fears and parental protection seem to be the sort of stuff babies are highly motivated to discuss.

Wonderful Sign Language Book

We love this book! I started teaching my 14 month old sign language a month ago, and he can already sign "please", "more", "no", and "All Done". He is calmer and doesn't throw as many fits since he can "talk" to me. THis book is simple and easy to understand. There are so many new signs that I want to teach my son that I can't hardly wait until he learns one so we can start on another!! I would recommend this to any mother who wants to communicate to her children earlier. I will start teaching my daughter when she is about 6 months old and I can't wait to see how she does.

Great book- teaches ASL signs to babies

Positives:1. uses ASL (much better than baby signs because useful throughout babies life)2. excellent content, well written, easy to read (i think it even has more content than Garcia's book). 3. dictionary has 60 useful ASL signsNegatives:1. Very Small, tiny book! (though it is packed with information!)2. Does not give signs in books content (you have to go to dictionary in back to see how to do the sign).