Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk

by Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn, Douglas Abrams, et al.

Book Overview

The Essential Parenting Guide-NOW COMPLETELY UPDATED AND EXPANDED In 1982, child development experts Linda Acredolo, Ph.D., and Susan Goodwyn, Ph.D., discovered that babies can communicate with simple... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071387765
• ISBN13: 9780071387767
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Great, New Edition!

Sometimes, you get an "updated" version of the book and nothing has changed. However, that is not true in this case. The authors, Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, have really gone out of their way to make this an actual updated version. The glossary of signs has been greatly expanded to 150 ASL signs and 35 baby-friendly signs. The glossary separates the two so there is no confusion as to which is ASL. The glossary photos and explanations of the signs are clear and easy to figure out what the sign is. The book is easy to read and has many interesting stories about signing babies and toddlers. It also has text boxes with stories, helpful information or answers to pressing questions. These all help to make the book visually appealing. This edition also includes information about using signs with potty training and gives helpful hints as to how to potty train your toddler. The book also comes with a video dictionary demonstrating all 185 signs that is free of charge, except for shipping and handling charges. All in all, this book is an excellent resource for those who want to sign with babies and toddlers. Even if you have a previous edition, this 3rd edition is well worth the price.

An Excellent Conceptual Introduction.

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 sugge

amazing!

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.

Regarding whether to use ASL or these home-made Baby Signs:

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...

A Wonderful way to enhance communication with your baby!

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.