Help me find a great baby sign language book!
January 13, 2011 1:15 PM   Subscribe

I am looking for a great baby sign language book for my sister, to start using with her wee daughter. Suggestions? And bonus question about parenting magazines!

My sister has requested a baby sign language book for her upcoming birthday. I've seen a few online that look great, but there are mixed reviews and I wanted to get some opinions from brilliant MeFites about what they've found useful. Her daughter is about 4 1/2 months, but obviously this is something that she'll start now slowly and then use as the baby gets older. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

And a bonus: I'd also like to get her a subscription to a parenting magazine, because she loves that kind of thing. We're in Canada, and she already gets "Today's Parent". I don't mind if the magazine is not Canadian, but if it costs a huge amount to subscribe to here, then it's kind of out. I don't have any specific criteria, but she's a pretty down-to-earth woman with really reasonable ideas about parenting, if that helps.

Thank you!
posted by sabotagerabbit to Human Relations (12 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: We really liked the Baby Signing Time series of videos, which were a gift from wonderful friends. If there's any branded books, they are likely to be good.

I know she asked for a book, but maybe consider sneaking a DVD in too. Not for the baby, but for the parents. The Baby Signing Time series is all done with songs (many are probably) which are terrifically infectious and get stuck in your head which makes learning the signs (again, for the parents not the baby) much easier because you'll be working away and start humming about how it's time to eat, eat eat what a treat. Eat, eat, cereal (squiggle pointer finger across chin).
posted by cCranium at 1:22 PM on January 13, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: It's really hard to learn sign language from a book. I totally second the Signing Time series.
posted by TooFewShoes at 1:29 PM on January 13, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: As mentioned already the Signing Time DVD series is really great. They may have books on their website.

Four and a half months is a little early to start w/ signing. When your sister's baby waves bye-bye then he/she is ready to learn sign language. (Around 9 month - 1 year?)

We have two kids under four and about 13 Signing Time DVDs. Our kids LOVE the series and I have to say I quite enjoy it too. Our kids have learned basic ASL from the series and use it all the time.

One more comment, beware that there are competing "Baby Sign Language" systems. The Signing Time series teaches ASL (American Sign Language). We have some books at home that teach "Baby Sign Language" which can differ from ASL occasionally. This is more a heads up for Mom and Dad b/c the kids seem to learn both signs and can swap between them w/ no effort. If I get home b/4 this post expires I'll send you the name of the series of books, but can't think of it right now.
posted by pandabearjohnson at 2:30 PM on January 13, 2011


a word to the wise - there have been a few reputable studies done that have found that babies that do the sign language thing have difficulty developing their speech skills - they learn to instinctually rely on the signing instead of learning words.

just food for thought.
posted by assasinatdbeauty at 3:46 PM on January 13, 2011


pandabearjohnson: Four and a half months is a little early to start w/ signing. When your sister's baby waves bye-bye then he/she is ready to learn sign language. (Around 9 month - 1 year?)

Starting from birth can mean the child picks it up much earlier. They may not have the capability to make the sign correctly but can and will use it at 5 or 6 months (esp. 'milk'). My gumby daughter didn't but most kids I know whose parents signed regularly for 'milk' and things like that, have children who use multiple signs BY nine months. It's like any other developmental thing though - some kids pick it up easy and early, some kids don't.

We started off with the Australian version of AUSLAN for babies. We transitioned to Makaton, which is adjust AUSLAN for children with developmental delays, because her cousin has cerebral palsy and is being taught that.

I'd be leery of parenting mags - every single one I came across had a heavy advertising bent and suffered a lot due to inaccurate reporting of scientific studies. Maybe one of the design-y type ones? Or style?
posted by geek anachronism at 4:03 PM on January 13, 2011


assasinatdbeauty: a word to the wise - there have been a few reputable studies done that have found that babies that do the sign language thing have difficulty developing their speech skills - they learn to instinctually rely on the signing instead of learning words.

Not difficulty as such, but delay in verbal communication onset. The ones I came across suggested that once they adopted verbal language they adopted it at a more advanced level though.
posted by geek anachronism at 4:05 PM on January 13, 2011


My son really loved the Signing Time DVDs, and the tunes were catchy enough to make the signs easy for adults to learn, which helps. For us, the key to using sign language was to limit it to the most important signs: more, done/enough, water, and milk really got us a long way towards communicating, baby to adult.
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:26 PM on January 13, 2011


Signing Time. There are few things that have made such a huge positive difference in my daughter's life. Rachel Coleman, co-creator of the series, is a terrific human being on top of it all.
posted by plinth at 4:54 PM on January 13, 2011


Dr. Linda Acredolo (of www.babysigns.com --- "The Original Sign Language Program for Babies" fame) was one of my C.Dev professors in college, and I can attest to her also being an amazing person. It seems they sell product "kits" on their website, but that includes a manual and other materials.

Bonus: a couple of weeks ago I was in a store shopping and saw a dad with his little toddler girl - she clearly made the sign for "more" (in this case asking for her sippy cup back) and I not only recognized the sign (whoa) but also was able to witness the entire exchange between the dad and kid:

Kid: *more* sign
Dad: Oh, you want more? Here's your cup.
Kid: Why thank you kind sir, I shall now refrain from screaming and throwing a complete hissy fit in this fine establishment.

YMMV ;)
posted by polly_dactyl at 9:10 PM on January 13, 2011


For the parenting magazine, you might google " local parent magazine" and see if there is a very local one. That would contain all kinds of information about plays, museum exhibits, festivals, carnivals, puppet shows, etc. in her area that she might want to take her child to. It also contains local ads for products like custom furniture and toys and other services that could be helpful.
posted by CathyG at 7:30 AM on January 14, 2011


Response by poster: Thank you all so much - the suggestion of DVDs is great, and not one I had thought of, though it makes so much sense. I'll also pass along the great tips you've included here!
posted by sabotagerabbit at 8:20 AM on January 14, 2011


My daughter loves Linda Acredolo's Baby Signs for... series of board books. Loves them. As in, she's almost five and can speak well but she still checks them out from the library every time we go.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:30 AM on January 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


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