The Baby Signing Book
Everyone is having babies these days. The Royal Baby Watch is in full swing, the mall is full of mama beating the Texas heat by hovering in air conditioned department store, and three (count ’em – three!) members of my bodybuilding team are pregnant right now. I think Mel’s Machines should be nicknamed Mel’s Baby Making Machines.
Anyway, for all you preggers and new mamas out there, this book review is for you. The Baby Signing Book, Second Edition by Sara Bingham recently came on the market ($24.95 US/ $24.95 CAN) showing that the trend for baby signing continues to grow.
Baby signing demonstrates parents and caregivers 450 American Sign Language (ASL) signs to teach their babies and toddlers. Why do this with your baby and not just wait till Junior starts talking? Well, talking is pretty complicated. Sometimes a child knows exactly what she wants but can’t express it, so she ends up crying in frustration and parents end up scratching their heads, equally frustrated. Sign language reduces that frustration because it shows easy to do hand signals to tell adults what she wants.
I have two friends who swear by baby signing. Although I personally did not teach baby signs to my own children, one babysitter taught my daughter Rylee the sign for “more”, as in, “I want more.”
Here is the word “more” excerpted from “The Baby Signing Book, Second Edition” © 2007, 2013 by Sara Bingham. Published by Robert Rose, Inc. All rights reserved: May not be reprinted without publisher permission.:
Anyway, the babysitter said she thought Rylee learned the word. It was right around Rylee’s first birthday, so it also meant she got to eat her very first bite of chocolate. After tasting it on her tongue she immediately began to run circles around the coffee table making the sign, “more! more! more!” So, that was impressive. And it also proved the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (I love chocolate.)
Part 1 of the book provides an introduction to signing with babies and young children. art 2 is an illustrated dictionary of 450 ASL signs. Part 3 provides songs and rhymes to sign with your child.
Happy signing!
Lisa 
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Baby Sign copyright information above. Please note all opinions are my own. No compensation was given for this review, other than a copy of the book.
Sheslosingit.net (c) 2013 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.
Teaching signs to babies is TOTALLY worth it! Better communication leads to fewer tantrums. I’m now teaching in a school for Autistic students, and many of them communicate in sign. It is the BEST thing.
A coworker of mine babysat for a family of (typical) kids, one was young and pre-verbal. She was amazed at how tough it was to figure out why the little one was crying. Our autistic students who are non-verbal have signs and also picture communication systems to help them communicate what they want, she was left playing “20 questions” with the little one as she carried him around the house. “Do you want a toy? a snack? Does your tummy hurt?” Giving children a way to communicate makes EVERYONE happier!
Great info, Jenny! Thanks!
Since our first child was deaf we started teaching American Sign Language to his two brothers as soon as they were born. Of course, after “mommy” and “daddy” the next sign they learned was “McDonald’s” (unfortunately, we used to eat there a lot).
It’s great that everyone learned how to communicate so early. (Expressing the want for McDonald’s and chocolate seems to get learned pretty fast in every family LOL)
Thanks lisa im going to look this up, hasn’t come yet
It’s pretty interesting.