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The Baby Signing Book: Includes 350 ASL Signs for Babies and Toddlers
This first edition (9780778801634) is replaced by the second edition (9780778804512). Communicate with babies -- even before they can speak. Before a baby can talk and before a toddler can say completely understandable words, they have important things to say. Babies and children are often more interested in connecting with parents or other caregivers than playing with their toys. The Baby Signing Book uses American Sign Language, which is ideal for babies and toddlers The Baby Signing Book teaches parents 300 developmentally appropriate American Sign Language signs. With clear instructions for every sign, memory aid, song and game, the learning in this program is easy to follow and, most important, fun for all. Language milestones are charted throughout the book so progress can be charted. The book also features a variety of visual highlights that emphasize key concepts and interesting tips. Adults can customize a program according to the family's needs and aspirations. With the dictionary of 300 symbols, this handbook is clearly the most user-friendly and comprehensive baby signing book available.
- GenresParentingNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2007
5 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 5, 2016
I love this book. I am teaching my 2 1/2 yr grandson how to sign. He enjoys learning a new sign or two each day. We had taught him a few signs when he was a baby but I decided to teach him more. The main reason is that a toddler can learn a new language easier than an older person. He enjoys showing daddy when he is picked up what he has learned. He uses the signs in everyday talking with me.
It was also interesting to read the beginning of the book of how it came about. I would highly reccomend this book to others.
It was also interesting to read the beginning of the book of how it came about. I would highly reccomend this book to others.
October 4, 2009
While I find it fascinating that it's possible to teach your infant/toddler many different words in ASL before s/he learns to speak, I don't think I will be spending very much time on this. I will however, try to teach them the signs for milk, potty, eat, sleep. The idea of allowing the baby to communicate and decreasing his/her frustrations is appealing.
April 9, 2011
Borrowed from Library, but boy I would love to own this!! Super useful helpful resource. I love signing with my baby, and this is where I learned most of it!
October 12, 2010
Reference for story time signing.
March 15, 2011
This book was everything I was looking for in regards to signing with babies and children. I LOVE that they use ASL signs!
January 12, 2021
I came to this book as someone who became a student of ASL after my first son was born and now wants to sign with my newborn. However, this is decidedly not "how to teach your child ASL as a second language" nor is it "how to sign with Deaf/HoH children." This is a book written by a hearing woman with hearing children for other hearing parents with hearing children. Because of that, some of the advice (e.g., always speak and sign at the same time, sign only key words) flies in the face of what you would do to actually teach ASL as a full language to your child, and the author assumes that you may or may not want to continue signing once the child is old enough to speak fluently, though she provides a few suggestions for why you might continue. And all of that is not even getting into the issue of hearing people making money from teaching a language that is native to a culture they're not part of — throughout the book, Bingham promotes the sign language program she founded rather than suggesting resources by Deaf ASL teachers. However, I will say that Bingham does provide quite a bit of history and context regarding ASL and the Deaf community and even touches on the fact that ASL grammar is different than English grammar (though she doesn't think it's necessary to learn ASL grammar if your child is hearing because, again, you're just teaching them key signs and not an actual language).
So if you approach this book for what it is — not an introduction to a language by a native speaker, but encouragement to use bits and pieces of a language for other purposes — I think Bingham does a thorough job of making the case to skeptical hearing parents about why it's valuable to learn some ASL signs and use them with your children as early as possible, and then she provides concrete suggestions for how to introduce these signs and use them as part of daily life. There are chapters for different ages that also provide helpful context for the developmental milestones you typically see at that age and how to tie in sign language to the ways you are likely already engaging with your child.
I think if the child-rearing benefits (giving children more communication tools earlier so they are less frustrated and develop language skills more quickly) lead more hearing parents to learn some basic ASL signs and teach those to their children, then ultimately that's going to mean more hearing people able to communicate with Deaf ASL speakers in at least the rudiments of conversation, which I'm in favor of. That said, if you want to sign with your child (and I think more people should), please also seek out the many Deaf-created resources out there. If nothing else, you'll want to see videos of many of the signs because 1) it's hard to understand signs from a printed book and 2) a number of the signs in this book's dictionary are old or uncommon, and since ASL is a living language, seeking out native speakers is going to provide the most up-to-date and accurate information. But I hope that the interest in baby sign leads more people to develop interest in learning ASL as a language because that would go a long way in making the world more accessible for Deaf folks.
So if you approach this book for what it is — not an introduction to a language by a native speaker, but encouragement to use bits and pieces of a language for other purposes — I think Bingham does a thorough job of making the case to skeptical hearing parents about why it's valuable to learn some ASL signs and use them with your children as early as possible, and then she provides concrete suggestions for how to introduce these signs and use them as part of daily life. There are chapters for different ages that also provide helpful context for the developmental milestones you typically see at that age and how to tie in sign language to the ways you are likely already engaging with your child.
I think if the child-rearing benefits (giving children more communication tools earlier so they are less frustrated and develop language skills more quickly) lead more hearing parents to learn some basic ASL signs and teach those to their children, then ultimately that's going to mean more hearing people able to communicate with Deaf ASL speakers in at least the rudiments of conversation, which I'm in favor of. That said, if you want to sign with your child (and I think more people should), please also seek out the many Deaf-created resources out there. If nothing else, you'll want to see videos of many of the signs because 1) it's hard to understand signs from a printed book and 2) a number of the signs in this book's dictionary are old or uncommon, and since ASL is a living language, seeking out native speakers is going to provide the most up-to-date and accurate information. But I hope that the interest in baby sign leads more people to develop interest in learning ASL as a language because that would go a long way in making the world more accessible for Deaf folks.
October 20, 2018
This book is fun. The pictures are helpful and it is a great jumping off point for learning ASL.
January 29, 2013
I picked this book out of curiosity as I have heard that many parents now use sign language to communicate with their toddlers, even before they learn to talk hence I wanted to find out more about it. The book is divided into three parts, the first provides a quick intro on baby signing history, guide on age-specific advice ie when to start teaching sign language, the second part provides you with 350 clearly illustrated signs to teach your toddler while the last part are songs and rhymes which you can sign to your child.
Browsing through the book I realised that the signs used are American Sign Language (ASL). The author, Bingham shares that these signs are suitable to be taught to both normal and hearing impaired children. Studies have also show that children who were signed to as babies have larger vocabularies and stronger verbal language abilities later in life.
Browsing through the book I realised that the signs used are American Sign Language (ASL). The author, Bingham shares that these signs are suitable to be taught to both normal and hearing impaired children. Studies have also show that children who were signed to as babies have larger vocabularies and stronger verbal language abilities later in life.
December 20, 2016
This is an interesting and informative book and a great way to start working on learning ASL if you want to use it with children. My biggest issue isn't with the book itself but the difficulty of trying to learn ASL from text- you don't actually get to see the movements so I still found myself googling videos of specific words so I could make sure that I was getting the motions correct.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews