My First Signs: American Sign Language

If you seriously want to learn some signs and teach your baby/toddler/child, this is an excellent starting off point, a late talking toddler or an older child who catches on quickly will want more signs right away! This is a conveniently durable reference the whole family can enjoy, although it is quite large, so it isn’t a convenient travel size.Let’s be very honest here, this is a book to teach signs to adults and older children so that THEY can teach the baby the signs, because the baby is not going to independently look at the pictures, read the description and learn to sign, it takes just as much interaction as teaching a child to speak (I hope nobody hopes their child will learn to speak by leaving any book with written text around them!) but it is nice having the illustrations and board book format so that the books is enjoyable to use with baby or toddler near by.I think looking up video recordings of the signs is pretty much a must for some of them, but this books is excellent reinforcement and has a good number of signs. I don’t this it matters that there are eight signs per spread since like I said an infant isn’t going to learn signs from a book. By the time a child is about a year old they’ll probably be able to learn identify some of the pictures by pointing either by hearing spoken word (for children with hearing) and/or seeing gestures if they have been used regularly with the child.Now that my child is 2 years old, and something of a late talker, we started signing consistently around 17 months due to good comprehension but being essentially mute verbally, good at getting her point across in most situations, but clearly (severely) frustrated by her inability to express her understanding and comprehension. At this point she has learnt around 150 signs? (From many sources) They might not all be useful but I believe she is happier being able to remark on things, [berry, help, more, bowl, please] I can understand to be “help put more berries in my bowl please”.For reference she can verbally say mama, dada, baba/baby, bee, knee, and few other novelty words and sounds that are more like party tricks than effective communication. I supplemented with the other books from this publisher, particularly slightly smaller format Mealtime, Getting Ready, Going Out, and Play Time which have more specific signs (individual foods, items of clothing, weather, and things like “taking turns” and “sharing” which my girl picked up on surprisingly quickly.) We also have the book about first animal signs, which is a pretty big format like this one, and they are more recreational and fun signs for us, not something practical for communicating needs. There are also smaller song books, which are of a lot less value, but as a child with hearing my toddler does enjoy.Among the first signs she produced from this book were: more, milk, eat/food, cold, cookie/biscuit, hot, hurt, baby/doll, book, help, bird, pleaseOther signs from different sources she liked having early on were: shoes, boots, berries, cheese, cracker, orange, moon, star, fork, spoon, bowl, potty, and so on.

Brilliant book. I ended up buying one for my mum too. This book is quite big so easy for an adult to hold but also is a board book so can be used by little ones too. The illustrations show little cartoons doing baby sign language signs they also have a bit of text to explain what to do. Lots of useful everyday signs in this book and also some nice extras. Very simple to understand and nice for your little one to look at too. The signs are for the UK so follow Makaton and British Sign Language signs. Would recommend this for people wanting to try baby signing with their babies especially if you can't access baby signing groups.

After reading the reviews that this book was based on BSL - I doubled checked all the words with online dictionaries - in both ASL and BSL. All the words in this book are based on ASL. There are a few that are more basic than the original sign - but this is to enable your baby to learn. Remember -this is for BABIES.The sign for 'bed/sleep' is only really for 'bed', but the sign for sleep might be too difficult for babies at first, so 'bed' can be used, as in, 'Time for bed.' 'Let's go to bed.'The sign for 'sick' is simplified - usually that sign would be done with both hands -one on the forehead and one on the stomach. This can always be added later once the baby knows what the sign means. Or she can begin to say 'sick/head' 'sick/stomach'.Lastly - the sign for 'dog' is correct. Patting the leg is a popular, widely used generalization of the term. The original sign is very difficult as far as young learners are concerned - but can be taught later. You will read that the 'patting the leg' is common and most people know it.Once again - this is for BABIES. There are 43 words with adorable and riveting pictures depicting babies doing each sign, sometimes with a prop to further illustrate -which youngsters learn well from. They are basics to speak to your baby and eventually have them speak back to you.. A great book for babies to toddlers.Oh - it is a large board book - about 11"x11". Nice for kids to hold. But not something you tuck into your purse. ;)

Really easy to use book to teach me to sign with my daughter and as it's a board book with lovely illustrations, she loves it too (mainly eating the corners of the pages). I would recommend.

Very useful not only pe teach sign language. Learning the gestures children can be understood by parents before speaking. Moreover, the book is also useful for teaching English to foreign children