Baby Signing Essentials: Easy Sign Language for Every Age and Stage (200 Illustrated ASL Signs for Two-Way Communication)

Baby Signing Essentials: Easy Sign Language for Every Age and Stage (200 Illustrated ASL Signs for Two-Way Communication)

Easy baby sign language for every age and stage! From the author of the award-winning Baby Signing 1-2-3 and the creator of the bestselling Sign Babies ASL Flash Cards, comes the simple and comprehensive resource you've been looking for to help you and your baby learn sign language and have fun doing it! Using trusted American Sign Language (ASL), Baby Signing Essentials is the perfect resource for parents, caregivers, and educators looking to create effective two-way communication. Designed to grow with your baby by covering physical, emotional, mental, and linguistic development at each age, this is the essential guide to sign language. Featuring: The 10 essential signs for each age and stage of development plus information on your child's developmental stage and milestones - Easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations to help you make each sign correctly , plus tips on exactly how to teach each sign to your child - 200 illustrated ASL signs (including the basics like MILK, MORE, and EAT) - A special section on signing with children who have special needs - An alphabetical list of all signs (with page numbers) This easy, illustrated book will help you in teaching your baby basic sign language like more, please, milk and all done, plus hundreds of other signs to help you and your little one communicate. With the gift of sign language, you can communicate with your child as early as four to six months, reduce tantrums, build verbal language skills, and create a stronger bond than ever! Nancy Cadjan is the founder of Sign Babies ASL Flash Cards―the first illustrated sign language flash cards created for the youngest signers and their parents. Since sales began two years ago, Sign Babies has sold 40,000 sets and received the 2006 Cool Stuff Award from Preemie Magazine. Nancy has appeared on Good Things Utah, in Wasatch Woman Magazine, and Utah Valley Magazine and was named to the Daily Herald Top 100 Companies of 2006 list as a Trailblazer. She lives with her husband and two children in Utah. CHAPTER ONE START THE ADVENTURE! BABY SIGN LANGUAGE HAS BEEN featured everywhere from the news to the movies. But if you're picking up this book, it's likely you want to know more about it than these sound bites and clips offer. You may be wondering whether there is an official "language" called baby sign language and what exactly it means and when to use it. Or you may want to be able to communicate with your baby better but worry that if you sign with your child, she might not talk. This chapter takes a look at what baby sign language is, its origin, why it works, and what myths might be out there about it. It explains what it can do for you and for your baby, as well as what it won't do. WHAT IS BABY SIGN LANGUAGE? We all use language to understand what is said to us ( receptive language ) and to express ourselves ( expressive language ). Language is how we communicate with others using words, signs, or writing. Language includes the types of words we use (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs), how many words we use, how we put the words together to form thoughts, and so on. Speech is how we pronounce words and show the language we have acquired. Believe it or not, before babies can speak, they have a language of their own, communicating with others by using grunts, visual cues, and gestures. Babies naturally point at things they want, wave with their hands to say goodbye, and clap to show excitement. These are all signs. Baby sign language taps into these natural tendencies to gesture with their hands to communicate their needs, wants, and even complex thoughts. You just teach them simple signs for things they want, and they use those to explain to you what they need. It takes a little patience and dedication on Mom and Dad's part, but any baby can do it. And the best part is that it fits right into your daily routine. Just add signs to the conversations and communications you already have with your baby. Think about how empowering this can be for your baby. Instead of crying and hoping you can guess that she needs her diaper changed or wants to have some applesauce, she can tell you. You don't have to be standing in the grocery store line with a screaming baby wondering whether she is hungry or tired or bored. She can let you know. Baby sign language has the power to stop tantrums and start conversations and create a closer bond with your child. BENEFITS OF SIGNING WITH YOUR HEARING BABY Hearing babies who sign with their parents and other caregivers have a unique opportunity to learn to communicate their needs and wants and thoughts long before the average hearing child can. Signing has short-term benefits―reduced frustration and the ability to communicate―that are really important. But it also has long-term benefits―increased vocabulary, IQ, and interest in reading―that will help your child as he grows and matures. What you are doing now will help lay an important foundation for your child's e