Baby signing

[lucy76]

I am interested in teaching my dt's baby signing. A friend of mine has also just found out her ds is deaf, so we were going to do it together. Has anyone got any recommendations? Are there any particular books/courses that are best? Are there different types of babysigning (especially ones that will be useful in the future for my friends ds?)

there's a website chelltune that has some good information and products that might help you get started.

We did the Sing and Sign courses (they have a website) which were very good and the dvds were a lifesaver early in the morning on weekends (gives me half an hour to myself!)

As your friends DS is deaf... contact your nearest deaf school or unit and see if they do classes for families with deaf kids, she may need to get a bit deeper into the sign language than a sing and sign class will take you. However if nothing better than sing and sign is OK and teh hearing kids might enjoy the music while you mums learn some signs to use at home.
Josph Garcias book is quite good , has a DVD dictonary with it. Check out your local libaray they may hold some sign courses on DVD. RNID web iste is also worth a look and the National deaf Childrens society.
Deaf kids who grow up with BSL used around them can learn that as their 1st language at the same rate as a hearing child learns spoken language. If your families are friends its a nice thing for you and your kids to be able to sign with their deaf friend as they grow up.
Go for it.

We also did Sing and Sign and in our group was a girl who was fairly deaf and she loved it too.

We have found it fantastic and will definitely be doing it with DC2.

I have also found it really useful and hope that I won't forget the signs as it has been great for communicating with children with special needs etc in other situations.

Now DS is 22 mo and is talking more the signs are disappearing but he does still use them occasionally to reiterate points he can't get over to us in speech! And it's definitely helped with his colours which he was signing at 18mo.

Lucy, just check that your friend actually wants her Deaf child to sign. Many parents chose an oralist approach to communication.

God! Of course she does! I wouldn't presume to organise anything she didn't want to do.I want to find out about babysigning anyway for my dt's, and she is keen to join us. Once I have found out all the information, she can make an informed decision. I am an infant teacher, and we use Makaton in school, as we have a huge amount of children with English as Second Language.I know the huge benefits that all children have from using a variety of way to communicate.

Sory Lucy, I didn't mean to offend you. Its just that people often presume that if someone is Deaf then they will sign. If my child was Deaf then I'd want them to sign but not all parents do.

I am a CSW for Deaf adults, I used BSL to baby sign with both my children.

It could be worth avoiding the joseph garcia method as I believe its based on American sign language and not British sign language. May be easiest to just try a few BSL signs and then there will be be no confusions between signing methods as you friends child grows up and learns more. BSL sign books and dvds are easily available. I used Makaton with my daughter instead of any of the other schemes as several members of my family already know it, so that is an option too.

The Baby Signers book was written with Garcia but contains BSL signs, its fab.

The original Joseph Garcia pack is ASL but there is a BSL guide to go with it, normally about £5.50 extra.