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Original poster

baby signing

20 replies

Ivybridgite · 04/05/2004 21:48

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a book that teaches you how to teach your hearing child to sign? I've tried looking on the net, but all the sites seem to be American orientated rather than U.K
Found a site that did proper signing for the deaf which was good but not sure if it is the same as baby signing. Will try the library tomorrow. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Txs

OP posts:
karen99 · 04/05/2004 21:58

Hi Ivybridgite, there are a few threads on this if you do a search (think they're under the Development heading). The websites I found useful were TinyTalkUK and Sing & Sign . Both are uk based and have classes. Don't have a book I'm afraid so can't recommend any.

muddaofsuburbia · 04/05/2004 22:07

Ivybridgite - Karen99 beat me to it recommending Sing and Sign Took ds to classes over 10 wks from 8 mths and he loved it - started using signs for "more", "milk" and "drink" from about 9/10 mths - more followed (mainly to do with food ) and then he dropped them as he started to talk. Really can't recommend it enough!

I also bought Joseph Garcia's book "Sign with your baby" which was ok, but like you say, more geared to the US than the UK. US signing tends to be based on ASL (for the deaf) rather than a specially tailored baby signing "system".

Baby signing is totally different to signing for the deaf because you're only really using signs for single words in a sentence, not each individual word. They tend to be much simpler than sign language so that little hands can master them.

Baby Signs by Linda Acredolo (sp?) is quite good too from what I've heard and skimmed, not based on ASL, but their own system I think.

rambled on a bit - I like this subject!

Ixel · 04/05/2004 22:12

If you go to the tinytalkuk site, they sell books for £10. The classes are £5 per session, and you get a handout with each one; also, you dont need to book a course, just go when you feel like it.

stace · 04/05/2004 22:24

Our family are great advocates of baby signing, we followed the joseph garcia sign with your baby vidoe and books (more books than video) from www.sign2me.com 4 years ago and really enjoyed it. Our ds still enjoys it and we often go through signs for fun again. We have every intention of doing it all again with our next one due in August. We definetly believe that it really assisted in achieving a closer eye to eye communication than without.

karen99 · 05/05/2004 09:11

Hi Mudda! sorry! and it was you who introduced me to these sites in the first place!

Bron · 05/05/2004 09:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Ivybridgite · 05/05/2004 12:59

Thanks everyone for all the advice, went to the library today and had no luck, have looked at a couple of the sites mentioned below and have decided to send for a signing pack from TinyTalk U.K. The classes sound awesome but unfortunately we are living outside the U.K @ the mo. Apparently the signing pack takes two weeks to arrive, more like three by the time it gets here, but can't wait. DD is just over five months so will be about perfect for the recommended six month start age.

OP posts:
karen99 · 05/05/2004 22:19

Just to set expectations IvyB, it's fine for you to start signing whenever you like (6mo is perfect), but you may not see results from your dd until she starts to point and 'use' her hands. My ds is 10mo and has just started to sign back to me even though *I've been doing it for ages.. (water and bird/duck!)

I have the TTUK booklet which is a set of laminated sheets describing the signs, which I found quite easy to follow. A very good starting point. Have fun!

Tommy · 05/05/2004 22:28

I tried it with DS1 - not very successful I'm afraid but maybe I wasn't doing it right. I was trying to teach him the sign for "enough" - as in, "I'm full now Mummy, no more food" but he just kept doing the more traditional sign of spitting the food out

Tommy · 05/05/2004 22:30

Although, now he does his own signs if he can't get me to understand what he's trying to say - like flapping for bird and so on - maybe it was more successful than I thought!

bloss · 05/05/2004 22:40

Message withdrawn

Coj · 09/05/2004 09:46

I am starting singing & signing lessons with this lady www.signwithsarah.co.uk in June. You can buy books from her.
Hope this helps

Ixel · 09/05/2004 09:52

We're starting tinytalk on Monday. But ds is just over 6 months, and I'm worried that he'll either just pay no attention to anything and fall asleep for the whole class, or cry...he's a bit sensitive to the noise of other babies! Will I just be wasting my time and money, or will it sink in subconsciously?

melsy · 09/05/2004 10:45

Ive just written to the tiny talk one nearest to me. I have started with the sign with me site 1st , but I know thats ASL , so I hope she doesnt get confused if I do baby signs!!!

Ixel · 10/05/2004 13:39

Just got back from our first class... it was really good! It'll be a long while before I see some results, but it was worth going just to see him enjoy the songs...

muddaofsuburbia · 10/05/2004 13:49

Ixel - my ds was 7 mths when we went to signing classes so I know what you mean about the attention thing. Our teacher said that the signing in the classes was for the parents to pick up and use at home and the singing was for the babies.

FWIW all the toddlers I know who have used signing as babies now have vocabularies streets ahead of those who didn't - but that's purely anecdotal and unfounded evidence

Ixel · 10/05/2004 13:56

When did he begin to understand signs?

muddaofsuburbia · 10/05/2004 14:11

Ds began to understand me signing (and saying the word at the same time) round about 9 mths. He did the "drink" sign a couple of time at that age, but I'm not sure if he was just practising. (See my post on tues 7 May 10:07am)

Apparently, when babies realise that you can use your hands to communicate, they'll start to babble with their hands in the same way they experiment with their voices. So be prepared for some weird quasi-signing which might not look like anything at first

We found the signs to do with food the most useful - they avoided frantic pointing and frustrating grunts pretty much from the start. "Home" (making a roof shape) has been really useful too - still used now with the word - and "hot" (as if you'd eaten something really hot IYSWIM) - vital for taps/dinners/radiators/fires etc etc etc

At 20 mths, ds still uses a handful of signs when he really wants to emphasise something. So if he's finished a meal, he'll hand the bowl to me and then sign "finished" in a really exaggerated way and say "ALL DONE!!!!!" loudly. He uses the elephant sign (miming a trunk from your nose) while making a trumpety noise because he can't quite manage "el-e-phant" yet and various other animal signs when he makes animal noises - the seal is particularly cute!

Glad you enjoyed your class. It might take a while for you to see any kind of recognition at all - like Karen99 said - it all seems to click into place when they realise they can clap/point etc. Be consistent and make up your own signs if there's something odd that fascinates your bubba.

karen99 · 10/05/2004 20:50

Hi Ixel, just catching up on this thread. Glad you enjoyed the class. I've been to two now and ds has really enjoyed them. The Tinytalk one seems to have some songs with sign, some without to keep attention span, some music-time (with bells & shakers etc) and play-time at the end (mums can then socialise!). It's a really nice format.

I am proud to say that my ds has just taken off this last week and now has 5 signs under his belt (water/drink, finished/all gone, bird/duck, hot!, milk and almost food). The first four I've been doing non-stop since around 6.5mo. And he gets so motivated when he sees how happy you are that he's actually done them! And ofcourse they're not accurate yet but you can see he's definitely trying to mimic you and that's good enough for me!

Enjoy! And have a nice time at your class too Melsy!

Bine1101 · 07/09/2004 20:13

If anybody is still interested in finding UK based signing books for babies and children Mini IQ is a great tip. They have had a signing book for toddlers for some time and just introduced baby signing books as well. Get in touch with me if you want to know more.

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