Product Description

Children are able to communicate by signing before they develop the skills necessary for speech. By teaching simple sign language to children from as young as eight months, we can help them to convey their emotions and their needs. Broaden signing vocabulary with these books full of everyday signs enabling your babies to communicate their thoughts and experiences to parents and carers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21665 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Board book
• 12 pages

Customer Reviews

Play Time / Meal Time / Going Out / Getting Ready
This book is part of a group of 4 with the following titles: 'Play Time', 'Meal Time', 'Getting Ready' and 'Going Out'. We used all 4 extensively after we'd mastered the basics through other books. I'd definitely recommend them all. They've been integral to us getting to a good level of communication before my daughter could speak properly, and added interest and a bigger signing vocabularly if you're ready to move on a little bit.

We started signing when she was 6 months with the important things in her life: milk, cat and dog. She suddenly got it at about 11 months and became very proficient, very quickly (we had 5 months of virtually nothing and I thought she'd never get it!). Now her spoken vocabularly is enormous and she doesn't sign quite as much, although she'll always sign certain words as she says them like 'home' when we're driving home, 'rain', 'wind', 'sore' and 'black' (for blackcurrant juice) for example, or she'll sign 'milk', 'finished', 'more', for example, if she's just too tired to speak!! I find her signing particularly useful though when I can't understand a certain word she's saying - then she'll use a sign if she knows it, to help me! "Dolly crying" is one that springs to mind recently (I thought she was trying to say the dolly was dying!). She's even started making them up herself now, for words she doesn't know, but wants me to understand.

My daughter still brings these 4 books out from the bookcase (she's just over 2yrs at the time of writing) and we will sit together and practise the signs when she's in the mood. All signs are described in words with a cartoon picture of a boy or girl doing the signs, and is very accessible.

Beware it is American Sign Language
Watch out! Although it is not specified (yet) this is the ASL version. Amazon do stock the BSL version which is a bit more expensive.

Toddler Signing
I believe it is important to teach toddlers how to sign when they are still trying to learn to talk. This helps to ward off frustrations in communication for them as well as for their carers! All of this set of Sign About books is well done.