Sign with your baby    Author: Joseph Garcia

Best Baby Sign Language program, May 14, 2007
By Jen (Mississippi)

I have compared this program with other sign language programs, and it seems to be the best one I have come across so far. At one point, I taught another baby sign language course, whose name I will not mention. The program's signs did not always come close to actual sign language, which I found was offensive to the deaf community. Joseph Garcia's program follows actual signs from ASL, and the program is easy enough to learn if you are willing to put the time and effort into it. I would definitely recommend this baby sign language program for other mothers - the resources are varied - book, DVD, quick reference guide - it's the best out there!!

A must buy!, May 9, 2007
By Call Me "Jopen" (OC, CA United States)

I bought this and started introducing it to my daughter as soon as she was brought home from the hospital. Each time I would give her her milk bottle I would do the sign for milk. She signed for milk at age 6 months old. Before she turned a year old, she did the sign for change (the diaper), then it went on and on. Now I kinda kick my butt for teaching her how to do the sign language when she was a baby because she is super articulate for her age and just recently she successfully completed transitional math for kindergarteners-1st graders at age 3.

The DVD is great, March 15, 2007
By Katherine Fuller

Just watching the DVD has given me enough to start signing with my 11 month old. I still need to read the book, but it's easy to learn just by watching the DVD. I really like how it shows all these babies doing the signs. These parents' lives seem so much easier because they can communicate with their babies. We've been doing the signs for about a month now and I think he's doing the sign for "more" and he recognizes the sign for "brush teeth" because that's his favorite part of the day. He gets a huge grin on his face when I do it because he knows what's coming up.

It works great!, January 29, 2007
By Armando L. Franco Carrillo "(Armando L. Franc... (Ensenada, BC, Mexico)

This combo was really useful! Make sure you get a DVD or VHS tape. Watching babies doing signs is what you need to understand how the signs work. After that, you can pretty much do without the book.

We started teaching my daughter signs when she was 7 months old. By her first birthday, she could sign "cookie" very clearly. Then she started adding more signs to her vocabulary. She uses signs to say "cookie", "more", "water/eat" (she uses the same sign for both), "bye", "hi", "book", "bunny", "no", "over /no more", "shoe" and some other words. She does not always use the standard signs, she modifies them or makes up her own.

I have wonderful anecdotes on my communication with her. I'll share three with you:

* When she started crawling, she was going for a door wedge. She sat, looked at us, made the "no" sign a couple of times, and then went ahead and picked up the wedge. To us, the message was clear: "I know I am not supposed to touch it, but I'm going to, anyway". It was priceless.

* I was turning around with her in my arms. Her mom said "Stop, you are scaring her". So I stopped, and my daughter immediately made the "more" sign. She was clearly enjoying the ride.

* I was reading to her in bed. I made the "over/no more" sign, and she replied "more" followed by "book". I had to keep reading.

Now, she is one year and seven months old, and she communicates very clearly. She is saying some words out loud now, but still uses the signs when she feels like it. If we can't see her, she will speak, or she will combine signs and sounds to get what she wants.