"Have you thought about signing with your baby or toddler? Parents and caregivers are discovering the delights and benefits of using American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with children long before they can speak. Some studies show that signing babies talk sooner, have larger vocabularies, and have less frustration and tantrums! It’s all about building a bridge between you and what’s going on in your child’s mind and understanding what he/she wants, needs, thinks, and feels. Baby Signing For Dummies gives you the skills to connect in a meaningful way with your hearing baby or toddler. This friendly, easy-to-follow guide shows you how to use simple hand gestures and baby-specific signing techniques to start interacting with your baby and make learning more engaging. You’ll discover how to:
- Introduce signs to your baby
- Get the whole family involved
- Make everyday events easier with signs
- Keep the baby safe with signing
- Overcome stumbling blocks
Packed with more than 150 illustrated signs, this book gives you the basic building blocks of baby sign language in easy-to-digest steps, answering the frequently asked question of whether to use ASL or make up your own signs. You’ll learn which signs are best to start with and when to use them (MILK, BATH, BLANKET, BED, for example). Every sign is accompanied by step-by-step directions and an illustration of the sign—from meeting and greeting, people, and mealtime signs to clothes, animals, outdoor signs, and, of course, bath time and bedtime. You’ll see how to:
- Decrease fussing and crying through signing
- Incorporate signing into daily life
- Help the baby sign combinations of words
- Use the baby’s sense of wonder to spot signing opportunities
- Find outside help (Web sites, videos, and signing schools and courses)
Complete with illustrations of the entire ASL alphabet, signing dos and don’ts, and ten songs to sign along with, Baby Signing For Dummies is the key to enhancing communication with your child and increasing his/her intelligence in a simple, fun, and rewarding way. "
