Anybody do Baby Sign?

I definitely want to teach my babies sign language as they get older. Has anybody done this, and do you have a good program/book/video you would recommend? Also, what age are the babies able to start doing it? TIA!

 

We started Baby Sign with DS when he was about 9 months old. He was signing simple things like: eat, more, done, thank you and please by the time he was 10 months. I have just started with the girls. For me it works best to just do them while you are talking like it's a normal part of how you talk. My kids don't care about the TV at all. My mom had gotten the Baby Einsteins signing video and it was just a waste of money. For us at least.

Here is a site that someone else had posted on here that has helped me with the signs that I wasn't to sure about.

I've read that 6 months is a good age to start showing them the signs, but you can start any time after that as well.

 

I did it with my first and it was AWESOME. I was such a proud mama that my baby would sign to me "put my shoes on, let's get in the car and go to Grandma's" at just a year and a half of age! I used Sign With Your Baby by Joseph Garcia. I checked it out from the library. I liked this program because it uses ASL, not an invented "baby language" 'cause I figured if I'm going to learn/teach something, I want it to be real language and potentially useful. For any words not used in the book, I looked them up online.

I'll start with my twins in a month or two. My oldest still makes some of the signs at age 3. It gets that ingrained into their minds!!!!

 

We do it with our boys, and it has really made life easier........we started when they were about 14 months old (they caught on quick, so we probably could have started sooner)...the older they get the faster they catch on.

Mine know: eat, milk, more, please, all done, water, cheese, bread, sit, stop, go, open, in, out, book, and a few more that I cannot remember......LOL

The boys are able to "ask" for things when they cannot actually speak.....it has taken alot of frustration out of our lives!!!!

My boys were/are a little behind on their speech, but signing and speaking together have made them able to communicate with us.

I did not BUY anything to teach them to sign, we just looked the pictures up on the web and went from there....born2sign and ASL (type those in Google and do a search) they actually show you how to do the sign (word), and you just do the sign with the child (hand over hand...you hold their hands to do the sign, etc) and they will learn to do it too.

 

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! I'm all excited to teach them (and they're not even here yet!).

 

I will be using ASL as well with the twins. I was in school to be an ASL English interpreter (didnt finish though ). I will be using the sign as soon as i can, they will pick it up at there own pace. My friends 10month old is already signing some words.

I feel that it will be very beneficial as it can help gap the communication between babies and parents

 

we use ASL. We hadn't really planned on doing sign (well, i always thought I would until the reality of twinhood set in!). When anthony's OT suggested it, we started with some signs we already knew at 9 mo old. Then they received the first 3 volumes of Signing Time for their birthday. We LOVE these videos. Even now at almost 3, they still hold my kids' attention in a way that nothing else does!! And my kids still really enjoy signing, so we'll stick with it. It has been a lifesaver at times! Good luck!

 

We love, love, LOVE the Signing Time DVD's. I think there are 9 or more of them now -- the songs are just wonderful, and they start simple and get more complex. My DD started watching them at 8 months, and started signing a lot at about 13 months -- first just the basics, milk, more, eat, sleep, etc.

She was a late talker, but signed avidly, and it really helped us out a lot -- she was even signing things like "grumpy" when she was in a bad mood, or when she heard the word...

Now, at age 3.5, she talks nonstop and sounds like a little adult, but she still loves watching the videos. She knows far more signs than I do, and can almost sign the entire alphabet.

Definitely check out the videos! I think I got sets of three on Ebay for cheaper than Amazon....get the CD's, too, because you will love the songs. I can't wait to use these with my twins...

 

I have not done it yet but my new nanny does. She is starting with the boys in Sept and she says that they will be ready (they will be 14 months old).

 

I started doing this about 2 months ago, it's not as fast as I would like it to be but it's going, my girls are 10 months so I started them when they were about 7 to 8 months, I bought the Baby Einstein DVD, it's simple they love it, I have them watch it once a day and then I practice with them through out the day, one other thing is that I am bilingual I speak spanish as well, so some of the words I will say them in spanish so they can learn them as well, it's like killing two birds with one stone, here's the big bonus, my husband and older daughter are actually grasping to the spanish words and sign language. :banana: