Sign with Your Baby: How to Communicate with Infants Before They Can Speak (Book, Quick Reference Guide & DVD) DVD – Deluxe Edition, October 5, 2005

I started following the advice in this book/DVD set around six months with my normally hearing child. By seven months, my baby was recognizing those first few signs, even when used without the corresponding spoken word. She didn't start signing back until about 10 months. She also started saying Mama and Dada and meowing like our cat around that time. By 12 months, she was combining signs, a la "more cheese". At 15 months, she did about 70 signs and said about 50 words, including lots of overlap. Now at almost 18 months, I'm guessing she says around 100 words and does about 85 signs (although she is signing less often as she talks more). She regularly says and signs words together, which is so helpful because her pronunciation is pretty indistinct still ("ba" could mean ball or butterfly, for example). She often uses phrases that are a combination of signs and words, or just signs, or just words. She is almost always able to tell us exactly what she wants. It has made these preverbal months so much easier. I cannot recommend this highly enough. It has been a fun and relatively easy way to make all of our lives happier! My mother was skeptical before we got going, but now she is a believer! Follow his advice, pick a few starter signs (eg.,milk, eat, all done), be consistent, and have fun and be amazed at what your preverbal infant is thinking about.

First off I would like to comment that I did not use this kit to its fullest. The quick reference card was especially good, for well quick reference. That being said, deciding to sign with your baby is a wonderful decision. We did it with our first child and it's wonderful to find out what your child wants and why they are crying. It's a Godsend when it's 3AM and your baby (before they can speak) is crying and you don't know why, and then she signs "milk" signaling she's hungry. You feed her, and back to sleep she goes, and back to sleep YOU can go. Some people (family & friends) were worried that signing would cause delay in speaking language and such, because she'd just sign vs speaking. However we found 100% the OPPOSITE was true. We now have a 3 year old that rarely signs but speaks very well (many family, and strangers have commented on her well developed speaking skills), and only occasionally does she have trouble articulating herself. We are expecting our second child, and we are 100% certain we are going to teach this one signing also. I just cannot emphasize how much easier it made our lives knowing what your child wants and needs, and reducing our frustration as parents.

Our baby never threw a tantrum. REALLY. He just asked for what he wanted… from the time he was about 9 months old.We started signing to him at five months, using just 5 or so signs, just like they suggest. "More", "Milk", "Hungry" "Water" "Dog", "Music". He just watched us for the first three months… then finally, when he was just 8 months old, he pointed to the dog and signed "Dog". We couldn't believe it!!! He was communicating with us! Then he used the sign for "more" while we were feeding him. Within two months, before he turned 1 year, he would ask for food, water, music… He'd point to the helicopter in the sky, and look inquisitively at us. He began asking the names of everything. I'm a firm believer that babies that throw tantrums are just frustrated that they can't express their needs. Give them the tools to communicate and you'll have a happy (and FUN!!!) baby.Best thing EVER. And this particular kit is great: gives you everything you need. Makes a great gift, too.

Sign with your baby has been so helpful and amusing. By the time my son was 15 months he knew over 12 signs that decreased his frustration with communication. This skill does not happen over night, it is something that takes time and persistence, but it does pay off in the end. His skill list at this point consist of: Milk, More, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Up, Down, Eat, Lion, Zebra, Dog, Book, Ball, Shoes, Flower, Bird, Monkey, All Done, and Come here. It is so thrilling to watch him advance mentally. Not only have the signs helped with everyday misunderstanding, but because of repetition he is learning English vocabulary quickly as well. The parents are not the only ones that can practice with him. One of the perks to having this kit be ASL is that the signs are universal and his grandparents were able to learn and practice the signs with him as well and have reference sheet to refer to that came with this kit. I just can't explain how useful this has been for us; I would recommend this to anyone.

This is an outstanding product. I have recommended this to many friends / family members that have had babies. Our 2 chidren were communicating with signs by the age of 8-9 months and continued to do so, actively for another year, by which time they were both talking extremely well. Their verbal language acquisition was extremely rapid, and very significantly faster and more highly developed than all of their peers. Almost certainly due to their very early introduction (5-7 months) to signs via this product. I can not more highly recommend any product that I have ever bought, than this. If you care about your childrens development, this is an absolute must.

Nice product as described. Pity it arrived late. The seller did reply to message asking where product was.

enjoying it every day

I was expecting the dvd to be more alone the lines of a demonstrational sign language dvd. Overall, I was disappointed with the material I received because I already have similar products I am using to teach my daughter sign language.

Great item