Sign with Your Baby: Teach Yourself

Is this the right book for me?

Sign with Your Baby is the first comprehensive guide to signing with your baby to be produced by British authors. Unlike the many dictionaries on the market, it provides both practical and background information on how signing to and with your young child can enhance your communication, emotional bond and their language/behavioural development in many different ways.

Authored in conjunction with the UK’s most respected courses, ‘Sing and Sign’, the book offers firstly a full overview of the history and benefits of signing before outlining the essential signs and moving on to more detailed communication with your baby. From bilingual to special needs children, and covering development right up to the learning of the alphabet and phonics for older children, this practical and informative manual comes with a free DVD, so you can practise and learn directly with your child at home.

Sign with Your Baby includes:

Chapter 1: History and principles of baby signing

Early communication

What is baby signing?

How baby signing began

The benefits of baby signing

So, what about British baby signing?

The Sing and Sign approach to teaching baby signing

Chapter 2: The early basics, getting started and basic guidelines

When should I start signing with my baby?

Guidelines for successful signing

When will my baby start to sign>

Recognize your baby’s first signs

Getting started – your first basic signs

Chapter 3: The next steps

Introducing signs relevant to your child’s world

Early basics: ‘where’, ‘help’, ‘open’, ‘no’, ‘yes’

Routines: going out, nappy changing, bath and bed

Motivating signs: animals and vehicles

More useful signs

Chapter 4: Emotional development

Emotions: how does your baby feel?

Pain and medicine

Love and manner

Chapter 5: Encouraging signing with children at home and in childcare

Important people in your baby’s world

Baby’s own picture book

Signing in a nursery setting

Bilingual babies

Twins and multiple births

Signing dads

Chapter 6: Special needs

Development delay

Down syndrome

Speech delay

Premature babies

Deafness

Glue ear

Chapter 7: Signing with older children

Getting ready for speech

How signing facilitates speech development

Speech sounds

Reading a book together

Phonics

Colours

Weather

Potty/toilet-training

When should you stop signing?

Chapter 8: Frequently asked questions

If my baby learns signs will she still learn to talk?

What happens to signs as a baby begins to speak?

Why is my baby taking a while to use signs?

Could signing inhibit a baby’s natural instinct to learn to talk?

How could I encourage my child to sign to me more?

What should I do if I am worried about my child’s speech?

What are the different signing systems?

Help! I don’t know the sign for…

How can I learn the Sing and Sign way?

Learn effortlessly with a new easy-to-read page design and added features:

Not got much time?

One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.

Author insights

Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the authors’ many years of experience.

Test yourself

Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress.

Extend your knowledge

Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of baby signing.

Five things to remember

Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts.

Try this

Innovative exercises illustrate what you’ve learnt and how to use it.