Baby Signing 1-2-3: The Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide for Every Stage and Every Age

306 Pages·2007·5.93 MB·English

by  Nancy Cadjan

Signbabies Cover 8/27/07 10:55 AM Page 1
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What if your baby could “talk” to you before he or she could H S
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actually speak? Sign Babies creator Nancy Cadjan brings years of E IGNING
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easy way of learning baby signing through rich illustrations.
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Baby Signing 1-2-3 provides specific signs and techniques for different age ranges, so E
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you know how to work best with baby at each stage of development. Packed full of L
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pictures that show and explain each sign, Baby Signing 1-2-3 makes learning and SS
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teaching baby signs a breeze, with:
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- Pictures that clear away the confusion! With many signing books, it’s hard to
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understand how to make each sign correctly. Baby Signing 1-2-3 provides clear U
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and helpful illustrations to help you, along with tips on helping baby understand. E The Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide
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A large directory including more than 270 O
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baby signs! for Every Stage and Every Age
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and beyond.Sections give you targeted Y
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advice based on baby’s age. You’ll find T -l Hundreds of baby signs!
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baby’s birth, or later in baby’s life! A 1
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- A trusted systemusing American Sign D the confusion!
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Language. V 2 -l From infant to toddler
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NANCY CADJAN is the creator of the E - A trusted system using
Parenting $14.95 U.S./$19.95 CAN
best-selling Sign Babies ASL Flash ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-0978-9 £7.99 UK American Sign Language
www.sourcebooks.com ISBN-10: 1-4022-0978-9
Cards—the first illustrated sign language
CADJAN
flash cards designed for the youngest
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signers and their parents. She lives with U E
her husband and two children in Utah. NANCY CADJAN
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B
ABY
S
IGNING
1 2 3
The Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide for
Every Stage and Every Age
Nancy Cadjan
Baby Sign_Internals 7/26/07 9:54 AM Page ii
Copyright © 2007 by Nancy Cadjan
Cover and internal design © 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its
publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the
subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in ren-
dering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance
is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.—From a
Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and
a Committee of Publishers and Associations
Sign Babies is a trademark of Nancy Cadjan.
Published by Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.sourcebooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cadjan, Nancy.
Baby sign language : the illustrated and easy-to-use guide / Nancy Cadjan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-2979-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Nonverbal communication in infants. 2.
Sign language. 3. Infants—Language. 4. Language acquisition—Parent participation. 5. American
Sign Language. I. Title.
BF720.C65.C33 2007
419’.1—dc22
2007023768
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
CH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Part I: A Developmental Look at Signing
with Your Child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Each chapter gives an overview of your baby’s physical and linguistic
development and abilities for the age. Specific signs, activities, and strate-
gies appropriate for each age are discussed.
Chapter One: What Is Baby Sign Language? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
This chapter includes an overview of baby sign language—the
history and research behind it, and what parents need to know.
Chapter Two: Birth to Three Months—I’m Just Not Ready Yet, But... . 29
This chapter describes the development of your very young baby and why
you should be talking to your baby as a preparation for signing with her.
Chapter Three: Four to Seven Months—I’m Ready to Start . . . . . . . . 45
This chapter gives you the basic steps to start signing with your baby and
includes tips to create a basis for lifelong communication.
Chapter Four: Eight to Twelve Months—Watch Me Sign. . . . . . . 81
This chapter explains your baby’s development between eight and twelve
months and why your baby is now ready to sign back. It also helps you to
understand how to use your baby’s communication clues to increase your
ability to understand her.
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Chapter Five: Thirteen to Eighteen Months—
I’m Ready for More, More, More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Your baby is primed for communication and is motivated by all the new
things she is learning. This chapter explains why your baby is exploding with
abilities and why signing comes more quickly at this time. It gives you spe-
cific strategies to help develop these abilities to help you both communicate
better for life.
Chapter Six: Nineteen to Twenty-four Months—
Look Who’s Talking . . . and Signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Your baby is ready for speaking. You may wonder how to transition from
signing to talking and how signing can benefit your baby even once she can
speak. This chapter covers these issues and also provides you with activities
to increase your baby’s ability to learn to speak.
Chapter Seven: Two Years and Beyond—
What Can I Do with Signing Now?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Your toddler is speaking and interacting with new things every day. He still
may sign things for a long time. But as he continues to grow in his communi-
cation abilities, things will change, and he will master speech. This chapter
explains the things you and your child can do to use his signing abilities to
facilitate future learning.
Chapter Eight: Signing with Children Who Have Special Needs. . . . 185
This chapter discusses the issues specific to children with special needs and
what resources parents have to help them sign with these wonderful children.
Signing can be an amazing experience for children who otherwise would not
be able to express themselves due to physical or mental limits.
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Part II: Baby Sign Language Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
The dictionary includes a complete list of all the signs displayed in the book,
along with many more that you will find useful in your signing experience.
The dictionary is divided by activity, so that all the signs you might use for a
specific activity are included. This means that some signs that are appropri-
ate for multiple situations are repeated in the dictionary.
Appendix A: Quick Review of Developmental Stages
by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Appendix B: How Signing with Babies Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Appendix C: Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
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Acknowledgments
No one writes a book alone. You sit in front of the computer with your
thoughts and type, but that is just one part of the process. I’d like to thank all
the people who influenced and helped me on this journey.
Thanks to the pioneers in signing with babies. Thanks to Dr. Joseph
Garcia and his generous and loving soul. Without his first thoughts about
using ASL for signing with babies, my relationship with my children would
be less fulfilling. Thanks to all the parents I have interacted with over the past
several years as I taught them about signing with their babies and shared with
them the Sign Babies ASL Flash Cards. Your love and commitment to your
children are inspirational.
Thanks to those who have worked directly with the book. Thanks to
Bethany Brown for having vision and faith as my editor, and to Peter Lynch
for finding me and taking the project to the press. Thanks to the following
brave souls who read the book in its draft form and were kind enough to give
feedback and encouragement. Thanks to Kim Fries, CCC-SLP of Little
Hands . . . Make Big Words for your expertise in ASL and speech develop-
ment. Your help on the Special Needs chapter was indispensable. Thanks to
Kimberly Fakler for your input on Special Needs as well. Thanks to Barbara
Grannoff of Sign-A-Lot for your expertise in ASL and for your encourage-
ment. Thanks to Dr. Anne Ure for your expertise in early childhood devel-
opment. Thanks to Tricia Taylor, Sheia Korth, Todd and Daisy Stonely,
Shannon Eden, Melanie Fergason, and Stephanie Lowe for your experience
as parents who sign with your children. Thanks to Dr. Kari Lawrence and to
Dr. D. Todd Whiting for your medical expertise. You helped me give birth
and take care of all of my babies—including this book. It has been a wonder-
ful experience working with all of you. Thanks to Lori Sume, my illustrator
and friend. Lori’s art makes Sign Babies possible.
Finally, thanks to all those at home who made it possible for me to write:
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✮
viii Acknowledgments
My husband and my children have given me the inspiration and the space to
write. My mother and my in-laws have been there to support me with care
for my family. And, thanks to God for the opportunities that have made it
possible for me to learn and sign with my own babies. My life with them
would be less rich without baby sign language.
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Preface
For thousands of years, parents have struggled to communicate with their
babies and have searched for ways to connect with them. Mainly this was
done through parents doing all the talking and the figuring out and babies
doing all the listening. But recently, in an amazing breakthrough, parents are
realizing that communicating with their baby is not just a one-way interaction.
Babies have always been trying to let their parents know what they are
thinking. Some parents have made their lives easier by understanding what
certain grunts, looks, sounds, and gestures of their baby might mean. This
one-way communication was better than nothing and it gave parents a
chance of understanding what one cry meant over another.
However, the secrets of how to create two-way conversations with your
baby at an earlier age are being opened now, with an innovative approach to
communicating with babies. Parents are learning that if they use basic signs
with their baby—also called baby sign language—they can begin the conver-
sation much earlier, as much as a year earlier. This book describes a progres-
sive understanding of what children do naturally and details how we can use
these natural tendencies to create two-way conversations by introducing spe-
cific, simple signs that allow parents and children to communicate.
The national news media has featured this innovative concept of baby-
parent communication on every major morning news show, as well as on the
evening news. Celebrities appearing on Jay Leno and David Letterman
shows have talked about how their babies were able to communicate at nine
and ten months using these methods.
The interest in baby sign language is certainly growing because many par-
ents are able to communicate with their babies much sooner. But you might
be asking, “What’s all the fuss about? Is this something that I really want to
do with my baby? Can I really communicate effectively with a baby younger