Review by ELAINE HO
BABY SIGNING FOR DUMMIES
By Jennifer Watson
Publisher: Wiley Publishing
Baby signing was touted as a ground-breaking discovery several years ago. Of late, it has gained enough popularity that local businesses have popped up even in Malaysia, offering to teach enthusiastic parents how to communicate with their infants and vice versa.
Sign language for babies is a method of using either invented hand gestures, or American Sign Language (ASL). The concept of baby signing is based on the fact that the physical development of an infant allows them to communicate with their hands, even when their speech facilities aren’t ready.
Infants under 12 months already have the cognition to communicate with mommy and daddy. It’s never too early to start signing with your baby, though the book will not commit on what age she will start signing back.
It may be a wee bit unbelievable, but the author explains that baby signing is not new nor difficult. We have been unconsciously “signing” to our babies since the beginning of time. For the nay-sayers who don’t subscribe to this new “fad”, they should know that they are already signing when they teach their baby to wave Bye-Bye.
The main benefit of signing is obviously better two-way communication between parent and child, thus reducing a great deal of fussing and frustration on both sides. The author also quotes recent research results, which will have parents scurrying to sign up, that show signing babies tend to start speaking earlier, have improved self-esteem and higher IQ scores!
While the book is not exhaustive (there are easily hundreds of signs you can teach your baby), it covers a decent number of words to allow for effective communication. The chapters are divvied up into basic signs, like Daddy or Hello, signs for mealtime, to keep baby safe, for bath and bed, stuff that baby wears, animals from A to Z, the outdoors and how to sign sentences.
Each word is accompanied by a simple description on how to form the sign, and a very useful illustration which people who have no background on sign language (like myself) will find indispensable. I looked forward to the tongue-in-cheek captions for the illustrations, which I personally found hilarious.
If you still feel daunted by the task of learning and teaching baby signs, rest assured that the gestures are easy to remember because they are very intuitive. For example, the sign for Fish is having your hand extended and wiggling it from side to side – like a fish!
For words without an invented hand gesture, you can spell them out using the ASL alphabet, numbers and colours that are listed and illustrated in the Appendix.
The author also lists tips on how to overcome stumbling blocks, like if baby is signing but not talking yet, 10 songs you can sign to your baby and signing resources you can refer to for more signing help.
The book advises against overwhelming baby with too many signs and to start with five, but within a day of reading this, I was so excited I started teaching 15 signs to my six-month-old baby. I can’t wait for him to sign back Mommy, or even better, “potty time”.
The book says that the keys to success are consistency and relevance. For example, when baby is eating, use the sign for “eat”, while saying the word, “eat”. You don’t sign “eat” when the baby is playing or taking a bath. I’ve been signing to my baby for a month now, but sadly no results yet. His face does light up when I sign “I Love You”, though!
If you’re interested in baby signing, but don’t want to invest a lot of money and time in actual classes, pick up a copy of this book.
Despite the potentially dry content, it’s a light-hearted and pleasant read, as the author has the self-deprecating humour only a long-suffering mother could have. She doesn’t over-intellectualise and, like any good teacher, makes learning to sign fun!