Search - My Baby Can Talk - Sharing Signs on DVD

Here's how to teach sign along with the videos.

Meredith Parker | Lake Mary, Florida | 03/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a speech therapist, and I thnk this is a terrific, well-filmed, quality video. It is great for receptive vocabulary whether or not you much care about learning to sign! :) It has lots of repetition with REAL videos and pictures of the objects (not cartoons) and great music. It has just the right pacing to keep children excited and a nice, slow modeling of the signs with LOTS of verbal repetition of the vocabulary. My daughter loves these.

Now, my 2-year-old daughter is on the autism spectrum and did not understand how to imitate. For parents trying to help their children learn to sign, a big "tool" that I feel is "left out" of lots of videos is "HOW" to teach your child to sign if they don't seem to be learning from just watching. For young children, or children who cannot easily imitate, try "hand over hand" learning. Pick an object your child can "receive" once he learns a sign. A small cracker works great for the "eat" sign. During a snacktime when he is NOT starving, take your child's hands and make the sign for "eat" to his mouth. Then, immediately give him a piece of the cracker. Do this over and over again with repetition and SMALL bits of cracker (so he doesn't get too full). Watch that you don't wait too long on giving him the cracker or he will not learn that the sign is a part of things and he will get frustrated! :)
Now, after 10 or so repetitions, try to just hold his arm and guide his hand to his mouth to help him make the sign. After a number of more reps, try and just barely TOUCH his arm. You are gradually fading the amount of help you need to help him learn the sign. Eventually, he will go to make the sign himself. You may have to jump in and help again in a new session until he can remember the sign. This may take several days or week sessions depending on how old your child is. Be patient and try this at snack time everyday. You may be surprised how fast it happens!
You can also do this same thing with other signs once he gets the hang of things. Just be sure to FIRST choose signs that your child can receive reinforcment for. So, pick a sign like "book" where you can read to him right after he signs..or "go" where you give him a push in the grocery cart as soon as he signs. Use your child's interests as guides. Pick a sign that is relative to what HE is interested in...favorite toys or foods work great. Signs like "cat" aren't too helpful in the beginning, because what do you "get" if you sign cat? What can you give your child as reinforcement for that? Pick signs that he can use to request his needs. These work best for helping him understand that language can "get him something" and therefore "means something".
Finally, a young child (4 or younger) won't be easily able to imitate very detailed signs. You may have to modify the sign to teach it. And that is just fine! The point is not that the child can make the sign 100% correctly as it relates to American Sign Language. The REAL point is that the sign means something and that it consistently stands for that language concept. For example, for my daughter, she couldn't sign "go" which is circling your hands within each other. So, for "go" she simply raises her arm. We use it in the shopping cart at the grocery store, in the car at red lights, in the swing at the park, etc. It was her "first sign" and it helped her communicate purposefully and have a "role" in her independence. As she got the hang of it and got a bit older, I was able to teach the sign for "swing" instead of just "go". But in the beginning, a sign that can lead to a wanted action is very powerful for a child. Good luck and feel free to write if you'd like some helpful ideas!
:)Meredith [...]"

Quite good but rushed

Olivia | 01/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I would give it 4.5 stars if there is an option.
5 stars for teaching more communicative signs, such as "please", "thank you", "mommy", "daddy", "all done" and more daily use words "diaper", "bath" etc, compared to First Sign's object oriented words such as "horse", "cow"; good attempt in reviewing the signs learned in the first DVD.
4 stars for the following:
Classical music segments are shortor with faster tempo, but less articulated, making it feel rushed. This coupled with more frequent non-sequential video clips giving a general busy feeling. The signs are less pronounced as a result. The rhymes have lost its creativity as well.
My son lost interest after 20 minutes into it and asked for "Baby Einstein". I have to watch the later half on my own. I think that tells somethings.
By the way, although both My Baby Can Talk DVDs have some clean fun, they do not have the humor many of the Baby Einstein DVDs have.
"

Excellent DVD for little ones on up

Monica Beyer | St. Joseph, MO United States | 04/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As with My Baby Can Talk: First Signs, my children found this DVD to be extremely engaging. I have been signing with my children for 6 years and can say that they really loved this DVD.

The selection of signs presented is very good. I was happy to see "please, share and thank you" included. Even if a child is too young to fully understand the concept, introducing it at an early age creates polite requests which everyone can benefit from.

The music, as before, is excellent and pleasant for baby and parent to listen to. The activities shown and how Baby Hands Productions chose to illustrate each sign is very unique and holds my children's interest. It is fun to watch and I really enjoy watching my kids learn signs from the DVD. It's not limited to babies and preschoolers - my 7- and 10-year-old sons get into it as well!

Good job!!"

Simply Amazing

Valerie L. Criswell | Florence, SC United States | 04/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just had to take time to tell you about these products. We bought them just under 3 weeks ago. We have watched these with our 13-month-old son once or twice (since we have both in the series) a day since they arrived. On the second day my son used the sign for "shoes." We were stunned. Now he's up to at least 20 signs and adding new ones every day. The crowning moment came when there was no drink around (to make him think about it) but he signed "drink" to tell us he was thirsty. I couldn't get to the kitchen fast enough to reward his thirst and his effort. Now if he hadn't known the sign he might have just whined and forgotten about it or continued on for a bit, but there would have been no way that I could have known that he had a drink of water on his mind without some trial and error.

Let me say a few words about readiness. Because not all children this young may be developmentally ready to progress that quickly. We bought these videos because our son had already made up his own two signs to communicate with us so I figured he was primed and ready and we didn't want to miss an opportunity. I will say, however, that I believe any young child could benefit from watching these as they are excellent vocabulary builders and certainly children will progress at their own speed.

Regarding the format of the videos, they resemble the Baby Einstein series in the way that they present classical music along with several varied images of one item. The difference here (which I think is paramount) is that these videos sprinkle the images with images of an adult and some children demonstrating the sign for you and speaking the word. This seems to work great. We have all the Baby Einstein videos and I must confess that these two signing videos are superior and I wish there were more.

ADDED 12/2008 We've had another son since I published this review. He's now 18 months old and has had the same response to these two videos as his older brother (who's now almost 4). He ADORES these two videos and communicates almost every need to us through sign language. What a blessing to have your child be able to tell you what he needs instead of whine and cry in frustration. These videos have been worth the expense and then some for our family."