Jennifer Watson 
Baby Signing For Dummies 

Have you thought about signing with your baby or toddler? Parents
and caregivers are discovering the benefits of using American Sign
Language (ASL) to communicate with children long before they can
speak. Some studies show that signing babies talk sooner, have
larger vocabularies, and have fewer tantrums!

Baby Signing For Dummies gives you the skills to connect
in a meaningful way with your hearing baby or toddler. Packed with
more than 150 illustrated signs, this friendly, easy-to-follow
guide shows you how to use simple hand gestures and baby-specific
signing techniques to start interacting with your baby. Every sign
is accompanied by step-by-step directions and an
illustration–from meeting and greeting, people, and mealtime
signs to clothes, animals, outdoor signs, and, of course, bath time
and bedtime. You’ll discover how to:

* Introduce signs to your baby

* Incorporate signing into daily life

* Make everyday events easier with signs

* Overcome stumbling blocks

* Decrease fussing and crying through signing

* Help your baby sign combinations of words

* Keep your baby safe with signing

* Get the whole family involved

* Find outside help (Web sites, videos, and signing schools and
courses)

Complete with illustrations of the entire ASL alphabet, signing
dos and don’ts, and ten songs to sign along with, Baby
Signing For Dummies is the key to enhancing communication with
your child and increasing his/her intelligence in a simple, fun,
and rewarding way!

Table of Content

Introduction.

Part I: Talking Hands.

Chapter 1: Getting Onboard with Baby Signing.

Chapter 2: Introducing Signs to Your Baby.

Chapter 3: Warming Up: Signing Boot Camp.

Part II: Ready, Set, Sign!

Chapter 4: Signing 101: Some Basic Signs.

Chapter 5: Eat, Baby, Eat! Mealtime Signs.

Chapter 6: Signs to Help Keep Baby Safe and Sound.

Chapter 7: Bath and Bed Signs.

Part III: Signs for Everyday Life.

Chapter 8: Signing Stuff That Baby Wears.

Chapter 9: Signing Animals from A to Z.

Chapter 10: Signing in the Great Outdoors.

Part IV: Now We’re Talking.

Chapter 11: Signing Sentences.

Chapter 12: Overcoming Stumbling Blocks.

Chapter 13: How Long Do We Keep This Up?

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 14: Ten Reasons to Sign with Baby.

Chapter 15: Ten Signs Every Baby and Toddler Should Know.

Chapter 16: Ten (Or So) Songs to Sign.

Chapter 17: Ten (Or So) Signing Resources.

Part VI: Appendixes.

Appendix A: The ASL Alphabet.

Appendix B: ASL Numbers.

Appendix C: ASL Colors.

Index.

About the author

Jennifer Hill Watson is the mom to three signing children.
She began signing with her first daughter when her daughter was
about 6 months old. At 41/2 years, her oldest now has over
300 signs. Jennifer’s second daughter is nearing 300 signs at
age 31/2. Her son has 116 signs and 154 words at 19
months.

A former teacher, Jennifer has taught in both private schools and
Houston public schools. She teaches signing classes for babies and
their parents in the Houston area and helps lead the Houston
Signing Babies support group both on the Web and at regular
meetings.

Jennifer also speaks at national conferences to teachers on using
American Sign Language in the classroom. Jennifer works with
Mc Graw-Hill/Wright Group’s Early Childhood Division as an
Early Childhood Consultant and teacher trainer. She volunteers as
director of a preschool choir and leads confirmation classes with
sixth graders in her church.

She has a bachelor of science from Texas Wesleyan University in
Fort Worth, Texas. Jennifer and her family currently live in
Katy, Texas.