The SIGN with your BABY Training Video makes learning easy with instruction, demonstrations, and tips from author Dr. Joseph Garcia. It also features interviews with parents and caregivers who share their experiences and eye-opening footage of signing children.
NTSC Format. Closed Captioned. Running time: 63 min.Joseph Garcia is not out to make babies smarter; he simply wants to help them communicate earlier. Based on his book of the same name, this 62-minute tape shows parents how to teach their prespeaking tots simple signs to indicate their needs and thoughts, thus avoiding the common frustration of a baby who understands language but cannot use it. Several sets of parents and babies demonstrate Garcia’s lessons, which he breaks up into chapterlike segments, complete with recaps at the end of each. Garcia guides parents from beginning efforts, such as teaching 7- to 10-month-olds signs for “eat,” “milk,” and “more,” to more complex concepts such as “help” and “pain,” allowing for plenty of variation along the way. His no-pressure attitude is reinforced by clips of his classes with parents and children, while an early-childhood-development expert and speech pathologist add their support of his methods. Included at the end is a 13-minute sign “dictionary” with codes for easy reference. –Kimberly Heinrichs
6 month old asks for milk! I saw Joseph Garcia talking about his research in a television news magazine (20/20 or 60 minutes) while I was pregnant and went online and bought the book, video and flashcard. At, 4 months, I started signing “milk” to my baby whenever we nursed and my husband did the same with a bottle. We didn’t expect a response, but it takes no extra time, so we just started it. Now, at 9 months, she uses the milk sign when she’s hungry, and can do her own simpler version of “change” when her diaper is wet. When we respond correctly to her signs, she beams, claps her hands and giggles. It’s wonderful. The video is simple and a great reference for teaching the signs, this is particularly helpful with some of the signs which cannot be clearly described in a book, and you need to see it in motion, 3-dimensionally.
Long on testimony, short on instruction Although well produced, and I certainly am a believer in the underlying science, the video struck me as something of an infomercial. Not much in the way of actual demonstration of technique. The great bulk seemed to be parents gushing about how wonderful their relationship with their little tykes had become since they started signing. Well and good, but I expected more actual instruction and demonstration.