Signs for Me: Basic Sign Vocabulary for Children, Parents & Teachers

I like the way the book is set out. Unfortunately I don’t have it anymore to leave a video that I highly recommend it and the nice thing is if you’re a teacher you can copy the pages and the children can take them home to share with the parents for a certain subject

I am a Deaf woman who uses ASL both at school, at work, and also at my church. I bought this book for a family with 3 children of a variety of ages with the youngest boy being six or seven. He is very interested in signing, and watches both me and my interpreter like a hawk. When I sign sing or teach the children at church to sign sing, these 3 would always consistently sign and do it well. To encourage those who want to learn how to sign, especially children, I tend to buy books or CD-ROMs for them. The need for decent interpreters is tremendous, and just as those who are activists in the Deaf/disabled community are pushing for ASL to be taught as a second language in schools, we try to encourage those around us who express an interest. The drawings are great. The vocabulary is more than a beginner's ABC book. The book will not teach syntax or how the Deaf community uses their language, but it is a good place to start. Again, I have to emphasize the difficulty in teaching a 3 dimensional language with a book which is limited to 2 or 1 dimension. But anything that encourages children to learn a language and perceive the Deaf as equals with a different language (and interesting) is to be lauded. I always tell children and adolescents that signing for the Deaf is a great way to put themselves through college...in Pittsburgh, the rate is between $25-$35 an hour, and ASL is used at schools, in courts, at hospitals and doctors. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

There are lots of "sign" books targeted toward kids out there. I was initial leery of this one because I was concerned that its black-and-white, LOW-FI illustrations might not draw children in. How wrong I was! My kids cannot get enough. I though I had a decent working vocabulary, but they love to see if they can stump me - and once in a while they do. I'm pleased that they enjoy learning on their own. To the extent that a book make that possible, this one fits the bill.I think having realistic illustrations of same-age signers, as well as well thought out positions and symbology for motion (better than other books) is what makes it so accessible for them.It's inevitable that for the book to be any reasonable size, choices have to be made as to which signs to include. I can see why everyone may not agree, but I found (again) that the selections were very appropriate for the goals of (1) introducing the key concepts - personal/family relationships/posessives/etc. and (2) generating or furthering a genuine interest on the part of children and those around them - to enjoy sign and, perhaps, be inspired to move beyond this initial book.

We purchased this for our son who has Down Syndrome. At 18 months he was only saying a few words and our Speech Pathologist recommended we introduce him to sign language. We immediately began teaching him sign language (ASL) and he learned very quickly. So quickly, that we could no longer rely on the Speech Pathologist to supply us with copied pages of her edition. It is an excellent books for children of any age to learn sign language. The cartoon pictures of the children doing the signs in the book are adorable. The only drawback is that it does not include "polite" words such as "thank you", "you're welcome", "please", etc.

I am and itinerant teacher of Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I bought several of these books for my Deaf students in special education classrooms so the teacher and classroom aides can teach them their natural language. My visits to my student's classrooms are unfortunately limited so this is the next best way to provide ASL instruction. I trust any book published by Dawn Sign Press to teach pure ASL signs and not C-signs.

This book is great for children. The pictures of the signs are very easy to understand and the pictures illustrating the words are wonderful. My four-year old doesn't need to be able to read the vocabulary word to understand the book herself. She loves this book. I'm a sign language interpreter, the book shows ASL signs, but no grammer rules. It's basically a sign dictionary. I agree it's missing a few key signs, but overall I really like this book. I just recently used this book to teach a Parent/Toddler sign class. Everyone in the class liked this book.

I am a certified sign language interpreter. It's hard to find children's sign language books that use more ASL (American Sign Language) type signs target than Signed English or SEE Signs.This book is by far my favorite. I have bought it as a gift MANY times.

Super sign book for kids. It has words that kids want to know. The signs are drawn very clearly. There is also a picture of the vocabulary word next to the sign to help young readers figure out what the word is. I have given this book as a gift several times. The price is affordable.