I have heard this question a few times in the last couple days of the big Signing Time sale.  Signing Time has so many products, if I just want to start with one, which one should I start with?

The answer is simple, if you have a baby, start with any one of the Baby Signing Time DVD's, books or flashcard sets.  There is a listing of what signs each video teaches on the
Baby Signing Time Progress Chart. 
Go thru the list and pick the video that teaches signs that you feel will help your child communicate where he or she is right now. 

If you have an older child (we did not start with our son until he was 18 months)  you can start with Signing Time series one or two.   Again, just look at the signs taught in each of the videos and choose the one that best matches the goals you are currently working on. 
Signing Time Series One Progress Chart
Signing Time Series Two Progress Chart
But don't rule out Baby Signing Time yet.  My son was 4 when he first started regularly watching Baby Signing Time and they are still some of his favorites.  Why?  Because he LOVES babies.  Really who doesn't?  They are so cute!  Plus they teach some of the same signs as the Signing Time Series in a different way, which helps kids generalize. 

We started our journey with Series 1 Volume 3 Every Day Signs.  After 3 weeks of watching this video every day while I got ready for work, my son showed us his first sign (cookie).  That is when I knew it was time to get another DVD.  Luckily Christmas was around the corner and I looked at the progress chart and asked relatives who were going to be buying him gifts anyway, to get him a specific DVDs.  I did the same for his Birthday.   It took a couple years to get the whole set. 

It all just depends on your child and your situation.  For instance, I have 3 boys and they LOVE sports.  So we got the Series 2 DVD My Favorite Sports pretty early, but we waited until just before he started Preschool to get the Series 1 Welcome to School DVD. 

But one thing is for sure, all the Signing Time products and DVD's are fabulous, so you can't really go wrong with any of them.  But if you really want to see them before you commit, you may want to consider getting a digital subscription to Signing Time.  For just $1 for the first month you can access the
ENTIRE SIGNING TIME COLLECTION
for 30 days with the coupon code allfor1.    You can watch on your computer, Apple or Android devices.  If you continue your subscription, it is just 9.99 a month after that.  You can cancel anytime.  So for a dollar you can preview and watch all the DVD's to find your favorites and I bet you won't be able to choose just one. 

A common misconception about teaching sign language to hearing children,  is that there is a "magic window" from 6 months to about 18 months where parents can sign with their baby.    In reality there is no magic window.  Hearing individuals can benefit from using sign through- out their lifetimes:
-Babies use ASL for communication
-Toddlers use it for vocabulary
-Preschoolers use it for early reading skills
-Early elementary children use it for sight words and spelling words
-Older elementary children use it for whole body learning and cross brain growth
-Tweens, teens, and adults use it as a second language.

Research on the subject shows that in the realm of cognitive development, it seems that children who learn sign have larger vocabularies than those who don't, and retain superior language skills even after they stop signing. A recent study compared “groups of children who were exposed to sign for a single school year” with groups who were taught a similar curriculum without the use of sign language . The researchers found that those children whose education had included sign developed better vocabulary skills during the year they were signing, and that they retained a larger vocabulary in the following year. At the end of the multiple-year study, the researchers found that “the more varied ways a child is exposed to language, the more retention and learning of that language will take place” (Robertson, 2007).

So to answer the question "When should I start signing with my baby?"  4-6 months is a great time to start, and if you have an older child, why not start today? 

Signing Time is a fun and easy way for busy parents to teach their child to sign.  Click HERE to check out the full line up of Signing Time products.

This awesome video shows Signing Time in action.  This little girl is not quite 15 months old and already has 100 signs.  Way to go Ellie!

I can sit here and list all sorts of reasons why you should teach your child to sign.   Instead I want to tell you about what teaching ASL vocabulary did for our family.
As I already stated, we started showing Singing Time videos to our youngest son, when he was 18 months old.  He watched that first video every day while I was getting ready for work for a month, for the simple reason that we only had the one video.  After about 3 weeks we saw him do his first sign.  It was awesome.  found another video and had him watch it every day while I was getting ready for another couple weeks.  Since it had taken 3 weeks for us to see his first sign, and because my son has special needs, I thought it might take him longer to learn the signs. He seemed to be picking up signs fairly quickly. 
The holidays were coming around again, so we asked for more videos.  Once we had enough to rotate, we still had him watch a video for at least 1 week at a time, just so he could have more time to absorb the material.  During this time, we added a few signs in our daily routine, but not nearly as much as we should have been doing.  My bigger boys started watching the videos too, and began learning sign and singing the songs around the house too.  They were learning the signs very quickly. 
Then when my son was around 32 months old,  I was out with the big boys and my husband and little one were home together.  They were looking at flash cards when the cards slipped and fell across the floor.  These particular cards had pictures on one side and words on the other.  Before my husband could flip the cards to the picture side, my son was signing the words from the word only side.   When I got home I was stunned to see that my son signed 80 percent of the flash cards right.
We were amazed and stumped.  Our son with Down syndrome, whom we were worried might never learn to read, was reading words before he turned 3 and we were really not sure how.  
Next post will be the search for the truth of what was teaching him to read, and the realization of just what he had learned.

Welcome to ABC Signing Kids!
We are glad you are here.  This company was founded to allow us to share our love of ASL Sign Language with others.  When we found the product Signing Time and began using it with our youngest son 3 years ago, we had no idea what an impact it would make in our lives.  Now the whole family enjoys signing and helping our 4 year to speak, read and learn more signs. 
Since our son was born with Down Syndrome we knew he might have difficulty learning to speak.  We tried a couple different sign language programs, and after the first time I watched a Signing Time with him, I knew we had found the right one.  He watched that first video every day for a month, while I was getting ready for work.  He had just turned 18 months old, and the time change messed with his sleeping routine, so he was up when I needed him to stay sleeping.  So I put the play pen in front of the TV, gave him  some toys, popped in the Signing Time Video, and went to get ready.  I would check on him often, and I rarely even caught him paying attention to the TV.  Then one day, 3 weeks later, I came down and he was signing cookie with the video.  I was overjoyed. 
Signing Time videos soon went on all his wish lists for Birthdays and Christmas.  Even as we got more videos in the series, we would have him watch each video every day for a week before going to a new one.  That gave him the time he needed to really learn the signs and songs.  Now at age 4 he still loves them.  When he asks to watch something on TV, he always asks for Signing Time.  How cool is that?  It is awesome that his favorite show is also an educational one.   
Signing time has gotten him ready for school and so much more........ but I will save that for the next post.