This book was good for the first year of my son's life. But once he started talking, the talking became easier for both of us. Now that my son is 4, he is able to express himself differently then most children, trying to find his own signs when he doesn't know the right words. I think we have a better bond because of the signing. Although I quit early, I still want to take a parent and child signing class when he turns 5. I think it would be good for his future. Another thing, people would look at us while we were signing and assume he was deaf. I would correct them and say "No he just doesn't speak very well, YET"

My father had a couple friends who were deaf, so I grew up seeing sign language used, so when I heard about teaching babies how to sign, I bought this book. I started using ASL with my son at 9mo, and at 4yo we still sign! I've seen other books that use non-ASL sign language, and that seems quite silly to teach your child a language that isn't official, especially seeing that my son still uses some of the signs he's learned.

This book was very easy to read and use, and is perfect for anyone who hasn't had any experience with signing. I've given this book to 4 couples as baby shower presents, and they've loved it.

I firmly believe that using sign language with my son before he could speak reduced the "terrible twos," because it gave him a way to communicate his needs and wants to us. We used signing in conjunction with speaking, and siging didn't hinder his speach development at all. In fact, I think it helped him start talking sooner. A friend of mine started signing with her daughter at 2yo who DID have speech development problems, and this actually helped reduce her daughter's frustration while they did speech development "exercises."