Guest guest Posted January 28, 2005 Report Share Posted January 28, 2005 American Sign Language Concise Dictionary by L.A. Sternberg Available from Amazon through this link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0062740105/qid=1106974870/sr=5-2/r\ ef=cm_lm_asin/002-1626570-2643228?v=glan ce It's a good vocabulary book, with some common phrases, etc. Its dimensions are 7 by 4.2 inches so it will fit in a back pocket. If you are teaching your children sign in the hope that it will lead to vocalizations, which I understand is not uncommon, it is NOT important to learn actual ASL. What is important is that everyone the child communicates with is aware of the signs they use and continues to encourage vocalization through modeling and rewarding approximations. The more functional the signs the better. Beware of similar gestures that require too fine motor skills and ASL reading skills to be readily differentiated. There are MANY resources on the web for learning sign language, but if you want your kids to speak, and if they use any language at all it is necessary that you encourage it, as it is usually more useful. I can understand sign a little because a friend in college that was nearly deaf as a child taught a bunch to me. I participated in her wedding as an usher, many of her friends were deaf, and it was useful, but outside of the deaf community signing comes up second to writing things out to the hearing and deaf people often end up pantomiming to the unlearned and then scribbling what they want in a notebook. As in everything this is a personal decision. I hope you are receiving some experienced, trustworthy, professional advice on this topic. Arnold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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