Average Price: $19.99
Availability: Widely available online and off
Rating:
Product Link: My First Signs

I’ve been skeptical of television products for young chilren since before I was a mother, but my son’s utter fascination with the TV, and friends who talked endlessly about Baby Einstein videos compelled me to give “My First Signs” a try.

As you can tell from the rating, I was not disappointed.

Baby Einstein goes out of their way to let you know that they do not consider their products to be “educational”, but rather see them as another way that mom, dad, or other caregivers can interact with the child. I think that’s a bit of a stretch with most of the child-focused DVDs out there, but with this particular one I’d say it’s right on the money.

I’m deaf, and frequently sign to my son, but since I’m the only one that signs with him, I don’t think that it ever really clicked for him that what I was doing was part of a language that people can use to communicate, rather than say.. Just funny gestures that mommy does when talking. The first time I saw the idea of “gestures as words” really click with him, was when he saw Marlee Matlin signing the words on this DVD. He stared quite intently at first the TV, then at his hands as he moved them around, then at me as I signed the words to him as well. It was a discovery that, for him, seemed to equal the discovery that feet are good to chew on. I don’t think that this is just for deaf children, as my friend’s 10 month old daughter seemed to greatly enjoy signing “drink” and a few other words the first time I met her, and she learned them from this DVD. It sure beats pointing and crying!

The DVD covers 20 different words such as “mommy”, “daddy”, and the aforementioned “drink”. It shows Marlee Matlin signing, parents signing to babies, babies signing back to their parents, and it shows images of the words that the sign illustrates. There’s enough complexity to it so that watching it repeat endlessly won’t bore you to tears, but it’s simple and repetitive enough for young minds to grasp quickly.

I highly recommend this DVD for parents that are interested in learning how to sign with their children, as it is easier to see the signs in video format than it would be to learn them from a book, and as it seems to help the baby to see other people (and babies!) sign the words. As an added perk, additional language tracks make this truly multi-lingual.