Signing Time vs. Baby Signing Time

[Twinergy]

The main difference between ST & BST is how many signs are used in the songs.  BST just shows a few featured ASL words while ST uses many more words and even some ASL grammar.  I started BST every day when my kids were 12 months old & ran out of material by the time they were 15 months old.  That’s when I moved onto ST.  I know ST was intended for older kids, but mine have had no problem learning from it.  When I started I showed the videos for several weeks, but my kids pick up most of the words in one show after watching them maybe 5-10 times.   I would recommend ST to anybody planning on teaching ASL as a second language, but BST would be fine if you wanted to know a few words.
Something else about the ST series, volumes 1, 2 & 3 are very different from the rest of the series.  They follow a format similar to YBCR where they feature just the text on the screen with nothing else to distract.  My kids actually learned to read several words from this.
There are lots of demos on YouTube, here are a few…
Baby Signing Time
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Signing Time
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Your Baby Can Talk
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[Kappasweet]

So, for those of you that are using signing DVDs.  Do the DVDs actually teach the signs?  Or is it more of a tool for parents to guide the children in learning?  What I'm wanting to know is, if I start my signing program for my 12 month old, how much work is it going to be for me beyond just repeating the signs in context throughout the day?

[nhockaday]

Yes, they teach the signs. Did you read my other posts? My son has learned, in about 4 months, probably around 80+ signs from watching the videos and from me reinforcing the signs throughout the day. These are fun, instructional videos geared towards babies and children. My son absolutely loves them. You can go to their site signingtime.com to see clips of all the videos, read about the videos, and much more. A 12 month old will learn very fast. My son was about 12 months old when we started the videos, and he started learning signs almost immediately.

[Joha]

No, I actually bought non-BST flash cards (before my son was born) so that I could learn some signs. I wish that I would have just bought the DVDs initially, instead of buying the flash cards, because they cost as much as the 3 DVDs would have cost. Gabriel didn't sign back to me, even after I signed to him for several months. He didn't start signing until we watched the videos. He has learned his signs (I have lost count, maybe 80 or 90 by now?) from the videos, not from me. We watch them together, and I learn the signs right along with him. I help him make the signs, and he tries to do some on his own.

So, I don't see where the flash cards are necessary. All you need to do is watch the videos with your child, and he/she will learn a great deal from them. The flash cards that I bought were great for teaching me the signs, but I could have just as easily watched the DVDs to learn them while my son did the same, instead of months of signing to him with no results. I am certain that, if I would have started showing the videos at 6 months, instead of at 12 months, he would have been signing much sooner. He started signing almost immediately after we watched the first video a couple of times.

Thank you so much for the information!

My mother-in-law gave my daughter the Baby Signs Program and we were waiting for her to turn 6 months to start using it. I just checked it and there are not DVD's in the set. There are little books and the magnetized flip-card and a DVD with only 6 signs.    I just checked their website and they do have DVD's for sale. I was wondering if someone has use this program so that way I can decide if I should buy their DVD's and complete this program or just get the ST or BST DVD's?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Kappasweet]

Yes, they teach the signs. Did you read my other posts? My son has learned, in about 4 months, probably around 80+ signs from watching the videos and from me reinforcing the signs throughout the day. These are fun, instructional videos geared towards babies and children. My son absolutely loves them. You can go to their site signingtime.com to see clips of all the videos, read about the videos, and much more. A 12 month old will learn very fast. My son was about 12 months old when we started the videos, and he started learning signs almost immediately.

Thanks, I just wanted to clarify.  I am a student/working Mom, so our regimen has to be fairly focused on getting good results, not a bunch of stress for Mom without much benefit.  This is why I did not consider signing until now, my baby has started gesturing pretty regularly such as waving, clapping, and pointing, so I know he can respond to this kind of program.

[nhockaday]

I have never heard of it, but again, I highly recommend BST/ST. You can buy just one DVD to start. See how you like it and how your daughter responds to it. They are only $20 per DVD, and I think you can find them cheaper on ebay and amazon.  We still have coupons in our shop for them too.

Just a little FYI, I started with the BST DVDs and a couple of the ST DVDS that I thought had signs that we would use everyday. I was so impressed with the program and my son's progress, that I ended up buying almost all of the DVDs. Some have words that we may not use that often, but they also have words that we use frequently. Besides the signs, they do show the the word on the screen, so a child is also learning to read the word.

[Joha]

I just checked both websites and the ones you recommended have more signs per video. Some of the BST DVD's are around US$15 in amazon.com and the ST are about US$20, but if your oder is more than US$25 they do free shipping.

Great post! Thanks to evrybody!
 

[Kappasweet]

I wished there was some way to customize , but that's probably asking for too much.  I see the list of signs they teach as "basic" and I'm like  what baby ever has a NEED to sign the word Frog unless you have a frog for a pet.  That's just to show off, and I am really against "baby tricks as entertainment for adults" and I would like for his signing vocabulary to include needs/desires not so much as a vocabulary builder.  I have another signing DVD and it shows the word Balloon, Sister, and Brother (which are HARD signs) under "basic" and it just seems silly.  I understand wanting to include animals, but Frog is just a strange one, why not Insect or Bird which everyone sees almost every day.  With that said, I am getting BST Vol. 1 and 2.  Happy learning!

[Twinergy]

ST & BST both teach the signs and from what I have seen of MBCT I’m sure it would work too.  I have my hands full with twins (literally) so it was very difficult to sign with them in the beginning.  I tried just teaching them on my own & didn’t see any progress after 4 months.  I let them watch the video at 12 mo.  Then within a couple days they were signing.  Part of what the video did is it allowed me to interpret their sign approximations.  As it turned out they had been signing for awhile, I just didn’t recognize it until I saw them signing with the video.  For example, the signs for “ball,” “hurt” and “more” all just looked like she was trying to clap to me.  So the videos have not only been a good tool in teaching them sign language, but also teaching me what they know. 
At first I would sign and sing along with the video so they would know what to do.  Once they caught on, I could leave the room & they would follow along on their own.  This would probably even allow you to get some studying done.  They really learn fast from these videos, so you might want to see if your library has them.

[nilovna]

Twinergy, thanks for the library idea. I just looked in the online catalog of my local library and they have all of them, series 1, 2 and BST!!! Im going tomorrow and get volume 1 of BST.

[nhockaday]

I'm so jealous! My library doesn't have any of the good educational videos. Good for you though!

[rose08]

I am jealous too. I decided that I wanted to get the baby signing time dvds, tried to buy them and then saw the shipping cost to Australia. It was way too much for me to get it So will have to find a different dvd learning program.

Aussie has nothing...

[Nikita]

If I lived in the US with SO much to choose from and so cheap to buy with cheap postage, I'd be buying everything I could get my hands on. You dont realise how good you have it over there!! I go on ebay and DVDs are so cheap in the US but no-one bids for them. I wouldve bid (er, bidded?) but the cost of postage is prohibitive.
I'd like the BST ones, if nhockadays son signs so much yet is practically born on the same day as mine, who probably signs 11 signs.
Though I dont mind the baby einstein puppets... I find some dvds are too dry and dont keep bubbys' attention. If it takes toys, puppets and other things to keep bubs interested, then good to have them! Infact, I wish the flashcard dvds had more Babyish things throughout to make them more attractive, interesting and entertaining. Because they are babies...

[Twinergy]

Nikita,
My twins are about a month older than your LO and have watched many episodes of ST & BST.  My daughter has used 100+ signs and uses at least 30 different signs every day.  She spends a lot of time on language and can clearly say even more words.  I have only seen my son use about 20 signs, and maybe 10 on a regular basis, and have heard him say only about 10 words.  He is hardly interested in watching the video, signing & talking but would rather spend his time figuring out how to climb things.  Perhaps your LO is also more kinesthetic like my boy & that’s why is isn’t interested.
My son also hates being in his high chair and is so skinny because he is always running around & never eats.  We recently started using flash cards with signing at meal time & my son is very engaged.   Not only is he paying attention to the lessons but he is also eating more while learning to read & sign.  This way we also get to select words that are interesting to him.  He especially likes anything with animal sounds.     If you did something like this you wouldn’t have to have any DVD’s shipped to you.  Here are some links to a couple ASL video dictionaries on line.  If you like I can make you a list of words that work for us, let me know.
http://www.mybabycantalk.com/content/dictionary/dictionaryofsigns.aspx?letter=A
http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

[Nikita]

You could be right about the kinesthetic thing.  She's obsessed with climbing up and down the coffee table.  Even if she falls off, she'll cry, then climb right back up there. She also put her own pants on today (couldnt get them past her bottom though) and likes to undress dolls. So she does like manipulating her environment and movement activities, like trying to draw or join blocks or modular daisies together.
I'll let you know on the ASL thing, but I am determined to get my hands on baby signing time by hook or by crook...
Thanks, giving you some karma.

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