Definately!!  It might take me about a week just  because we're working on our house this week (we'll be listing it soon) so it might take me slightly longer than my last set - but that'll be the next ones I do!  Thanks :-)

I have been using american sign language and flashcards with my 2 daughters from about 4 months on.  My youngest is almost 2, and my oldest is almost 4, and the bennifits from that are amazing me still!  My 4 year-old is quite advanced verbally compared to her non-signing peers.  It suprises me that she enjoys being around children that are a year or two older than her rather than playing with children her own age, because she can't understand what they're saying.  It's funny to watch her and her 4  1/2 year old "best bud" when they're eating together.  they sit side by side at the table and have calm conversations about school, TV, toys, what they did that day, week, etc, and it's the cutest thing EVER!!

The 2 year-old knows all the words to a LOT of her favorite songs (I wish I could catch it on tape - but it never happens!).  And regularly speaks in 4 or more word sentences such as "I want sit here, Momma!" or "No!!!  I don't want.  I want milk!!" and tonight at dinner it was "Napkin!!!  Owen funny Momma!" because he was being silly with his napkin...but the best tonight was "CAKE!!!!  I want cake please!"  I'm not really around any kids her age, so I'm not sure, but I think that she may be a bit advanced verbally.  I don't think Older Daughter was speaking nearly that much at the same age...

Anyway...I'm not sure these are exactly the LONG TERM effects you were talking about, Maddy, but it's always fun to be able to bragg on the babies sometimes :-)

no problem!  It's really exciting to be a part of such a neat group like this one.  Keep me posted about what else you'd like to see! :-)

I live in the New Orleans area, and my 1st daughter was 6 months old when we had to evacuate for 3 months because of Hurricaine Katrina.  We had 2 adults, a baby, and a cat in a tiny, hot (no electricity) hotel room for quite some time.  I saw and bought a pack of "First Words" flashcards at a dollar store for $0.99, and it was the BEST dollar I've ever invested in baby stuff.  Everyone thought I was crazy sitting on the floor in our dark hotel room doing flashcards and sign language with a 6-month-old baby, but it gave me something to do, and it kept her thoroughly occupied for GIANT stretches of time!  This silly idea led to several very positive results:  

1. As I'm doing flash cards with Rachael (she was about 8 months old), she slaps her leg (the sign for dog) when I showed her the first card (which was a dog) before I'd ever said what it was.  Now I figure that was just a coincidence, the she was just excited, and move on to the next card.  She actually signed the first 5-7 cards correctly without any prompting!  I was so excited that I called my entire family to come see what happened (and amazingly, she actually repeated the correct signs!)

2. I was AMAZED!!!!  I had NO IDEA a child that young could understand anything like that!  I just figured the reason she liked flashcards so much was because of all the time spent BONDING!!  We'd sit cuddled on the bed talking and pointing at pretty colors, but she was spending quality time with MOM, so I figured that's all she'd be getting out of it.  But BOY was I wrong!

3. As she continued to learn signs, our stack of flashcards grew until it was almost 3 inches thick!  I'd stick them in the diaper bag everytime we had an appointment somewhere, knowing that she'd be perfectly behaved and quiet so long as she was "playing cards" with momma!  She'd easily "play cards" with me for 30-45 minutes while we were waiting in Dr.'s offices and such.

4. We started getting some Dr. Seuss board books and we'd read his "ABC book" several times a day.  As we read "Big A, little a, what begins with A?"  I'd point to the letters as they were said, and by 18 months she suprised me again by "reading" letters off our garbage can one day!  I had NO IDEA she'd actually learned most of her uppercase and many of her lowercase letters just by reading that book!

5. Later at a public library, we found some DVD's called "Signing Time" and we borrowed one to see what it was like.  THEY WERE AMAZING, TOO!!!  Just like an earlier poster mentioned, they have the bright colors and soft music, but they are also spoken word and text rich!!  They also have amazing original children's songs in them that even I adore :-)  I was sold on those videos after she'd watched one 2-3 times and signed something to me that I'd never shown her - she'd learned it by herself from the video and was able to use the words in context!  We ended up spending WAY TOO much on those videos, but I'm sure we'll be buying some more anyway, just because they are so great.  They're now doing a 2nd series just for older children.

Anyway those are just a few of the ways Rachael taught me what young children are capable of, and I'm constantly being reminded how I underestimate my children.  The bottom line is this: if you and your child are having fun and spending pleasant quality time together, then you are doing what is right for your and her.  I don't believe there's a WRONG way to teach your baby, so long as everyone is enjoying their time together!

Also, as Maddy said, their Little Reader program is really wonderful, and I've just posted 16 different files that do "sign language flashcards".  You see a word, hear it, see a picture of the object, then see me sign the word.  so if you've decided to use Little Reader, check them out!  Good Luck! :-)

heheheh :-)  THANKS!!  I was just searching the forums, and I've been amazed how many hits I've gotten for "sign language, american sign language, baby signing, etc!  I can't believe I never thought to look it up on you guys' site!  Gotta run...got lots of browsing to do now! :-)

I didn't realize that there was such a want for this type of material!  I've just uploaded 16 categories for Little Reader labeled "American Sign Language" which contains about 5 words with signed videos for each.  Take a look at them if you are still interested, and if you have a group of words that you'd like to see that aren't there, just make me a list.  My husband is great at helping me with the videos, so they don't take much time for us to make.  It's been really exciting for me the past week or so seeing how many people have actually downloaded by categories despite my obvious lack of professional sound/video equipment :-)  Enjoy!!

Lappy, I've just started the survey over from scratch, completed the ENTIRE thing in one sitting, and submitted it.  This is the 2nd time I've seen the end message: "BrillKids    Thank you   Your survey responses have been recorded     Close this Window"  I even took a screen shot of it this time!  Please check the records and let me know if it's been received.  Thank you!!!

neat! I had no idea you could search for member downloads that quickly!!  I'll have to give it a try :-)

I'm SO thrilled about the software Lappy suggested in post:  http://forum.brillkids.com/little-reader/useful-resources-section/  I've already downloaded, installed, and successfully used 2 of the products.  They are SIMPLE and work AMAZINGLY well!!!  I got K-Lite Codec Pack so that my computer could "see" the .swf files, and I got FREE Video To Flash Converter to turn the .avi's to .swf's.

I hadn't posted ANY files because all of mine were SO enormous, and I'd been waiting to hear back from you guys about the few I'd turned in on the "Large File" site.  As soon as I saw that post, I started working on the conversions, and I should have all 16 categories uploaded by the time I hit the hay tonight :-)  (I'm so glad I was finally able to get them up here before the BETA ended so that I could get some points!)

I feel badly about the 2-second silences because I figured a lot of people may not like them, but I did it for a reason.  We use the "Your Baby Can Read" DVD's in our home, and since my children are 2 and 4, once they've learned the words, it gives them a chance to say or sign the word on the screen before they are told the correct answer (just like on their DVD's).  If I say the word immediately, I don't know if they are just repeating what they hear, or if they actually recognize the word.  So I always leave a 2-second silence on ALL my flash cards.  I figured that if it really bothered anyone too much, they'd just re-record their own voices anyway...that's one of the amazing features in your program - being so customizable!! :-)

and thanks for the compliments - I hope they are popular :-)

Yes!!  That would be awesome!  I probably wouldn't use each button each time, but if i'm somewhere in the viscinity of something I want to get to quickly, I often employ TAB and SHIFT+TAB to get where I want.  it would be awesome to be able to use that functionality.  Thanks for considering it :-)

If it would be possible to use the "Tab" key to jump to the next box (of typing or for clicking) in the "Edit Word" screen, I would find it MUCH easier to work on a large batch of words more quickly.  Thanks!!

For those of you who might use Little Reader, I've finally figured out how to upload my American Sign Language categories!  You see and hear the written word, see a picture and hear the word, and see a short video clip of me signing the word or phrase.  I've only got 4 up there right now, but by tomorrow morning I should have all 14 of the ones I've made.  The word lists come from the Sign2Me Lessons 1-6 (based on "Sign With Your Baby" by Joseph Garcia).  Just search for uploads by RafikiPaka.  Enjoy :-)

I'm now concerned that my survey may not have been received!  I just got an email warning me that I have only 2 days left to fill out a survey (even though I've already submitted mine).  Was this a blanket email sent to everyone, or does this mean that mine has not been received by you guys?  Let me know!  Thanks :-)

I've filled out and submitted my Beta End Survey a few days ago, but have not been awarded any points.  Can you tell me about how long that usually takes?  Thank you!

Since BETA testing is almost done, I'm wondering if you guys are planning to have the "Burn DVD" function available at all.  I'd be interested to know if you've decided that it's going to be too much trouble or something.  Please let me know.  Thanks!

I have used American Sign Language with both my daughters, 4 & 2, since birth.  I researched the different methods while still pregnant with the first and determined that I would not be using any "Baby Signs" materials since the use of American Sign Language was so important to me as a Sign Language Interpreter.  I understand that some of the signs that are modified for "Baby Signs" make it easier for the baby to reproduce the sign, but it bothers me that some of the modified signs are so close to vulgar words in American Sign Language.  Because my children and I are often signing around Deaf adults, it would mortify me to have my children reproduce some of those signs.  If you are not around Deaf people often, and you are not planning on building your child's skills to use American Sign Language as a second language, then this may not be important to you.

While researching, a friend of a friend introduced me to "Sign With Your Baby" by Joseph Garcia.  I didn't like the book as much as I liked the Complete Learning Kit.  For beginner signers, the pencil drawings in the book can be hard to figure out, but the Kit comes with a DVD that shows a real person signing each word.  It also includes a laminated card that lets you keep track of your baby's signing milestones.  This is what I started using with my first daughter, and I was incredibly pleased with the products, and her success!  Similar to other posts, she began signing back to me around 8 months of age.  She was pretty consistent with at least 5 signs by 10 months old.  By 22 months she didn't speak a lot, but she could sign over 300 words!  By the time she started talking, we couldn't get her to stop!  People now comment on how short my poor daughter is because she speaks much better than an almost-4-year-old normally would!  My almost-2-year-old speaks in full sentences and is constantly amazing strangers.  "I don't want that.  I want this.  Are you OK, Momma?  I'm sad.  You funny!  Want [TV] show please."  She can speak so much better than my first daughter did at that age!  It's really amazing...

But I don't think that there's anything special about my children.  I believe that any child given the opportunity to sign with their parent from an early age will have this same type of result.  A dozen of my friends use "Sign With Your Baby" and "Signing Time" and "Baby Signing Time" Videos, and their results are just like ours.  It's really cute to watch the kids play together.  The 4-year-olds have little adult-like conversations while the 2-year-olds scream because one of their toys has been taken from them.  So they run to grab it back, hollering, and signing "SHARE!!!"

As someone else stated previously, "Baby Signing Time" is best for 1 year and under, "Signing Time" is best for 1 and older.  However, if you are interested in continuing your American Sign Langauge experience, "Signing Time" has just released Series 2 which is made up of 13 DVD's that are GREAT for older kids (and adults).  My 4-year-old likes them, but they're a bit above the 2-year-old's head.  We also have an 8-year-old neighbor who's always at our house; she'll watch "Signing Time," but really enjoys Series 2.  Rather than teaching individual words, it teaches whole sentences and phrases, like:  "My name is Rachel, what's your name?"

Wow, I didn't realize how long this was, I gotta go!  Check out these sites for more info...
www.Sign2Me.com
http://www.sign2me.com/shop/page11.html
www.SigningTime.com
www.BabySigningTime.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Signwithyourbaby/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1