My Smart Hands Baby Sign Language Dictionary
This app, geared to very young users, contains over 300 signs that you access in an alphabetical list. It is available in a “lite” (i.e., free) version as well as a more complete version for purchase. An adult demonstrates the sign while verbally describing what one does to form the sign. The short video below demonstrates the features of this app.
Smart Hands is an approach that is used in classes that teach parents to communicate with their pre-verbal young children via sign. Two videos below demonstrate this use of the product.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later
Tags: deaf, sign language
Posted in Communication & Social Skills and Deafness/Hard of Hearing and Sign Language and Young Children. 2 comments
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Parents often comment that they like the verbal explanation of how to formulate different signs. Having a real person sign is also helpful to many parents just learning sign.
This book does a good job of teaching baby as well as parent how to do some basic signs (dog, cat, diaper, water, all done, milk, etc.). The pictures grab my daughter’s attention and have since she was 5 months old (she is almost 9 months and still loves it). She already does a gesture very similar to ‘milk’ when she is hungry.
The book itself is well-made and a size my daughter favors – not too long, not too big, not too thick. Nice colors that catch her attention.
However, I find the choice of words to be a bit strange. I don’t see why a baby needs to learn the sign for the word ‘diaper’, but not the sign for the word ‘wet’ or ‘dirty’ or even ‘potty’. Why teach ‘water’ or ‘milk’ when one should learn ‘hungry’ or thirsty’ first? The words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are not in this book, and they are words we are teaching our daughter and she is already responding to the signs. The choice of teaching ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ I find a bit strange for not every household has these pets. Though my daughter adores this book, I think the selection of signs to be lacking and feel there are more useful signs out there for your little one.