The Handmade Alphabet by Laura Rankin

 

This book provides the manual alphabet used in the United States while incorporating beautiful pictures to visually represent words that begin with a given letter into the handshape of that letter.The written English equivalent of the letter is also given.The incorporation of English letters, manual letters, and pictures on the same page make this book ideal for families learning to sign together.This could be used by families choosing to use any form of signed communication, or families who plan to utilize spoken English, but would like some sign support.

 

The Signing Family: What Every Parent Should Know about Sign Communication by David A. Stewart and Barbara Luetke-Stahlman

 

This book provides families with helpful information to differentiate American Sign Language and sign systems from one another.ASL and most sign language communication systems used in the United States are discussed in the book.Each option is the subject of a chapter so that it can be looked at comprehensively.The main reason parents and families may want to use a particular form of communication are listed in bullets before the chapter begins, with details about the mechanics of that sign communication to follow.The impact of signing in the Deaf child’s education and future are also touched on in some chapters, though most of the book focuses on specific systems.

 

​Signs for Me: Basic Sign Vocabulary for Children, Parents, and Teachers by Ben Bahan and Joe Dannis

 

This book provides a small sign dictionary of sorts for ASL divided by the parts of speech, and further broken down into categories from there.The signs, after being categorized, are ordered alphabetically in accordance with the English word provided.Families should be careful to note, however, that attention should be given primarily to the picture provided rather than the one English word provided.ASL is a language of its own; there is no sign-for-word or word-for-sign equivalents in many cases, especially as families advance together in their study of ASL.The cartoon pictures provided next to the English word and the sketches of sign models to the right of the English word make this dictionary accessible to Deaf children, their siblings, parents, and many other people who may wish to sign with them.