how do you teach sign?

someone recently asked me how did I teach Owen to sign? I have not had any training or support, I haven't read how to do it, I have just followed my own instincts and I wonder what others do ?

When Owen was about 8 months old I started reading to him before bed and I read the same 2 books every night they are a really simple one animal/item per page


I went on to the Auslan website and found some of the signs for the animals or items in the book at first I just did Dog and Duck and Cat. I read the book with Owen sitting on my lap, the book in front of us and use my hands over his and make the sign or I would do the sign with my own hands (for example duck is hard to do with a hand over hand).

When he watches Playschool or his Your Baby to Read dvds, or when I sing nursery rhymes I would do the same thing, hand over hand signing.

I really think for Owen it was the sensory input that was most valuable in learning the signs, I mean I know the visual is important but I really think it was feeling the sign that was most vaulable. Now that we use sign to communicate Owen can learn a sign very fast (recently he learned "poo" in one day. At the moment I am not learning any more new signs I have hit a hump, we know about 40 and it meets our needs in the day. Owen also sayes just 5 or 6 words I am also working on him verbalising more and sharing baby babble back and forth with him.