A Word in the Hand

A Word in the Hand: Combined Edition is a simple primer to learning Signed English.

This 192-page book contains 25 lessons and over 800 illustrations. Each lesson provides vocabulary, illustrations, review, exercises, and assignments that beginning signers will find exciting. Each chapter is built around a theme.

Subjects include: The alphabet and numbers, colors, time, people, animals, school, home, food, clothing, holidays, toys and games, health, emotions, transportation, occupations, geography, verbs, and adjectives and modifiers.

FAQ About Sign Language Materials

Are your sign language materials ASL or Signed English?

Yes! A question that too often cloaks, "Whose camp are you in?" Our offerings tend to run closer to the linguistic models of Standard English. While our Word in the Hand book is clearly modeled for Signed English, our Sign Language Literature Series models Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE), and other books which primarily present vocabulary (e.g., Pets, Animals & Creatures) select common usage signs based upon the ASL and Gallaudet communities. Other books (e.g., Signing at School or Can I Help?) model sentence structures closer to English syntax than ASL.

What sources do you use for your vocabulary?

We have tried to choose vocabulary signs that reflect a larger, common usage. Common usage primarily reflects ASL, with attention to Gallaudet, Signed English systems, and other competent academic programs.