I love this so much! I work in Deafblind services. Many of our children can't use sign language because they can't see and they can't talk because they don't hear.
But they absolutely communicate. They tap, wiggle, and make faces. They know how to express themselves, even before we teach them how to communicate.
I love the expression "home sign". I hadn't heard that before, although it might be a common expression in the deaf school.
This is a wonderful book and I think everyone should read it.

In a world that values verbal language over nonverbal communication and in a society that perpetuates ableism by minimizing and invalidating the experiences of those who present outside of the status quo, a book like Thinking with Your Hands by Susan Golden-Meadow is a true trailblazer.

As the mother to a son who is nonspeaking but communicates very clearly both using assistive technology and gesturing with his hands, I jumped at the opportunity to read Thinking with Your Hands. In this love offering, Susan provides her readers with an in-depth understanding of the way we *all* use our hands to communicate. Susan explains how gesture plays an important role in how we communicate ideas visually (outlining shapes, recreating movements, displaying transformations, the use of sign language, emphasizing a point, etc).

By cultivating an understanding and an appreciation for how gestures work we can all rethink how we communicate and how we understand others. The book is divided into three parts: part one is the science of gesture; part two considers how gestures give us insight; and part three is what we've learned up until now about gesture both with and without simultaneous verbal speech.

Thank you to the author for writing this book and to the publisher for the opportunity to be an arc reader!