Do I need to take an A.S.L. class?

Often, when parents are encouraged to sign with their child, they automatically think that they need to go out and sign up for a formal sign-language class.  My answer to them...."Don't waste your time and money!"  While taking a formal class is a great idea if you plan to emerse yourself in the Deaf community, it would not be worthwhile if you only plan to use your skills for communicating with a hearing child who has autism.  Since you will only be starting out by teaching your child one sign at a time, don't fret about acquiring a big sign vocabulary.  Just learn each new sign as you are introducing them to your child with autism.  When first starting out, you'll be modifying many of the signs to meet the needs of your learner, anyway.  Why spend an hour or more each week in a class learning to sign "Do you prefer beer or wine?"  when it is very unlikely that you will ever be teaching your child those words?  Buy or borrow a good ASL dictionary, access an on-line sign-language resource, and purchase Getting Started with Signed-Communication for Children with Autism.  No classes required.  There!  I just saved you a lot of time and effort.