American Sign Language — it’s an important topic to me, one that I have seen come up in adoption forums quite a bit recently. Over the past year, I have slowly been trying to build a buzz for my Sign & Discover program — ASL workshops and classes for hearing children, parents and educators. I have been signing with my family for almost 6 years now and it has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my parenting. I definitely look forward to using it more I can go on and on about my love of ASL and how it has benefited by children and family as a whole. I can go on and on about how my children were telling me their wants and needs beginning at just 8 months old in clear and concise ways, how Emma signed “pain ear pain ear” at 11 months old, which led me to take her to the doctor and discover she had a double ear infection. I have a web site that is under construction — all this and more will be available to learn from later this spring at www.signanddiscover.com. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in learning about how American Sign Language can benefit your family and foster early communication, please feel free to ask me any questions and contact www.sign2me.com to find a class in your area.

I am attaching photos of me signing this week in Emma’s classroom. I’m teaching them songs for their end of school show. Tomorrow I am teaching a staff workshop for 22 teachers at a nursery school on Staten Island. After having a busy career in public relations for many years, and then home for a while, I definitely enjoy the stimulation of all aspects of building this business from the ground up. I have designed a great career for myself (based on something I feel such passion for) during this chapter of my life. I’m very grateful for this.

No, I am not holding “Chuckie” — that is Signing Sam, my signing puppet

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