PRESENTER'S BIOGRAPHY

I am a professional ASL-English interpreter. I graduated from Red River College in 2000. and I have been studying ASL since 1995. I am also a Certified Sign2Me presenter and am currently pursuing a Linguistics degree from the University of Manitoba. In the spring of 2006, I completed my training for the Parent Child Mother Goose program.

I taught both my daughters, Lauren (born April, 2003) and Haley (born July, 2005) to sign. Lauren reproduced her first sign at 10 months of age and continues to sign today to her baby sister and to make herself better understood. Her first three signs were BABY, BLANKET and MILK. Haley signed her first sign at 11 months but started to consistently use signs for communication at 12 months. Although Haley does not have any spoken words at this time she is able to positively interact with her family and share with us all of the things that she is experiencing.

Signing withmy family has been one of the most rewarding aspects of being a mother. I love watching them grow and learn and signing has given me an opportunity to see into their minds and thoughts that I otherwise would not have had.