BEYOND BABY TALK A hand in communication

Free sign-language classes aim to help parents and babies understand each other.
By CATHY SECKMAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Timmy Kinney of East Liverpool may be only 4, but when he catches sight of his mother across the aisle during Sunday services, and she slaps two fingers down in a peculiarly emphatic way, he knows it's time to stop whispering.
"Sign language is great for church," says his mother, Diane. "Even if he's sitting with his friends across the aisle, all I have to do is catch his eye to tell him what I want. Timmy picked it up really quickly. He has about 70 signs now, and he's beginning to build sentences. 'I -- want -- chocolate -- cookie.'"
Neither Timmy nor his parents is deaf.
The Kinneys have just perfected a parent-child communication tool that is gaining popularity in the Tri-State Area. While they were living in Hawaii during military service, Diane and her husband, Chris, learned the basics of American Sign Language (ASL) and taught them to infant Timmy, who couldn't yet talk. Now Diane is back in class, brushing up on the basics so she can teach them to her daughter, Sarah, 1.
Free classes
The East Liverpool Quota Club, a speech and hearing service organization, has partnered with Kent State University to provide free ASL classes for parents who want to communicate better with their babies.
"It provides another form of communication," says Susan Weaver, KSU library director and a member of the Quota committee organizing the class.
"A baby can begin signing at six months, well before the vocal cords develop enough to form words. It benefits babies whether they're hearing-impaired or not, and some researchers say it can raise the baby's IQ by 10 points."
When babies who use ASL begin to talk, the first words they say are likely to be words they can already sign, such as "more," "now," "sleep" and "juice."
Quota member Carry Nickel, a deaf educator, is teaching the class. "Deaf education has been my passion, for some reason," says Nickel, who currently teaches first grade at Westgate Elementary in East Liverpool. "I've been an interpreter, I've taught deaf children, and I've taught hearing adults. This class, doing it for free, is really wonderful. The curriculum is very child-specific. Each parent-child vocabulary depends on what's important to that child -- maybe a blanket, a bottle, a certain doll. Parents tell me what they want to know, and I teach what they need."
Boosting understanding
Randy and Carissa Adkins of Chester wanted to know the sign for "throne," because that's what they call their daughter's car seat. Their daughter, 3, is autistic and has already learned about 30 signs through an Easter Seal Society program. With that program ending, her parents joined Quota's ASL class so they can keep advancing and expanding their vocabularies.
Friends Uni DeLouis of Beaver Falls and Christi Daniels of Wellsville are interested in teaching their children something new. "My daughter is 11 months old," says Daniels, "and she already knows 'bottle,' 'cookie' and 'Mom.' We're working on 'shoes,' but that's a tough one."
DeLouis likes the idea of understanding her 18-month-old better. "The signs help. Now I know what he wants."
Jessica Cooper of Weirton, W.Va., says the class has already helped Jessie Rae, 10 months. "She can sign 'drink,' but she hasn't gotten the hang of 'eat' yet. When I can figure out what she wants, I'm hoping it will make her less frustrated."
Hearing-impaired relatives
It isn't just babies and parents who can benefit.
"I asked my nephew if he wanted to eat at McDonald's, and you should have seen the look on his face!" Marie Graham of Chester, W.Va., was so proud of that simple conversation that her own face was alight with joy.
It was the first time she had been able to say anything to her 35-year-old nephew, who is hearing-impaired and doesn't read lips.
Graham and her sister, Dolores Smith of East Liverpool, had always wanted to learn American Sign Language so they could talk with their nephew. "His parents can talk to him, of course, but none of the rest of the family has ever been able to communicate. We often thought we'd like to learn."
"We got a little bit of a late start," Smith admits, "but we're gonna give it a try."
Mary Ann Davis of East Liverpool had a similar reason for joining the class. "I have a 2-year-old great-niece who's deaf. None of the family can talk to her, and her parents have to interpret everything. This class sounded interesting, and now I have an incentive to learn."
Erin Carroll, a special-education teacher at Daw Middle School in Wellsville, is in the class along with her two aides, Tracey Nagy and Lori Haddox, because the class is getting its first hearing-impaired pupil next year.
"He's been limited," Carroll says, "because his parents don't sign. He's depending on us to be able to teach him."
The three already have been teaching basic signs to the children in their class, so the kids can talk to their new classmate next year.
Nickel and Weaver hope the class will be a continuing project for Quota and Kent. "We've kept a list," Nickel says, "because we had such a good turnout, and so many more people are interested. We want to do a follow-up class, and maybe a class for children only, ages 3 and up."
XThe class meets Wednesday evenings at Kent's Mary Patterson Building in East Liverpool. For information on future classes, call Kent at (330) 385-3805.