Nina Saunders - Los Alamos, New Mexico
Nina initially became interested in sign language in high school after going to a friend’s house and seeing him communicate with his family members through sign. She was mesmerized by the beauty of the non-verbal language and instantly developed a passion for learning as much sign as possible. In college she took American Sign Language courses and become involved in the local deaf community. She quickly developed many friends and joined a hearing-impaired social group that met weekly to get involved and better understand the deaf culture. Eventually, she acted as a volunteer interpreter for the group when an interpreter was needed.
Nina went on to get her Bachelor’s degree in Communications with an Emphasis in Theatre Arts traveled across America to pursue theatre professionally and educationally. She now works at the local high school as the drama director. As a teacher, she has specialized in working with her students to teach them in kinesthetic ways the art of theatre and she has seen first had how powerful the kinesthetic learning process can be to students. In the same way, she knew that sign language could be a way to make communication kinesthetic.
When her son was born, she was very enthusiastic to utilize her knowledge of sign for his first method of communication. She began signing with him at three months after noticing he was already making gestures to communicate, such as reaching for mommy. After only four short months she was astounded to see him clearly make the sign for milk, and only a month later begin to cognitively use the sign “more.”
After seeing first hand how quickly her son could pick up signs to communicate, Nina realized that she wanted to share this valuable tool with other parents in her community.
For more info e-mail Nina at: nina@mysmarthands.com or download our class baby sign class inquiry form to be placed on a mailing list for upcoming classes. Remember to email the form back to Nina once completed.
