Kathy's first exposure to American Sign Language was in elementary school.  Her younger sister Elizabeth, (who has Downs Syndrome), was presented with ASL instruction in order to help her communicate.  Kathy, Liz and their parents tried to learn ASL through the use of crude drawings & graphics.  The family had difficulty deciphering many of the signs and was unable to figure out a lot of the diagrams, arrows, etc.  It was a frustrating and unproductive experience.

With the birth of her first son in 1999, Kathy began re-visiting the notion of being able to communicate with her baby through the use of sign language. 

In her search for children's books on American Sign Language, Kathy found the illustrations were difficult to follow, the books were one-dimensional, "baby vocabulary" was not in most books, and many of the signs conflicted from book to book. 

About Baby See 'n Sign
Armed with a burning desire to communicate with her son , Kathy set out to create a video that would make it easy for babies and parents to learn American Sign Language. She wanted to produce a video that would not only teach adults, but would teach, as well as entertain, even the youngest of children. Hence, the birth of BABY SEE 'N SIGN.

"It makes learning easy and fun for both parent and child. It provides 3-dimensional images so one can easily decipher how to make the sign," says Kathy. "The signs are clear, with colorful real-life in-your-face images, complete with sound and vocabulary." Baby SEE 'N Sign teaches signing and includes vocabulary too-- which can be used with older children. Just like a book, Baby SEE 'N SIGN can be used to teach children to spell and pronounce the written word.

Personal Insights
Kathy and her son continue to learn ASL together, even though he can now talk. "I believe he talks as well as he does and began talking as early as he did, as a result of signing with him. He began saying words at 9 months and full sentences by 15 months," says the proud mother.

Together, with Daddy, they look forward to teaching his new siblings, what they've learned. "As my kids grow, I learn a little more every day about what interests and excites them. I'm planning to develop more volumes for babies, some for toddlers, and advanced concepts and words for older kids. I look at it as a 'labor of love' and only wish that my sister, Liz, could have received this gift of communication at a much earlier age."

Kathy and Eric were married in 1993.  They have three sons and a daughter. They make their home just outside Eugene, OR.

About Baby See 'N Sign's ASL expert, Johanna Larson-Muhr.