It was an honor welcoming Dr. Marilyn Daniels to our school for staff development day. Dr. Daniels shared with us her vast knowledge of the benefits of implementing American Sign Language into a typically developing early childhood environment. Prior to her visit we worked together to create a workshop that would best fit the context of our school and teachers. It was an extraordinary experience that I will always take with me as my teaching journey continues.

Colleen Brown, Early Childhood Teacher at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue Early Childhood Center, NYC

TEACHER TRAINING

For the rest of the day and week following a staff development session led by Dr. Marilyn Daniels my teachers were excitedly talking about what they had learned and I heard many exchanges about what they had tried in class that very afternoon. Dr. Daniels kind and gentle manner has endeared her to our staff and we consider her part of our school family. Since that first session Dr. Daniels has offered additional ASL trainings for our faculty. She was instrumental in bringing the National Theatre of the Deaf to our campus. These engaging lively Deaf entertainers captivated out students, their parents and other children and adults in the audience. Several of our kindergarten students introduced the performers using ASL. Dr. Daniels instruction and support allowed the Washington Township Public Schools to garner a New Jersey Exemplary Program Award for “Use of Sign Language as an Early Literacy Strategy”.

Wendy Crawford, Principal, Public Early Childhood Center, Washington Township, NJ

FACULTY PRESENTATION

I found Dr. Daniels presentation eye opening as to the possibilities of nuance and shades of meaning that can be conveyed by signing.  I am amazed at this manual languages facility for expression.  I really learned!

Stella Hyman Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ

Dr. Daniels was great! She helped me look at all languages in an entirely different way.  I never realized the width and breadth of language.  I just thought it was speech.  Now I know language goes beyond speech.  It is what we need for intra-personal communication.  It enables us to think. Her lecture was extremely enlightening.

Gabe Vitalone Ed.D., Professor Emeritus of Early Childhood Education, William Paterson University, Wayne, N.J.

HIGH SCHOOL SPEAKER

Dr. Marilyn Daniels spoke to our senior class in an address entitled “Gesture to Gesture”. She was excellent as she enlightened our students about the important aspect of gestures and their place in the overall category of nonverbal communication. It was wonderful to see Dr. Daniels give our students a different perspective on reality and broaden their horizons. They listened with rapt attention and thoroughly enjoyed her informative and entertaining speech.

Sister Jane Goughan, IHM, Notre Dame High School, Stroudsburg, PA

CONFERENCE KEYNOTE

Dr. Marilyn Daniels was the keynote speaker for our conference, “Signing: a Strategy to Facilitate Reading for Hearing Students in the Primary Grades”. She presented us with information about signing for hearing children that was very appropriate, research based, and on the cutting edge of work being done in this area. Dr. Daniels was interesting and related extremely well to the over 100 elementary school teachers who attended. She was swarmed by teachers after the presentation, many asking her to come to their schools to speak with their faculties. I was with her when two principals from Washington DC, told her that they had been going to many meetings to get ideas to help their teachers and that her ideas were the best they had heard.

Dr. Robert M. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

LUNCHEON OR DINNER SPEAKER

Dr. Marilyn Daniels delivered the main address at our annual Recognition Luncheon. She did an outstanding job in validating our use of American Sign Language. Her research is extremely important to our work with children who are deaf. In addition it has important meaning for the hearing siblings of our students. The parents and students who attended were extremely attentive and interested in the enlightening and entertaining content of Dr. Daniels presentation. She even signed a portion of her own speech! A brave step, indeed.

Dorothy S. Bambach, Ed. D. Superintendent, Scranton State School for the Deaf, Scranton, PA

TELEVISION PRESENTATION

Dr. Marilyn Daniels was a guest on Parent’s Helper a program on NBC’s America’s Talking TV channel. The people at the station were raving about her appearance using the following words. “She was so passionate when she was speaking about this topic.” “If I was sitting at home, I would be drawn in to watch because she had a way about her that made you interested in what she had to say.” “I am sure that people at home probably will look into this, and want their children to learn sign language.” Dr. Daniels was fascinating to watch and her research is impressive and significant.

Deborah Montgomery, Segment Producer, Parents Helper Television Program

LECTURE

I was delighted when I attended the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf to discover that Dr. Daniels had been invited to present a lecture entitled “Signing for Hearing Children! Why?”. I saw the presentation and Dr. Daniels captivated her audience made up of Deaf and hearing people. The two hour session extended to nearly three hours at the insistence of the participants. It was heartening to see the ability Dr. Daniels had to communicate with both the hearing and Deaf attendees in her audience. They followed her intently. From the questions they asked you could tell they were able to understand her as she described concepts such as the physiological characteristics of ASL processing and storage. Deaf people are very protective of their language. However, the Deaf community embraces Dr. Marilyn Daniels and her research and supports her using ASL in a wider way. By their acceptance of her use of ASL for hearing children’s education they demonstrate their respect for her and the value they place on her research.

Debra Scott, Director of the Pennsylvania Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Dr. Daniels was great! She helped us look at language in an entirely different way.

Gabe Vitalone, Professor Emeritus, William Paterson University

LEARNING SUPPORT CLASS

For the past two years Dr. Daniels has been working with a learning support class in my elementary school teaching the 4th, 5th, & 6th grade students ASL signs for spelling words and the manual alphabet. The special needs students in the class would always wait excitedly for Dr. Daniels weekly visits. The results have been wondrous! The amount of material they have learned and the enthusiasm they display for the project is phenomenal. The signs they have learned has helped them in all aspects of their language arts. Just watching them concentrate on the spelling of words demonstrates how they have improved. We are grateful for Dr. Marilyn Daniels expertise, her enthusiasm and her devotion to our students.

Janice R. Joyce, Principal, Public Elementary School, Forest City, PA

CHILDARE TRAINING

Dr. Marilyn Daniels conducted a day long-training with breakout sessions (9AM to 4:14 PM) for over 150 childcare providers, early childhood educators and parents. She was informative, lively, enthusiastic, and tireless throughout the training. Utilizing video, role play, paired ASL instruction, and lecture Dr. Daniels kept the childcare providers involved. Our participant responses were all in the positive range and most mentioned the attendees intent to adopt the procedures Dr. Daniels had suggested with the children in their care. This was one of the most successful events we have provided for the community and Dr. Marilyn Daniels is to be congratulated for delivering an outstanding program.

Bibiana Chestnut, Extension Agent-Family & Consumer Sciences, Titusville, PA

CLASSES FOR SENIORS

For several years, Dr. Marilyn Daniels taught “An Introduction to American Sign Language” course designed for seniors at ILEAD (Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth). Her classes were groups of older adults that always attended with a lot of enthusiasm. The administrative offices are located just above the classroom where Marilyn taught and we often heard roars of laughter from her group. ILEAD members who attended her classes were always sad when the class was over and couldn’t wait until the following weeks class to come. At the end of the term her students would ask: “When are you teaching next?” Dr. Daniels brought her gift of teaching with her and it was obvious in the classroom as her love for teaching spread like wildfire throughout her students, as they were eager to learn!

Lisa King, Program Coordinator ILEAD, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

ELDER STUDENT

What a joy to have participated in your signing class with you as “the teach”! Despite my feeble memory, I do think I got quite a bit out of the sessions…now to practice so I will not be an utter klutz. Everyone so enjoyed your help & felt as I, that it was a successful time, which was looked forward to weekly. Best Regards,

Sally C. Bell, ILEAD Student, Hanover, NH

EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR

Dr. Daniels provided the critical knowledge base required to pursue our goals towards inclusion of ASL as a universal tool for learning, communication and literacy.

Robert Malone, Co-sponsor of “Signing for Success – The Benefits of using ASL with Children” educational seminar, Charlemont, MA

TRAINING SESSION

Dr. Daniels conducted a one-day Training Session for the Canadian Association of Educators for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Calgary. Her opening keynote highlighted the use of ASL to improve English language literacy of hearing children. Dr. Daniels explained how her methods could be implemented with hearing children: both normal-developing and special needs children. The attendees included teachers of the Deaf, ASL-English interpreters, baby sign language instructors, and members of the Canadian Deaf community. Dr. Daniels was warm, friendly and her presentation exuded her passion for the use of ASL for literacy for all children.

Tricia Davis, M.A. CCC-A, Baby Can Sign programs, Calgary, AB Canada

WORKSHOP & KEYNOTE

Dr. Marilyn Daniels presented the keynote, as well as several informational sessions for our day-long training entitled: “ASL: A Literacy Tool for Young, Hearing Learners”. The program, attended by over 200 people, was designed for early childhood care providers and community college students. The participants reported Dr. Daniels was engaging, interesting and easy to comprehend. In her friendly accessible manner she was able to explain appropriate research data in a way that made it relevant to the trainees’ present occupations and future goals. They left the day-long workshop inspired and informed!

Dr. Dorothy S. Bambach, South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind Costal Regional Outreach Center, Conway, SC