The halls leading to the children's classrooms of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Edgewood are adorned with the artwork of youngsters. Tiny paper hands, the colorful outlines traced in crayon and cut with scissors, bear the carefully scrawled names of the children who created them.
The hands speak to you.
Dr. Nancy Benham, coordinator for the parent-infant program at the school, walks down a hall into the classroom where her 4-year-old daughter, Grace, is learning American Sign Language.
Grace is deaf, but that isn't a disadvantage here. What sets Grace apart is her right hand, a hand that is almost essential for communicating in sign language.
"Do you want to show us your new thumb?" Dr. Benham asks her daughter in sign language.
Grace shyly shakes her head and hides behind her mother's leg.
To read the rest of the Post Gazette story: New Thumb Comes with a New Language.
Grace is a four-year-old deaf girl who was adopted from Korea. She was born without a right thumb. Signing without a thumb can be difficult, so surgeons moved her index finger in the thumb position. Grace is now using her new thumb to communicate via American Sign Language.
The Benham family adopted Grace when she was two years old. Her mom is the coordinator of the Parent-Infant program at the Western Pennyslyvania School for the Deaf. Her father, quoted in the article, said:
"There is nothing wrong with her being deaf," said Dr. Benham. "She has a language, she has a culture. We use that language in the home."
It looks like little Grace is communicating beautifully with her new thumb.
