Why WeeHands Does What We Do

Kristin Buckler is a WeeHands Instructor in Kamloops, British Columbia and she has a background in early childhood education.  She recently shared this story with me and I just had to share:

When I began working with preschoolers that had special needs I worked primarily with one boy who had a speech delay. His mouth physically could not make the mouth shape to produce any words. He had many behaviour problems at home and in our school. I took a sign language course and began signing with him, almost instantly his behaviours at school stopped. 

My favorite memory of him was when we were reading a book. He pointed at a boat, I responded by signing BOAT. He pointed again and signed SAME. I didn't understand. He pointed again and then took me into the bathroom, pointed at the faucet and signed SAME. When I looked at the picture of the tugboat again I realized he was pointing at the faucet on the side of it.

Watching his frustration level decrease because he was able to communicate was amazing. He would still show behaviours when he couldn't express something through signs either because the person didn't understand signs or he didn't know the sign, but it decreased tremendously. Signing with him was one of my favorite experiences. We got to learn sign language together and I will never forget him.