Shannon Lafferty can communicate in more ways than one.

The 39-year-old mother of two is offering American Sign Language classes to those who are interested at Trinity United Church. If enough interest is generated, Lafferty is also hoping to offer classes using sign language with babies, which proved to be a huge step in both of her own daughter’s ability to communicate.

“Knowing a second language, no matter what, is a benefit,” Lafferty said. “American Sign Language is not universal. It’s only used in Canada and the United States and not in Quebec, they use a different sign language. Every country has their own (sign language).”

With 13 people registered for her American Sign Language class, which started on April 24 and continue over the next five weeks, Lafferty said the number of people who signed up came as a pleasant surprise.

“I have some people already asking about the second level,” she said. “A lot of people want to go on and interpret, and my experience with people is that they’ll do Level 1 and Level 2 and then they sort of lose interest. It’s not as easy as they think. After Level 2, you would either go to the Canadian Hearing Society and take their program or you can enroll in college for the interpreter program.”

Those who are taking part in the American Sign Language classes will learn finger spelling, as each hand shape represents a letter of the alphabet and is used for communicating names, titles or brand name products.

“There are a few finger-spelled words that have become a part of American Sign Language,” said Lafferty. “They will have practice dialogue. From the moment they enter the room their voices turn off and everything I teach them is through signing or writing on the board. They will have to practice dialogue with each other and each class builds on from that. We also touch on a lot of deaf cultural issues. For example, the first night I taught them what’s culturally right for the hearing isn’t the same for the deaf.”

With a background in sign language and interpreting from St. Clair College in Windsor, Lafferty started her own baby sign language business called Babel and Beyond in February 2002 while living in London. The classes, which were attended by parents with pre-verbal babies, were well-received and parents generally left Lafferty’s home feeling a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

Three years ago, after moving from London to Port Sydney, Lafferty, who’s also a photographer and potter, was asked by a local chiropractor’s wife about the possibility of her teaching baby sign language classes. In August 2005, after hearing that many people were interested in baby signing, Lafferty was able to run a six-week program out of the chiropractor’s office.

“One child was signing within a week and another child started signing after the six weeks were over,” stated Lafferty, adding that babies learn to sign through repetition. “Every child is different. My first child started signing when she was six months and my second started at 10 months. Usually one of the parents is more eager to do this, and in my experience is the mother who wants to. Once that baby signs, everyone jumps on board. (Learning baby signing) cuts down on the frustration and the guesswork and creates a smoother household because everyone is happy.”  

Born deaf in the left ear and hard of hearing in the right, Lafferty had to learn to overcome the disability at a young age.

“As a child, I didn’t really feel any different. I had a lot of frustrations with people when they would turn away from me while I was talking. I thought they couldn’t hear me anymore or they weren’t listening. During my high school years, it was difficult because if someone was talking to me and I couldn’t hear them, I was labelled as being snotty. It wasn’t until I was 24 that I took an intro to deaf culture at St. Clair College. That’s when I met my teacher who became my mentor for the next three years. It was through her that I learned what I dealt with growing up was just deaf culture.”

In 1995, she enrolled in the sign language communicator program and the American Sign Language interpreter program at St. Clair College, which she successfully graduated from with honours. The same year she graduated, she attended the Robarts School for the Deaf in London as a deaf mentor and travelled southwestern Ontario into homes of parents who had just found out their kids were deaf.

“I wasn’t allowed to use my voice,” said Lafferty. “I travelled to different homes teaching sign and deaf culture to hearing families. All relationships are based on communication, so if parents don’t learn sign language, a true relationship can’t form because there’s no communication.”

Lafferty admitted that there was a time in her life when she took off her hearing aid, stopped using her voice and entered into the deaf world, only to realize that not only was she just not a hearing person, but she wasn’t completely deaf either.

“Then I was able understand both sides,” she said. “I realized I was just Shannon, and that I could be a cultural bridge to help these people come together.”

Those who are interested in signing up in a future American Sign Language or baby sign class, can call Shannon Lafferty at 385-9422, e-mail shannonlafferty@gmail.com or visit www.shannonlafferty.com.