About Danielle

Danielle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education from Monmouth University in New Jersey. After graduation Danielle spent five years teaching at the elementary level. Two of those years were spent in Kindergarten where she employed the ASL alphabet as a tactile approach to teaching the alphabet and site words. Danielle witnessed how learning to sign gave the students a sense of pride and enhanced their overall learning. While pregnant in 2007 Danielle read about the benefits of signing with babies. Her daughter Eliza was born in September 2007 and Danielle started consistently signing with her at around nine months of age. About a month later Eliza signed “baby” for the first time on a family vacation and her signing took off from there. In August 2009 Danielle’s son Jude was born. With the help of big sister Eliza teaching Jude to sign was a blast. Ever since her daughter’s first sign, Danielle has studied ASL and continues to grow her vocabulary on a daily basis. Through ASL Danielle has formed a close bond with both of her children. She has seen firsthand how signing reduced her children’s’ frustration level and consequently reduced the number of tantrums. Danielle hopes to help others experience the same joy with their little ones. To inquire about My Smart Hands classes and workshops Danielle at danitamez@mysmarthands.com