Signing Time is created by Rachel Coleman and her sister, Emilie Brown, to teach sign language to hearing children. Their plan was to make a short DVD that gave their friends and family a fun and easy way to learn a second language.
Rachel Coleman, before the creation of Signing Time, was writing music and performing with her folk rock band. Rachel's first child, Leah, was borne profoundly deaf which she found out only when Leah was 14 months old. Rachel's priorities instantly changed: she put down her guitar and picked up sign language so that they could teach it and communicate with Leah.
Hence, the birth of Signing Time. Signing Time is a multiple award winning series and Rachel Coleman, host of Signing Time, was nominated for the Emmy in the "Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series," as part of the 35th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards. This is in addition to many other parenting awards.
A few years later, Rachel's second daughter Lucy was born. After dealing with Leah's deafness, she thought she was prepared for anything. However, Lucy arrived eight weeks premature with spina bifida and cerebral palsy. Doctors worried that Lucy would never be able to speak, let alone use her rigid fingers to sign with her deaf sister.
With sign language, the Coleman family realised how much it had benefited both Leah and Lucy when they experienced a miracle of their own making: after two years of no communication, Rachel's second daughter Lucy began to sign along with Signing Time, despite her physical challenges. Shortly thereafter, Lucy started talking. At age five, Lucy began attending mainstream kindergarten, something Rachel never imagined possible.
Click here to read the full story behind the creation of Signing Time and Baby Signing Time.
