Just a little about me
Hi my name is Toni, based in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.
My Uncle and Aunt on my Mother's side were both deaf. My Uncle born deaf and my Aunt becoming deaf in early adulthood.
I started working in the Medical Industry as a Nurses' aide and worked in many areas including Hospitals, Geriatric facilities, Dementia facilities. Later, I worked in the Disability Industry, working with children in special schools then moved on to work with adults who had mental illnesses and/or intellectual disabilities.
This of course led me to learn the Makaton Language Program as a means of communication. I realised what a marvellous communication tool Makaton was and so decided to further my language skills by learning Auslan(Australian Sign Language) and becoming an Interpreter.
During this time I became very involved in the Deaf community and made a lot of friends there. I noticed that my deaf friends were communicating at a higher level with their babies much earlier than my hearing friends did with their babies. I also noticed that their children had less tantrums and were more confident than my hearing friends' babies. I decided to set up classes to teach Auslan (Australian Sign Language) key signs to Parents of babies and toddlers so that hearing parents and their hearing children could enjoy the same benefits from early communication.
This is my FISH swimming in the sea
