Our Story
Founded in 2001, SignTeacher SignWare, Inc. is a family-owned company dedicated to creating inclusive language and literacy development tools for all children ages birth to 8 years. Amy Odom, CEO and Creative Developer for SignTeacher, received her BA degree in 1988 from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a major in Communication Studies and a minor in Journalism. She continued her studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she received a MS degree in Speech Language Pathology in 1992. Whether working in public schools, hospitals, private clinics, or inclusive preschool settings, “Miss Amy” has always made it her goal to get children talking, thinking, reading, and learning. As creator of the Signing Sam® Learning Kit and author of the Signing Sam® Picture Books series (Rudy the Rude Rooster, Greta the Grateful Goldfish—Kaplan Publishing Good, Morning Critter Friends—SignTeacher SignWare, Inc.), she has seen these goals come to fruition.
Over the past 5 years, Signing Sam® and his Critter Corner friends have helped the social, emotional, cognitive, motor, and communication skills of many, many children by blending music, stories, and imagination with the multi-sensory teaching method of using sign language with hearing children. Research consistently demonstrates that teaching sign language to hearing children will:
- Improve vocabulary skills
- Improve reading skills
- Increase spelling proficiency
- Build high self-esteem
- Improve speech
- Heighten interest and enthusiasm for learning (—Daniels 2001)
Signing Sam® offers all of these benefits and more. For example, children with autism have been observed to improve their communication skills, make eye contact and interact with Signing Sam® in group singing, dramatic play and book reading tasks. Children with behavior and emotional impairments practice empathy and friendship building skills with Sam. Children with attention deficits and sensory integration problems enjoy sharing circle time with Sam, as the weight and feel of Sam upon their lap helps them to focus and attend. Children for whom English is a second language also receive the benefits of learning sign language and interacting with Sam as vocabularies are increased and meaningful communication interactions are stimulated.
Teachers comment that Sam is able to capture a child’s imagination and easily becomes a real member of their classroom. He has attended kindergarten graduations, class field trips, been the main character of a group-writing project, and even received a cochlear implant in one self-contained classroom of multi-handicapped students. But by far the greatest benefit of Signing Sam® and the Critter Corner Friends has been to bridge communication and bring children of differing abilities together. Sign language is truly beneficial to all children.
When “Miss Amy” is not taking care of Signing Sam® and the Critter Corner Friends, she conducts sign language and literacy training workshops for NC’s Infant-Toddler Program, NC’s More At Four Pre-Kindergarten Program, Head Start Centers, SmartStart Partnerships, WUNC-TV’s Ready To Learn Program, The International Reading Association’s 51st Annual Convention in Chicago, IL, and most recently at the 2006 Arizona Department of Education’s Early Learning Conference. Amy is currently serving as a member of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute’s Professional Development Committee as part of their national First School Initiative. She also provides speech and language services to the children at Woods Charter School in Chapel Hill, NC.
Amy lives in the southern part of heaven with the greatest blessings of her life—Odom, Jane, and Noah Williford. She enjoys reading, singing, hanging out with her two yellow labs, and being a part-time taxi driver for her kids.
