Marilyn Daniels

The Westminster Catechism tells us "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever". This has been Marilyn's life-long passion! Her own faith journey, filled with both disappointment and pain, adventure and joy, has informed her experiences as a mother, grandmother, counselor and friend. As a counselor she has listened to many stories of fear and helplessness, even hopelessness and despair; as a Bible teacher, she has thrilled to see the truths of scripture come alive in hearts that surrendered those feelings to God! This book is an accumulation of God-thoughts, compiled from her morning devotions. For those who already have a relationship with Jesus Christ, Creator, Messiah, Savior, these meditations will enhance their walk with God. For those who are suffering from pain and sorrow, stress and anxiety, it is Marilyn's hope that God will speak comfort and lift the spirits of those who need to know a solution can be found in Him.

One of the foremost authorities on the use of sign language with hearing children provides a guide for teachers and parents who want to introduce signing in hearing children's language development. Marilyn Daniels provides a complete explanation for its use, a short history of sign language and its primary role within the Deaf community, an identification of the steps to reading success delineated with suggestions for incorporating sign language, and finally the results of studies and reactions of children, teachers, and parents. She shows how sign language can be used to improve hearing children's English vocabulary, reading ability, spelling proficiency, self-esteem, and comfort with expressing emotions. Signing also facilitates communication, aids teachers with classroom management, and has been shown to promote a more comfortable learning environment while initiating an interest and enthusiasm for learning on the part of students. Sign language is shown to be an effective agent to accelerate literacy in hearing children from babyhood through sixth grade. A comprehensive exploration of the physiological rationale for the educational advantage sign carries is presented. Overlapping integrated brain activities are incited by movement, vision, meaning, memory, play and the hand itself when sign language is used. Recent findings clearly indicate this bilingual approach with hearing children activates brain growth and development.

Examining the educational instruction of the deaf individual from its Benedictine beginnings to its present condition at Gallaudet University, this book traces the historical pedagogical affinity among Pedro Ponce de Léon, Juan Pablo Bonet, Charles Michael de l'Epée, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Edward Miner Gallaudet. The author provides the historical and philosophical basis for Jewish and Christian beliefs concerning the condition of deafness and then introduces Ponce de Léon, credited as being the first teacher of the deaf. The essence of this Spanish Benedictine monk's methods and manner of teaching have been continued by those who succeeded him. The author traces this development from Spain through France and then to the United States.