Brashinger: Frankfort woman sees the signs to start sign language business

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Pictured (from left) are Mary Skopek (back to camera) and Jonathan, 3, of Frankfort; Julie Burke and Austin, 17 months, of Lockport; teacher Monica Blouin; and Yolanda Stephens and Emerson, 5 months, of Frankfort. | Supplied photo

Updated: March 20, 2012 8:05AM

When Monica Blouin’s first child was born nearly five years ago, she and her husband, Tim, were unprepared for a delivery room diagnosis of Down syndrome for their child, Madeline “Madie” Miracles.

The condition is the result of an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21, according to the National Down Syndrome Society (www.ndss.org), which often means increased risks of serious medical conditions.

It is a difficult diagnosis for a parent to hear.

“We didn’t know ahead of time; it was a shock in the delivery room,” Blouin said.

Blouin, then 37, said after tests confirmed the initial diagnosis, she moved past her “now what?” feeling and got to work.

“I’m a do-er,” Blouin said.“I did all my research.”

Blouin was determined to find a way to communicate with Madie from infancy, a wise choice since Madie eventually experienced delayed speech, making it difficult for even her family to understand her.

Blouin knew that a way to bridge the communication gap was through sign language and began looking for programs near their Frankfort home, but caseworkers in early intervention programs were unable to help.

“There was nothing in our area,” Blouin said. But an online search changed everything.

“That’s when I found ‘Signing Time,’” Blouin said. “As soon as I put on the (first) DVD, my daughter responded.”

Blouin educated herself through workshops, encouraged by her daughter’s reaction to the program’s child-oriented teaching tools.

“She knew how to sign ‘mom’ before she could actually say ‘mom,’” Blouin said. Madie was effectively given a second language.

Then Blouin’s life changed again, not long after her son Jack, now 2½, was born. Her part-time corporate career became full-time, and it was “killing her,” Blouin said, but she knew it would not be easy to give up a “great income and benefits—my security blanket.”

The timing of her job change, along with finding out that the signing skills she had developed over the previous four years, qualified her as a Signing Time teacher, and attending a Signing Time conference where she met many mothers from all over the country who were having experiences similar to her own, were special signs to Blouin.

“I’m a person of faith, and I believe that when coincidences keep happening, it’s not coincidence,” Blouin said. “It’s God talking to you.”

Blouin established “Lil Miracles Sign Language Academy” in 2011, taking her classes to her clients.

Frankfort resident Yolanda Stephens attends Blouin’s morning class at Lil Surprises in Frankfort with her infant son, Emerson, not just so she will be able to communicate with Emerson, but because Stephens has a nonverbal stepson with autism.

“It will be a way for us to communicate with him,” Stephens said. “As a first-time mom, I’m learning a lot here, too.”

Blouin said Stephens’ experience is the case for many others who find a number of ways to use their new skills, and most of whom do not have a child with special needs.

“You’d be surprised how many people can use or need sign language,” Blouin said, citing paramedics, firefighters, police, and people who have suffered strokes as examples.

Blouin hopes, of course, to grow her fledgling business, but because she believes in what she has to offer, she volunteers her services whenever she can, currently teaching sign language classes at the Oak Lawn Children’s Museum and at Gigi’s Playhouse in Naperville, a nonprofit center for children with Down syndrome.

“The greater good is I am helping people,” Blouin said. “I feel inspired every day by my daughter. It’s because of Madie and the path that she’s led me down that I am so fulfilled.”

For more information, email Blouin at monicablouin@signingtimeacademy.com, on Facebook at Lil Miracles Sign Language Academy, or call (312) 656-3046.