Hello! My name is Dr. Luanne Sailors, and thank you for stopping by to check out Sign Tribe! Helping others has always been a priority for me, wether it was interpreting for my parents who are Deaf, working with the Deaf community, teaching students with special needs, or helping thousands of people online to learn American Sign Language (ASL), I have always loved helping others to reach their goals!
Growing up with both parents being Deaf wasn’t always easy. However, those experiences helped to shape me into who I am today.
Right out of high school, I began working as an ASL interpreter here in Memphis. During my time as an interpreter, I enrolled in college focusing my studies within the field of special education, and I went on to complete my undergraduate and graduate degrees conducting research within the fields of special education and Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Over the years I experienced teaching elementary, middle, and high school students with a wide range of needs. I taught students in general education, special education, Deaf education, and English language learners. While teaching special education, I found that using Sign Language and signals helped them to improve communication. Teaching some signs and signals resulted in improved behavior with students who were non-verbal and had difficulty communicating. Through teaching, modeling, and providing micro lessons, I began to see improved behavior in my classroom. Pondering on this concept, I began to think how I could help others on a bigger scale.
With the with the encouragement of my husband, my life experiences, and my background knowledge within the field of education, we came up with the idea of helping others through Sign Tribe. I absolutely love the work that I am doing with Sign Tribe! Everyday I help individuals and families to improve communication, and it has been so rewarding for me to help families in this way. Helping families achieve their goal of being able to communicate, reduce undesired behaviors, and to have an overall sense of happiness is so important to me.