Academics are expected to keep several balls in the air at the same time. They are forced to juggle multiple responsibilities - research, teaching and advising. In September, 2007, I tossed up two balls. One was grad school; the other, motherhood. Like any working parent, I am learning to keep both afloat. It's at once a challenge and a privilege. Luckily, Tobias Mercury Rizzo is the perfect excuse for a study break. What's more, he's language acquisition in action! He babbles up a storm and even signs! I have been studying American Sign Language (ASL) since 1996, and my husband Rick and I are SIGN with your BABY presenters, so signing comes very naturally to us. We're daily amazed how naturally it comes to Toby, who oozes delight when we accede to his signed request for MORE.
Having been pre-med since the third grade, I matriculated to the Chicago Medical School in 1999. However, while there, my interest in ASL grew. So much so that by 2001, I re-evaluated my choice of medical school over Gallaudet University's masters program in linguistics, and I took academic leave from medical school to immerse myself in a signing environment.
The end result was that in 2003, I graduated from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf with a master of science in secondary deaf education. I then taught a year and witnessed the paradoxes of deaf education up close. Sadly, the average deaf student graduates with a 4th grade reading level. The educational handicap posed by deafness amounts to a linguistic handicap. So now I study linguistics, armed with a substantial background in medicine, and with an adorable, unwitting research subject who absolutely lights up my life.
Academics are expected to keep several balls in the air at the same time. I suppose it's mere coincidence that BALL was one of Toby's first signs, though I have no problem seeing the irony.