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An Entire School Learned Sign Language To Welcome A Deaf Kindergartener

June 2, 2019

To help make a deaf 6-year-old feel welcomed, an entire elementary school learned sign language.

Morey Belanger is Dayton Consolidated School's first deaf student.

So, the school installed a hearing assistive system and implemented extra teacher training to incorporate sign language into every classroom.

Sign language posters line the walls of hallways, and students have learned how to sign more than 20 words.

Many of the teachers began to learn sign language on their free time.

"Morey helped all of them to learn the alphabet," Principal Kimberly Sampietro told ABC News. "The kids have just really embraced her. They look up to her, they want her around, and they want to partner with her."

To celebrate the students' hard work, the school invited a real-life princess who knows ASL to come speak to students.

"We wanted to show our students that this isn't something they can only speak with Morey," said Sampietro. "We wanted to show them that signing happens in all kinds of settings."

When Cinderella came to sing to the entire school, Morey helped with the singing and the signing.