The Little Girl Across the Street Was Deaf and Loved to Chat. So Her Whole Neighborhood Went Back to School

About a week after Samantha Savitz was born, her parents, Glenda and Raphi, found out that she was deaf.

The family had only just moved to a quiet street in Newton, Massachusetts, a small neighborhood of about 100 houses on a bend of the Charles River. It was the kind of place where people had lived for decades and everyone knew everyone.

Glenda and Raphi started learning American Sign Language right away. And as Sam grew, it was clear she was a real people person. She waved at everyone. She wanted to chat with anybody who walked by.

Her neighbors wanted to chat back. But when Sam signed to them on the sidewalk or in her yard, they didn’t know what to say. They could only smile and wave.

“We really wanted to communicate with her and play with her,” said Jill McNeil, who lives across the street. “And since she couldn’t learn our language, we thought we wanted to learn hers.”

So Jill and three other neighbors quietly signed up for a sign language class. They liked the teacher, Rhys McGovern, so much that they asked him to come and teach a class right there in the neighborhood.

Twenty neighbors signed up straight away.

Every week they met in one of their living rooms. Many were retirees whose own children had grown up long ago. There were young parents too, and a couple of school-age girls. They learned the words a little girl would need: play, eat, dog, bike, friend.

When Steve Hartman of CBS News told their story, even more people joined. Soon there were two classes on two different nights, and about 40 neighbors learning to sign. All for one little girl.

Their teacher, Rhys, said it was remarkable. A lot of the time, he said, even the parents of deaf children don’t learn sign language. “But here Sam has a full community that’s signing and communicating with her,” he said.

Near the end of most classes, Glenda would bring Sam over to say hello. The neighbors would put down their notes and sign to her, and she would sign right back.

Her favorite word for them? “Friend.”

“The first thing she says to us is ‘friend,’” one neighbor said.

Now Sam can walk down her street and stop at neighbors’ homes to draw pictures and chat, just like any other kid.

Her parents say there aren’t words in any language to thank them.

Would you learn sign language for a little neighbor? Tell us in the comments.