Meet Lora Heller, our Founding Director
I have always loved being around babies and children. When I was 11 years old I started to baby sit. After that, I always had a job teaching kids. In addition, I’ve always loved music & theater. As a child I saw “Children of a Lesser God” on Broadway and was in awe. I decided I wanted to learn sign language. I mean, it was so beautiful and expressive as a language and as an art form. Later, as a teenager, I was a counselor at summer camp where I met a Deaf camper who taught me my first signs. I started to learn sign language and I was hooked.
In college I majored in music therapy and studied music in Deaf culture. My bachelor’s thesis was the creation and production of a musical play incorporating sign language and Deaf actors. After working for a while with D/deaf students, I went on for my master’s in deaf education. My thesis was a pilot program teaching sign language through music to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Subsequently, that was the foundation for Baby Fingers, which I was inspired to develop when my son Ezekiel started to sign as a baby.
It was just so natural to sign.
My boys are young adults now which is so hard to believe! To be honest, we don’t sign regularly and their ASL vocabulary is still quite minimal. However, signs like “I Love You”, “Proud of You”, “I’m Sorry” have been tremendously beneficial as they’ve grown up. Signing from a distance and for such purposes has been essential, for instance, continuing to foster and strengthen our bond as parent & child. They are also comfortable with my Deaf friends and colleagues, even when they are lost in the conversation. 
Lora Heller, MS, LCAT, MT-BC developed Baby Fingers in 2000 after her son Zeke began to sign at 6 1/2 months old! Read their story. She is a music therapist and teacher of the Deaf; Lora is also a certified educator of infant massage (CEIM). In addition to directing Baby Fingers, Lora leads monthly workshops for the Fanwood Seeds program at the New York School for the Deaf. She also provides music psychotherapy at the Motherhood Center in NYC and the Angel Band Project. She is Special Projects Coordinator and Adjunct Professor in Music Therapy at Molloy University on Long Island. As part of the ‘Molloy Mission,’ Lora spent time in Jamaica providing music therapy to teen girls in a safe-house. Her Reflections on Practice was published in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy in Summer, 2021. You can find her podcast in imagine early childhood music therapy online journal about her work with Peter, a young child with Fragile X Syndrome who used ASL as a primary means to communicate. Lora is author of Sign Language ABC, Sign Language for Kids: A Fun and Easy Guide to American Sign Language, and Baby Fingers: Teaching your Baby to Sign (board book series) with Sterling Publishers, and the ASL Content Consultant for the 2nd series of Story Time with Signs & Rhymes picture books written by Dawn Babb Prochovnic (Abdo/Magic Wagon). She served as the technical editor for Baby Sign Language by Diane Ryan (DK Books/Penguin Random House). Her picture book, Adventures with Opal: The Muggy, Buggy Day was released in February 2025. Lora has also written for national parenting magazines. She is a frequent presenter at music therapy and early childhood conferences and the on-line expert for various parenting programs including ParentsTV.com sign language for babies video series. ‘Meet’ Lora in her interview with Debra Flashenberg of the Prenatal Yoga Center in her podcast, Yoga/Birth/Babies.
Lora had the honor and pleasure of playing Woman (voice) in the New York Deaf Theatre‘s production of Romantic Fools in 2020.
At Baby Fingers, our teachers possess degrees in ASL, education, psychology, creative and performing arts (or other related field) with sign language proficiency and vast experience working with children. Baby Fingers teachers have all been trained and certified in our methodology and curriculum. We are honored to collaborate with ASL Slam to create events for families with young children.
Books and Resources
by
Lora Heller
Adventures with Opal: The Muggy, Buggy Day is now available!! Lora Heller is also the author of seven sign language books and other resources published by Sterling Kids. You can still find Lora’s ABC board book and kids picture dictionary, as well as a flash chart (all pictured below) at your local bookstore or online. Lora’s Baby Fingers board book series is out of print but may be found in specialty stores and sites, as well as your local library. Check out our blog for more parent resources and special stories.
