.jpg)
When Hands Carry Language: Exploring ASL, Music, and the Brain with Lora Heller
by ASL Picture Books
What music, movement, ASL, and more than 25 years of working with children can teach us about communication and learning.
Lora Heller: ASL, Music, and the Brain
For more than 25 years, Lora F. Heller, MS, LCAT, MT-BC, has worked at an extraordinary intersection: music, movement, sign language, early communication, and human connection.
Spend even a little time with Lora, and something else becomes apparent: there is a gentleness and warmth behind her work. She has a way of making communication feel joyful and inviting—an especially meaningful quality when working with young children and the families learning alongside them.
Lora is a music psychotherapist, Teacher of the Deaf, author, educator, mom, and the founding director of Baby Fingers LLC, where she has brought American Sign Language and music together to support communication and connection among babies, children, and their families.
Her work extends well beyond the Baby Fingers classroom. Lora is an Adjunct Professor of Music Therapy at Molloy University and also works as a music therapist with The Motherhood Center and The Angel Band Project. Across these roles, she has worked with children, parents, students, and fellow professionals while continuing to explore the ways music and communication can support learning, expression, relationships, and development.
Her credentials are impressive, but it is that combination of knowledge, experience, curiosity, and genuine connection with children and families that made Lora one of the first people who came to mind when a question arose during my recent interview with Sunday Edition host Anthony Corona:
What is the connection between the hands, language, and the brain?
It's a question I couldn't completely answer—and one I haven't stopped thinking about.
What happens in the brain when our hands carry language?
Where does movement fit?
What changes when we add music and rhythm?
And what can children's experiences teach us about communication, learning, and connection?
Rather than beginning with an answer, we're beginning with curiosity.
And we're beginning with Lora.
Where Signs and Songs Come Together
Kathleen: Let's begin with you. Lora, you've spent more than 25 years bringing children, families, music, and movement together with sign language. What first made you see that these things belonged together?
And after all these years, what continues to fascinate you about that connection?
Lora: Working with young Deaf children as a music therapist was incredibly impactful for me. I learned what ways and how much they enjoyed music and the ease of expanding their language when signs were included in songs.
My own (hearing) children began signing just after 6 months of age from repeated exposure in our natural interactions, and with incredible speed when coupled with music.
Concepts such as fast & slow and start & stop, not to mention vocabulary and the ‘serve & return’ aspect of early conversation. I’m still fascinated by this as it pops up daily in my work. 🙂
Small Hands, Powerful Connections
Kathleen: What have you seen happen with children? When you combine signs with music, rhythm, repetition, and movement, what do you notice? Is there a particular child, family, or moment that made you think, There is something important happening here?
You have also worked with families very early in a child's life. From your experience, how important are early access to communication and family participation in what you see happening?
Lora: Parent involvement is key. Repetition is necessary so parents can model language all day, while also offering the child a sense of being seen, heard, supported, and feeling important. I’ve had many moments that have indicated something very important happening… such as an infant’s cries stopping when a parent signed ILY (I Love You) during our closing song in class. That’s powerful.
Additionally, allowing time for a child to think and respond can be key to interactive engagement. Leaving blanks, pausing, and offering time allows them to process incoming information while feeling supported.
Watch Lora's full video on Instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWzUignjxOE/ An example of strong language acquisition with one of our SLPs toward the end of a Sign & Song class. This toddler had started in our program many, many months before this, with accessible language from very early on. Credit BabyFingers.com
Small Hands, Powerful Connections
Kathleen: Anthony Corona, host of the Sunday Edition Special Bonus Episode podcast, asked about the connection between the hands, language, and the brain. I couldn't fully answer him in our interview. With everything you've studied and experienced, how would you explain that connection to a parent or teacher?
I'm curious about one distinction in particular: what do music and signed language share—and where do they fundamentally differ?
Lora: Music and sign language both use a crossover of left and right hemispheres to process.
Broca’s area of the brain, where language production is supported, is essential for spoken as well as signed language.
The visual and motor cortexes are also essential in both signed language and music production.
While sign doesn’t require sound, the auditory cortex is activated in language comprehension even when speech is not used, so this part of the brain is also significant in music and sign.
Kathleen's Interview with Anthony Corona
Listen around the 7:45 mark, when Anthony shares his early beginnings and asks a fascinating question about the connection between the hands, mind, and language.
During our conversation, I touched on fingerspelling, memory, and how ASL engages the brain. Although I couldn't fully answer his question, it sparked a desire to explore the science behind this remarkable connection.
The Fascinating Connection Between Hands, Language, and the Brain
Kathleen: Where does music fit in? Lora, you bring a particularly interesting perspective because you're both a Teacher of the Deaf and a music therapist. When we add music, rhythm, movement, and multiple senses to signed or spoken language, what might be happening that helps a child engage, remember, learn, or communicate?
Lora: Kinesthetic or embodied learning, learning through doing, can help to solidify new concepts. Considering Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and various learning styles, combining visual, auditory, kinesthetic (multi-modal) learning, more opportunities for neuroplasticity emerge - that supports growth and memory, overall development.
Enjoy a preview here, then watch the full video on Instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DPe2P70jrfL/ An example of social-emotional development with me and one of our toddlers (also a very long time student) during a Sign & Song class. Video provided by Baby Fingers.
Building a Future Where Every Child Can Communicate
Kathleen: Lora, what do you see in the next generation?
You're now helping educate future music therapists at Molloy University while continuing your work with Baby Fingers and other programs. What changes or growth are you seeing in how future professionals understand children with different communication and learning needs?
And from your perspective as a Teacher of the Deaf, where do access, inclusion, and authentic Deaf representation fit into that progress?
Lora: There are more college students with a clear diagnosis of ASD, ADHD, and other disabilities in recent years than there were when I began teaching. I believe this has led to greater understanding of, an open mind about, and a connection with their clients during their music therapy clinical training and work.
I have also found consistent protectiveness within the Deaf community, concerns about Deaf identity, language use, and accessibility. We are in a time where access and accommodations should be 2nd nature - should not be a 2nd thought - and yet my clients, students, colleagues, and friends are often still fighting for this.
So at Baby Fingers, we work to educate and provide resources.
Kathleen: Lora, I couldn't agree more. We've come a long way, but access and accommodations should be second nature, and we're not there yet. I love what you and Baby Fingers are doing to educate families, build awareness, and strengthen community connections. So many of the authors and educators I've connected with share that same commitment. Together, we're helping create a world where every child has access to language, the opportunity to communicate, and a sense of belonging. Language is key, and access to language—whether spoken or signed—gives every child the tools to learn, grow, and succeed.
Kathleen: Bring it home for families and educators. After everything you've learned—from children and families, Deaf education, music therapy, teaching, and your own research—what do you most want parents and educators to understand about giving children opportunities to communicate through their hands, voices, bodies, music, and movement?
Lora: Children are born with the capacity to learn and babies understand the world around them so much sooner than they can typically respond or express. Language can be learned through music - singing songs, hearing songs, seeing songs being signed… and Sign Language is just as complete as spoken language. It also feels complete to use your hands, body, and facial expressions to express yourself.
The Conversation Continues
Anthony Corona’s question about the connection between hands, mind, and language opened a door. Lora Heller helped us explore the fascinating relationship between American Sign Language (ASL), music, and the brain—but there is still so much more to discover.
What happens when our hands carry language? How do signed language, movement, music, memory, and the brain connect—and what are we still learning?
If you are a Deaf professional, researcher, educator, ASL linguist, neuroscientist, music therapist, parent, or someone with lived experience who can add to this conversation, we would love to hear from you.
What do you know?
What have you observed?
What questions should we be asking next?
Share your knowledge, experience, research, or perspective with ASL Picture Books. Perhaps Anthony’s question is not the end of this conversation at all.
Maybe it’s just the beginning.
Unity in Community
At ASL Picture Books, we believe some of the most meaningful discoveries begin with curiosity—and with listening to those whose experience can help us understand more.
Lora Heller reminds us that communication is so much more than words alone. Hands can carry language. Music can invite movement. A pause can give a child time to respond. And when families have access to language, resources, community, and one another, connection has room to grow.
After more than 25 years of working with children and families, Lora is still learning from them—and perhaps that is one of the most important lessons of all: keep watching, keep listening, keep learning, and keep creating opportunities for every child to communicate.
Anthony's question opened a door. Lora helped us step through it—but there is still more to explore.
Connect with Lora Heller & Baby Fingers
YouTube channel: BabyFingersASL
🖐️ Discover ASL Picture Books and more resources for learning and connecting at ASLPictureBooks.com
Comments