Children’s TV Program Now Has Deaf Character

The New York Times announced in its April 22nd edition that the Nickelodeon TV series ‘Blue’s Clues’ for pre­school children now has a character who is Deaf and teaches TV viewers a few signs in each episode. Show host Steve Burns and a female puppy ‘Blue’ visits a school for Deaf children where they meet Carly. “We wanted to teach kids sign language and show how relevant it is to their world,” said Angela Santomero, the show’s chief writer and one of its creators. Cady “will do something like make the sign for ‘elephant,’ and we show an elephant,” she said. Actress Marlee Matlin has also recorded a series of public service announcements together with Burns, who learned American Sign Lan­guage at the Lexington Center School for the Deaf in Jackson Heights in Queens, NY Five to ten new signs will be incorporated in each new episode of “Blue’s Clues,” said Stacey Levin, a spokeswoman for the show. About seven signs will appear consistently in each episode, like the signs for “Blue” and “thank you.”