Leah's Spelling Bee

[TheSupermario11]

Im going againt ... Like... 200 students tomorrow on my spelling be competition all around Puerto Rico. wish me luck :)

[Corrco456]

I won my class spelling bee and I'm doing my school in rhursday

[DemiTayMH]

I won my class spelling bee so I'm doing the school spelling bee jan. 18th 2012! wish me luck!!

[lilgurl4555]

I won the Class spelling bee and my name is Sarah and I'm in fifth grade and on Tuesday I'm gonna say the spelling bee in front of the whole fourth and fifth grade!!!!!! WISH ME LUCK

[TheShelleybug]

My 9 yr old daughter is profoundly deaf with bilateral cochlear implants and just won the district spelling bee!! Thank God for cochlear implants!!! Congrats Leah!!

[ConcreteAngelx3]

woah!! how the heck did she do that? amazing.

[S123Sweet]

LEAHHH you never told me you won a spelling bee or wore glasses!!!!! haha but anyway congrats luv ya!

[sammy032499]

you go girl

[bmast300]

you did awesome

from,

coolio

[599coolgirl1]

She is so good :)

[vashtiruescode3]

Way to go Leah!

My 2 year old daughter is deaf, with bilateral implants, and we watch you, Alex and Rachel everyday! It's been to great to watch you grow and learn on the videos. Maybe someday, we will get the chance to meet you :)

[vashtiruescode3]

Way to go Leah! My 2 year old daughter is deaf, with bilateral implants, and we watch you, Alex and Rachel everyday! It's been to great to watch you grow and learn on the videos. Maybe someday, we will get the chance to meet you :)

[Sabrina79]

I'm 3 years late but long overdue congratulations to you Leah! :)

[mackywacky00]

Awesome job Leah!

[Khriztie87]

woooow!! Congrats.. I watch your videos with My 10 Month Son EVERYDAY! We love Walking through the Zoo L O L

[dramaticme1]

wow leah you rock my suburban world! I'm way impressed! I wouldn't have spelled all those words correctly at age 28!

[scattywah]

Congrats, Leah! My daughter loves you more than Elmo, and since she is 2, that means a lot. ;) You are one smart cookie!

[dramakittymeow]

Hooray for Leah!!! This is so awesome!

My brother loves Signing Time, even though he is both hearing and speaking

[ZealDaan]

ALL RIGHT LEAH!!!!!!! CONGRATS!

[lrosowsky]

LEAH!!! You rock and are truly beautiful and amazing! Keep it up.

[Pr0m0m]

Yeah Leah!!!!!!!!! We also feel like we know you in our home. I have 3 kids (12,4,and 13 months) Both my older children were early fluent readers (by 2 years) we found your videos for the one year old to boost reading, vocabulary and communication. Our whole family is signing with the videos WE LOVE IT. To Rachel what a beautiful thing you did for your child . I have so much respect and admiration for you and all those involved! The results are almost instant. Our little ones love Alex and Leah!

[BlueBox10]

yeah congrats Leah u rule girlie girl! keep up the awesome work on signing time!

[lilsnowbumble]

Well I am a year late, but congratulations Leah! Thank you for sharing this with everyone.

[soccerbabe53981]

she first started spelling it "g-o-f",

but I believe the judges have to go with the first spelling of word.

[ankabananka3]

it sounded like the girl spelled governor right though..how did she spell it? congrats to leah

[SiriusPutsch]

I've been watching Signing Time off and on for a couple years and most recently am watching it weekly with my 78-year-old Alzheimer's patient. She loves the kids in it, but it's also good review of basic vocabulary. I pause it regularly to talk about what we're watching... anyway, I feel like I know Leah, and watching this brought tears to my eyes. Way to go!!!

[NN3210]

Good job!

[dan484779]

i have a question.....if she cant speek right ,how can she say the words so well? P.S. my family loves her vidios!

[purplewowies]

As I've stated before, she has a cochlear implant. This most likely played a part in bettering her speech, as she can hear what she's saying with it on (as compared to before she got it and when she takes off the outside part).

[SigningTimeRachel]

Someone who is deaf cannot hear or has a hearing loss. This does not mean that they can not speak at all.

[soccerbabe53981]

deaf people can speak. they just can't hear.

mute people cannot speak.

[dramakittymeow]

Just when you can't hear it's harder to learn to talk, but the cochlear implant would help with that wouldn't it?

Or am I completely wrong?

[flwrgrl13]

Wow Leah! You are an amazing talented girl! I can't even believe you won! Keep up the good work, I am so proud of you!

[ZealDaan]

Wow! She would have deserved that first place trophy even if she didn't win because she has to read lips - something that the other contestants didn't have to do. Congratulations to Leah! (If possible, tell Hopkins I said hi.)

[Dulcimerist]

Leah rocks! Did she advance to the state spelling bee as well?

[laylaindy]

I don't know what this is about, it's the first time I hear about this girl... but there is something I don't understand : How did she read the lips while she was most of the time not even looking at the guy who was saying the word? Can someone answer me please and tell me more about this girl? She seams to be very smart and popular. But I don't understand how come she's deaf, not looking at the person's lips and still "catch" the word.

[purplewowies]

Leah has a cochlear implant.

[purplewowies]

Also, she studied intensely for this spelling bee.

[sallybrown35]

I have a question if someone could help me out. Is Leah reading the MC's lips to know what word she is spelling? Anyway, we love watching Signing Time and you are great Leah!

[chtadow13]

how amazing omg!

[SigningTimeRachel]

When she is looking to the left she is reading his lips. There is also a speaker (black box) on the stool in front of her. The man saying each word is wearing a microphone so that he is amplified for Leah.

[4livelaughlove4ever]

she is younger than me but MMMMUUUUUCCCCCHHHHHHH better!! way to go leah. yuo are truly amazing! keep up the good work

[jtmidnight]

You're awesome Leah!

You are more popular than Elmo at my house!!

[luvmy2gals]

Yay Leah!!

[Lwilliams1922]

Congrats Leah!!

sniff sniff. I was sooooo proud watching this video. I feel like I watched you grow up wacthing the signing time videos.

My children Tiffany 11 (also a spelling bee winner), and Gabriella 2 are HUGE fans.

[bwest0179]

Aw. Your very good keep it up at what ever you want to be when your older!

[acc905]

I would have been out by crouton

[dontfencemein1979]

Wonderful!! Great Job!

[swampbrat]

How exciting!! I read on Rachel's blog that she won, but loved seeing the video. I am not surprised in the least. Leah is awesome.

[Moriah48]

Great job Leah.

[yrvotms16]

we love u Leah!!

[robbols12344]

that stinks for the other girl.. she knew how to spell governor, she just forget to restate the word..

but all the same, that was amazing

[SigningTimeRachel]

I know I felt so bad for her. But the rule is if you resart a word, you can't change any of the letters you already said. Once the wrong letters came out she was stuck with those even if she had re-stated the word.

[Virgovocals]

Leah is soooo smart! My 2 year old son has been watching her for the last year. He gets so excited for Signing Time. Again, another example of how deafness will not/can not keep someone from rising above. Congrats, Leah! We love you!

[Stang73]

good job Leah total spelling bee whiz

[Mmersu]

Woohoo Leah! Fantastic job! ^^ I'm so excited for you! Keep up the awesome work :D

[oogieboogiemom]

YEA LEAH!

[WorldNeverExist]

gj leah keep up the good work!!!!and never stop !!!!

[TheConfidentRat]

I am just catching up on your blog. Of curse I had heard the news but to actually see Leah win big is so fun. I am so glad you brought your video camera. Way to go Leah!!

[SigningTimeRachel]

Leah loves to read and when she heard that the winner would get a Barnes and Noble gift card, it was done! She studied the list of words around the clock and memorized the definitions too. I could not have been MORE proud! You can read my blog about it at signingtime . com/rachel (just put it all together)

[juliannisaakfan]

Thank You for this video! Another example of how the only thing the deaf cannot do is hear. I am sending it to my 6 yr old DGG, she is also bi-lingual and loves to watch Leah on TV.

[lilmizz101]

woooooh well done ma names leah too! :)

[appleleah]

wow. amazing!!!!!! x

[lifeg0eson666]

yeah seriously.

[spygirly]

Aww...Leah's such a friggin' genius!!!WAY TO GO GIRL!!!

[hattrickmissy]

Congratulations Leah, I'm so proud of you!

[shankystar1]

Smart Kid

[purplewowies]

Leah did a terrific, fantastic job!

She is my favorite person I've ever seen on PBS.

WAY TO GO 2007 CHAMPION! THAT WAS THE BEST THING EVER! WOO HOO!

[sony2hd]

Leah....you are amazing!

[ralpheadsuz]

GORGEOUS Leah!! woot woot!

[seth1987]

This is the first time I've seen her outside of the signing time show, glad to see she's doing so well. She has the obvious advantage of being bilingual, glad to see that it's working out so well for her.

I heard she has an implant, what age was she implanted at? I got an implant at age 17, so obviously ASL is my main language still and I consider myself Deaf.

[3kidsin3years]

I'm so excited to see Leah not only do well in a mainstream school, but to excel and outspell the competition that has an obvious advantage. It really shows that if you set your heart to something that you CAN do anything. WTG LEAH!!!!

[musictchr1]

Leah, Way to go!!! We are so proud of you!!! Congratulations!

[mickelle4]

LEAH IS MY HERO!!!!!

[janelyb]

way to go Leah. I am so proud of you! You are A-w-e-s-o-m-e !!!!

[catybarra]

WTG Leah, you did a fantastic job! I am so happy your Mom told me about the video, I enjoyed watching the entire video!

[jehjms]

So proud of you Leah! We missed you at the Indiana Down Syndrome Foundation SigningTime event in February!

Jan and Nash, SigningTime fans

[Paintographer]

Hey Leah!

We are so proud of you! Congradulashions on wynning yur spealing be. Love, The Banks Family

[GMaganda]

This is so awesome!! Leah, congratulations!

[texashildy]

Yeay! I was just at a Signing Time workshop where Leah's mom, Rachel, told us about all the hard work Leah put into prepping for the Bee. Congrats, Leah! You rock!!!

[DJLex2]

Leah rules!