Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed. – Potty Time Specialist
Colleen did her undergraduate work in special education and elementary education and has a master’s degree in reading. She currently works as an online college instructor as well as serving as a Master Instructor with the Signing Time Academy through her company, Little Hands Big Ideas. In her “free” time, she writes articles on early childhood development, sign language, and literacy for a variety of online sources. Colleen lives in Connecticut with her husband and son, who entered kindergarten in the fall of 2011. Colleen went through adventures in potty training with her own free-spirited and very active son, learning along the way that a sense of humor and a great deal of flexibility is really the only way she was going to maintain sanity. She loves working with children, signing and singing, and is very excited to contribute to the Potty Time program. You can reach Colleen at colleen@littlehandsbigideas.com.

Other Contributors

Cynthia Noell is a single mother of 11 children, 10 of which are still living at home. She has had the joy of homeschooling all of her children – and three of them are are now in college. After using sign language with her daughter with severe apraxia, she became a Master Instructor with the Signing Time Academy. She says, “As you can imagine I have had all different experiences potty training with 4 boys and 6 girls trained, 1 boy left to go. I’m sure he will come up with his own unique way of learning just like all the rest.” You can reach Cynthia at signingwithcindy@yahoo.com.

Kristy Simons, ECE lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two daughters. She is an early childhood educator and has worked with young children across the spectrum of development and abilities in many different childcare settings. After running her own home day care center for five years, she became a Certified Advanced Instructor with the Signing Time Academy and started the I Sign You Sign Learning Academy. She says, “Being an Early Childhood Educator, a daycare owner and operator, and a mother of two children has given me many an opportunity to help guide children through this developmental rite of passage we call potty training. It is this unique set of experiences and expertise that I hope will be useful, insightful, amusing, and comforting to all our readers, Signing Time families and new Potty Time families.” You can reach Kristy at kristy@isignyousign.com.

Sue Rouillard, M.Ed. lives in northern New Hampshire with her partner, Rob, and granddaughter, Mersadies. Sue has lots of experience with children. She grew up as the oldest of 35 cousins and 3 siblings. She now has two boys and 10 grandchildren. She’s a masters-level New Hampshire educator and is currently working with preschoolers. She is also a Master Instructor with the Signing Time Academy. You can reach Sue at sue@aslsign101.com.