Neyshkady uses American Sign Language, and until recently the only adults who could carry on a conversation with her were her teachers and her counselor in her school's program for deaf children.

That's why Neyshkady has become so attached to Pennie Nelson-Shine.

Nelson-Shine, Neyshkady's American Sign Language mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Lawrence Inc., takes Neyshkady shopping and ice skating. The two bake cookies together or go swimming. Sometimes, they just stay home and watch television, speaking with their hands, filling time Neyshkady might have otherwise spent alone.

"It took a little time to get to know each other," Nelson-Shine said. "But now we're tight."

Neyshkady, who attends Arlington School in Lawrence, is the first child matched with a mentor through a new American Sign Language program at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Lawrence.

Big Brothers Big Sisters administrators hope new grants and an effort to recruit mentors fluent in American Sign Language will help the program grow large enough to serve at least 15 of the students who use sign language in the Lawrence public schools. The school district has about 50 deaf and hearing-impaired students, said Lorna Connelly, counselor for the deaf and hard of hearing at Arlington School and Lawrence High School.

If the program is successful here, Big Brothers Big Sisters hopes to expand it to Haverhill, where 40 students are deaf or have impaired hearing, Nelson-Shine said.

So far, Big Brothers Big Sisters has raised $13,000 of the $26,000 that would allow the organization to hire a full-time administrator for the program. Twelve volunteers responded to a request posted on a Web site for American Sign Language users in Massachusetts.

Neyshkady's grandparents, Ana Ortiz and Jose Torres, said her relationship with Nelson-Shine, whose grown daughter is deaf, has given her a window on a wider community of people who communicate with American Sign Language.

"It's important Neyshkady knows more people like that," Torres said.

At home, Neyshkady has been teaching sign language to her 8-year-old sister, Star. Like a true older sister, Neyshkady said her sister's grasp of sign language is "so-so."

Ortiz and Torres, who have had legal custody of both girls since they were infants, have been taking monthly sign language courses at Northern Essex Community College — Ortiz for a year and a half and Torres, who works as a chef in a nursing home, for less than a year.

Torres said the course is teaching them how to read to deaf children. He said his granddaughter can usually understand him when he uses sign language. Sometimes Ortiz and Torres ask Star to interpret for them. When all else fails, the family writes notes to Neyshkady.

Despite her family's best efforts, communication can sometimes break down. Asked recently who she lived with, Neyshkady signed that she lived with her mother and father, which is how she refers to Torres and Ortiz, her sister, and a family cat. She didn't know the cat's name.

Nelson-Shine said deaf children are often left out of such simple family interactions. The family communicates something like a pet's name verbally, but since the child's main form of communication is visual, she misses the information.

"The cat has a name, but it's not a signed name, so Neshie doesn't know it," Nelson-Shine said.

Nelson-Shine said interaction with a mentor can help restore some of that basic family participation.

Torres said that when Neyshkady comes home from a Saturday with Nelson-Shine, she smiles and laughs more than usual. Neyshkady used to resist helping with household chores, like making her bed. But since Nelson-Shine had a talk with her, she has become more responsible, Torres said. Nelson-Shine has also started teaching Torres and Ortiz sign language they can use with Neyshkady.

Neyshkady said she enjoys her time with Nelson-Shine for a simple reason.

"We get to play and talk," she signed, as Nelson-Shine interpreted. "We share the same language."

By Stephanie Akin