After obtaining a diploma in Translating/Interpreting English-Dutch and a teacher's degree, I studied General Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam, where I received a master's degree in 1989. In 2000 I published my PhD dissertation on Input and Interaction in Deaf Families.
From 1997 on I have been working at the Hogeschool Utrecht at the Institute for Sign, Language & Deaf Studies, where I was appointed professor of Deaf Studies in 2007. I head a research group there and coordinate research focused on the Deaf community, (didactics and pedagogy of) teaching of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) and interpreting issues.
During 2002-2006 I worked at the UvA to act as a substitute for prof dr Anne Baker, who was at the time director of the ACLC at UvA. My main task, beside teaching, was to coordinate the implementation of the bachelor/master system in our department.
My main research interest lie in first and second language acquisition and bimodal bilingualism, and lately in translation and interpreting research, and NGT as a second language (NGT2).
I am currently a board member of Anéla, and also one of the editors of DuJAL (Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics) and reviewer for LIA (Language, Interaction and Acquisition), both published by John Benjamins. I was a board member of SLLS for 7 years, and am of course still a member. Furthermore I hold memberships of WAP, CHILDES and BAAL.