Course curriculum

  • 1

    Course content

    • PowerPoint

    • Deaf Children Stages of Emergent Writing

    • Deaf and Hearing Children Emergent Writing Stages

    • BGC Alignment with State Writing Standards

    • I See What You Mean: Empowering Deaf Students with Effective Writing Instruction

    • Quiz

    • Evaluation

    • Continuing Education Credits

Course information

Course description: Dr. Di Perri will share effective and developmentally appropriate instructional techniques for writing instruction, tailored to support the unique learning trajectory of deaf students. By understanding why traditional writing approaches often fall short for DHH students, the webinar will focus on strategies to foster meaningful concept development and skill-building. A key highlight will be a discussion of a daily writing activity that empowers students with the belief that they can write anything they think or express. A standout technique, the “Handshape Holder”, will be explored as a tool that parallels the Alphabetic Principle taught to hearing children. This method helps students encode their thoughts when they lack knowledge of English words, fostering independent writing development. Dr. Di Perri will also present data from pre- and post-assessment measures across the country, highlighting the success of these techniques in improving student writing. Lastly, the webinar will cover the Bilingual Grammar Curriculum (BGC), a specially developed curriculum designed to meet the grammatical needs of DHH students, providing a comprehensive approach to both language and writing instruction.

Agenda:

20 minutes: Challenges with Traditional Writing Instruction

15 minutes: Handshape Holder technique (aka “Secret Code”)

10 minutes: Discussion of the Daily Quick Write activity

15 minutes: Evidence from pre/post data collection of DHH writers across the US

15 minutes: Onto Grammar Instruction- Creating a new design

15 minutes: The Bilingual Grammar Curriculum (BGC) components


Learner outcomes:

Participants will be able to:

  1. Identify challenges in traditional writing instruction and explain how these challenges can negatively affect the writing skills of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students.

  2. Describe the "Handshape Holder" technique and how it supports independent writing for DHH students

  3. Describe the key components of the Bilingual Grammar Curriculum and how it supports effective grammar instruction for DHH students

Instructor(s)

Kristin Di Perri

Dr. Di Perri has dedicated over 40 years to advancing Deaf Education, championing language access and literacy development for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Her work focuses on creating visually based literacy strategies grounded in universal cognitive principles, designed specifically for children who do not have access to spoken language. As a respected consultant for DHH schools and programs nationwide and abroad, Dr. Di Perri is the author of influential resources, including the Bedrock Literacy Curriculum and the Picture This workbook series, as well as the co-author of the Bilingual Grammar Curriculum with Dr. Todd Czubek. Dr. Di Perri’s work has been essential for language-deprived students, providing clear, visually based foundational skills that support literacy and language development. Her strategies empower educators with tools to bridge communication gaps, laying a solid groundwork for academic and cognitive growth in students who may otherwise lack access to the general education curriculum.

Speaker disclosures

Financial disclosures: Dr. Di Perri is receiving royalties from Language First for this course.

Nonfinancial disclosures: Dr. Di Perri is a part time instructor for the Boston University Masters program in Deaf Education, which uses a bilingual philosophy for education of deaf students.

Content disclosure: Dr. Di Perri discusses the Bilingual Grammar Curriculum (BGC).

Continuing Education

This course is offered for 0.15 ASHA CEUs.