Course curriculum

  • 1

    Course content

    • PowerPoint

    • Where Language Begins: Shaping Early Environments for Deaf Children

    • Quiz

    • Evaluation

    • Continuing Education Credits

Coure information

Course description: 

This presentation explores the early language experiences of Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and examines how these experiences shape long-term developmental outcomes. It will highlight the critical role of early caregiver-child communication, drawing on concepts such as serve-and-return interactions, reciprocal and contingent family exchanges, and fluent, bidirectional conversations, and discuss how these experiences often differ for DHH infants and toddlers. Practical strategies will be shared to help caregivers and professionals create early language environments that foster optimal linguistic, social, and emotional growth for DHH children.


Agenda:

15 minutes: Typical Language Acquisition

15 minutes: Caregiver-Child Interactions

15 minutes: Early Language Environments for DHH Children

15 minutes: Communication Neglect vs. Language Deprivation

30 minutes: Long-term Implications of Reduced Language Access

30 minutes: Strategies to Improve Language Access at Home


Learner outcomes:

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define serve and return in early language acquisition

  2. Define reciprocal-contingent family interactions

  3. State at least three strategies that can be used to create linguistic environments where DHH children can thrive

Instructor(s)

Kimberly Ofori-Sanzo

Kimberly Ofori-Sanzo is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who has experience working at a school for the deaf, as well as presenting and publishing on topics related to language acquisition, bilingualism, and language deprivation. She earned her B.A. in Psychology and in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Vermont in 2010, her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Gallaudet University in 2012, and her Doctor of Speech-Language Pathology (SLPD) in 2022. She is a board-certified specialist in child language (BCS-CL) through the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders and is co-founder of the American Board of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Specialists (ABDHHS).

Speaker disclosures:

Financial disclosures: Dr. Ofori-Sanzo is the founder of Language First and is receiving payment for this course.

Nonfinancial disclosures: Dr. Ofori-Sanzo is a member of ASHA, ABCLLD, and serves on the American Board of DHH Specialists.

Continuing Education

This course is offered for 0.15 ASHA CEUs.
This course is available as a PINRA through WisRID. Please reach out to WisRID BEFORE taking this course for more information about receiving CEUs. Head here for more information: bit.ly/LLRIDCEUS

This course is licensed for individual use only. Group viewing, sharing access, or distributing course materials is strictly prohibited. Each participant must have their own registration to attend or view.