Course curriculum

  • 1

    Course content

    • PowerPoint

    • References

    • The Insidious Link Between Ableism and Language Deprivation

    • Quiz

    • Evaluation

    • Continuing Education Credits

Course information

Course description: This presentation will present an argument that the research community is acutely aware of all the potentially negative effects of not signing with deaf children—linguistically, socioemotionally, and cognitively—and of the many positive effects of bilingualism. Yet professionals in the field continue to encourage parents to focus primarily on listening and spoken language and, in some cases, even discourage parents from signing with their children. The explanation offered for this gross disparity between science and practice is the psychological boundary between able and disabled, between normal and abnormal, that prevents us from seeing sign language as the truly invaluable linguistic and cultural resource that it is. Given the intractability of ableism, the presenter argues for going beyond research and training, and using public policy and the law to protect the language rights of deaf and hard of hearing children.

Agenda:

20 minutes: Present research findings on the linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional effects of language deprivation

20 minutes: Present research findings on the benefits of bilingualism generally, and sign bilingualism in particular

20 minutes: Discuss public policy initiatives aimed to help prevent language deprivation


Learner outcomes:

Participants will be able to:

  1. State the research findings on the linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional effects of language deprivation
  2. State the research findings on the benefits of bilingualism generally, and sign bilingualism in particular
  3. State public policy initiatives aimed to help prevent language deprivation

Instructor(s)

Amanda Howerton-Fox

Dr. Howerton-Fox is an associate professor of Education at Iona University. She teaches courses in literacy development, social justice, and methods of educational research. Her research and advocacy address the critical importance of early language access for deaf children. She will begin legal studies in the fall of 2024 in order to fight for children’s language rights more directly.

Speaker disclosures:

Financial disclosures: Dr. Howerton-Fox is receiving royalties for this course.

Nonfinancial disclosures: Dr. Howerton-Fox is a founding co-director of Iona University’s Interdisciplinary Advanced Certificate in Working with Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and their Families (IACD), a program centered in the following beliefs: 1) deaf and hard of hearing children are the primary stakeholders in decisions made about their development; 2) all children have the right to accessible language from birth to support their linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional development within loving relationships with caregivers; and 3) multilingualism is an asset and that the development of any language will support the development of all other languages and literacies.

Continuing Education

This course is offered for 0.10 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.