Course curriculum

  • 1

    Course content

    • PowerPoint

    • Assessment Stimuli Cards

    • Treatment Card Pairs

    • Using a Visual Intervention to Improve Syntax in Deaf Children Who Sign

    • Quiz

    • Evaluation

    • Continuing Education Credits

Course information

Course description: This presentation will discuss the findings of a recent study that investigated the use of a visual syntax intervention on Deaf students’ production of subject-verb-object (SVO) structure in American Sign Language (ASL). It will begin with an introduction to the literature and what we know about the syntax of Deaf children without a complete first language. Then, it will explain the intervention in detail and review the results of the single subject design study. Implications for language treatment will also be discussed.


Agenda:

10 minutes: Introduction, review of literature on the effect of language deprivation on syntax

10 minutes: Visual syntax interventions

10 minutes: Study design and challenges

15 minutes: Method and results

15 minutes: Implications for language treatment


Learner outcomes:

Participants will be able to:

  1. Explain the impact of an incomplete first language on syntax production and comprehension
  2. State the effect of a visual intervention on signing Deaf children’s syntax production
  3. State how the study’s findings might apply to their work

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 disclosure: The presenter is the owner and founder of Language First and is receiving payment for this course.

Nonfinancial disclosure: The presenter is a member of the American Speech and Hearing Association and the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders.

Content disclosure: This presentation discusses very specific interventions for syntax.

Continuing Education

This course is offered for 0.10 ASHA CEUs.