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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: '100 Languages of All Children: Empowering Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children to Express Themselves' Track: 3 - Language Acquisition and Development Keyword(s): language acquisition, language expression, families, diveristy, Reggio Emilia Learning Objectives: Participants will recognize a variety of ways children express themselves. Participants will recognize opportunities to promote children's expression of their world. Participants will scaffold children's language development on their own understanding of the world. Abstract: 'The 100 is there.' This is taken from a poem by Loris Malaguzzi (1998), one of the founders of the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching and learning. It encourages the recognition that all children are natural explorers and have a much bigger understanding of the world than they are ready to express in words. There has long since been a debate about language use with deaf and hard of hearing children: oral or signed language. As a result, many deaf and hard of hearing children enter early intervention programs lagging behind their hearing peers in language development. This purpose of this presentation will go beyond this debate to explore the many ways we can help children to close the language gap. Participants will learn how children express themselves and how we, as family members or professionals, can foster these opportunities and build on them to create an environment that fosters the development of meaningful language. Viewing children as able, with minds full of ideas about their world, allows children to be empowered to learn to express these powerful ideas, rather than feeling like they are struggling to make up for something that they lack. Participants will engage in hands on experience and discussion to better understand, foster, and recognize the many languages of our children. References Malaguzzi, L. (1998). No way. The hundred is there. In. C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Way (2nd ed. pp. 2-3). Greenwich, CT: Ablex Publishing. Presentation: This presentation has not yet been uploaded or the speaker has opted not to make the presentation available online. Handouts: Handout is not Available
PRESENTER(S) / AUTHOR(S) INFORMATION
-             ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - Nonfinancial - Christi Batamula - Primary Presenter,Co-Presenter Gallaudet University      Credentials: PhD candidate       Christi Batamula has been working at Gallaudet University since 2005, first as an early childhood educator at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and now as an instructor in the Department of Education. She has earned a Bachelor's degree from Geneva College in Elementary Education and a Master's degree in Deaf Education From Gallaudet University. She is a student at George Mason University taking classes in International Education, Early Childhood Education and Teacher Education. Her area of interest is on working with culturally diverse Deaf learners and their families. She has taught in Deaf schools: Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind and Kendall Demonstration School for the Deaf, a mainstream school: Mantua Elementary in Fairfax County Public Schools, and an oral-based school for children with Cochlear Implants: The River School. Through all of these experiences, Christi developed her passion for bilingual education and language development for diverse learners.       ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - Nonfinancial - Patrick Graham - Co-Presenter Western Oregon University      Credentials: PhD from University of Georgia, MS: Secondary Education, Rochester Institute of Technology, BA: Multidisciplinary Studies, Rochester Institute of Technology. Also certified in K-12 Deaf Education.       Patrick Graham is an Assistant Professor at Western Oregon University. His dissertation focuses on how Deaf educators use culturally relevant pedagogical strategies to encourage deaf preschool children become embodied members of the Deaf community while attending schools. His main interests lie in comparative and international education, multicultural and multilingual programs for young children and teacher preparation programs. Patrick received his Bachelor’s Degree in Multidisciplinary Studies, with concentrations in History, Psychology, and Deaf Studies, as well as his Masters Degree in Deaf Education from Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently holds certification in K-12 Deaf Education. Patrick previously taught kindergarten at a large urban school for the Deaf, and is passionate about social justice in Deaf Education.       ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - Nonfinancial - Jennifer Hensley - Co-Presenter Maricopa Community College District - Phoenix College      Credentials: Ph.D.       Jennifer Scarboro Hensley is the Family & Youth Resource Specialist for the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, providing families of Arizona support and resources focusing on those with deaf and/or hard of hearing children, and also parents whom are deaf and/or hard of hearing seeking familial support. She is personally familiar with the families she supports, as a hearing child of deaf parents. In addition, Jennifer holds a doctorate in Educational Theory and Practice from the University of Georgia and has a strong interest in deaf education, as well as cultural and linguistic identity formation.       ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - Nonfinancial -