EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
3/02/2021 | 2:10 PM - 2:30 PM | Listening to Families: Views from a Virtual Language Mentoring Program | Topical Breakout
Listening to Families: Views from a Virtual Language Mentoring Program
Beginning January 2020, Regional Early Acquisition of Language (REAL) Project partnered with ASL Connect to provide families an opportunity to learn basic ASL for an 8-week virtual online program with trained “Family Language Connectors''.
REAL is a federally-funded collaboration between Gallaudet University’s Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center and Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind. It provides training, resources and technical assistance to Early Intervention professionals, first responders, early childhood educators, and families with Deaf and hard of hearing children, ranging in the age of birth to 36 months old. SE-REAL is designated for families in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
ASL Connect, which is under the auspices of the Chief Bilingual Officer at Gallaudet University, provides a variety of credit and non-credit virtual ASL learning opportunities for anyone, anytime and anywhere. Within ASL Connect is the Families unit, which provides language mentoring for birth to three families with trained Deaf language mentors, (“Connectors”) who specialize in early language learning and family support.
Since January 2020, this collaborative engagement has hosted three full learning cycles with a total of 82 families. During this time, ASL Connect and SE-REAL have paid careful attention to parent’s experiences throughout their journeys Nearly all parents began the first session with virtually no experience in using a signed language; eight weeks later, they are able to reflect on what they have gained throughout the experience. This presentation will share parents’ testimonials of what they perceive to be the challenges and values of engaging in a virtual language mentoring program. In addition, the results of our parents’ surveys provide insight into how to provide the best possible language mentoring experience for families with deaf and hard of hearing children.
- The participants will identify several strategies of how families learn and be engaged in learning ASL virtually.
- The participants will gain a better understanding of parents’ perceptions of learning ASL.
Presentation:
23278_13629JodeeCrace.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Jodee Crace
(), Gallaudet University, jodee.crace@gallaudet.edu;
Jodee Crace graduated with a M.A. in School Counseling from Gallaudet University in 1988. Since then she has utilized her counseling degree and additional interdisciplinary studies in a variety of human development field as a developmental therapist with Indiana’s Part C agency, staff therapist at a Community Mental Health Center, as a school counselor and then as the Early Intervention Coordinator at the Indiana School for the Deaf. Currently, she provides consulting, coaching, and training services in Early Education and Family Support nationwide, including being a National Deaf Mentor Trainer and a state Parent Advisor Trainer, in which both utilize the SKI-HI Curriculums. Additionally, Jodee is an adjunct instructor with Gallaudet University’s certification program of D/HH Infants, Toddlers, and Families Collaboration and Leadership, along with leading Gallaudet's ASL Connect family resources. Finally, Jodee completed her service with the JCIH, representing Council on Education of Deaf.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.