2026 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 15-17, 2026 • Jacksonville, FL
| Building Bridges, Not Barriers: Immigrant Families Navigating Deaf Childhood
Building Bridges, Not Barriers: Immigrant Families Navigating Deaf Childhood
Families who immigrate with young Deaf children often navigate complex linguistic and cultural landscapes.
These families must negotiate multiple languages (spoken/signed) simultaneously at home, school, and in the community. Barriers such as limited multilingual interpreters and resources, and a lack of linguistically and culturally responsive professionals can further complicate support for these families' access to early intervention services for their Deaf children. Drawing on case studies of the lived experiences of immigrant families, this presentation highlights the intersecting issues faced by these families, including navigating early intervention services and educational systems, balancing cultural preservation with integration, collaboration with professionals and community works, while managing the psychosocial stress of adapting to new environments, and advocating for their children.
- Identify key barriers immigrant multilingual families encounter when supporting their young Deaf children.
- Describe strategies and practices that immigrant multilingual families use to advocate for and support their Deaf children’s
- Evaluate and recommend resources that can assist immigrant multilingual families in navigating Deaf childhood.
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Presenters/Authors
Millicent Musyoka
(Primary Presenter), Lamar University, mmusyoka@lamar.edu;
Millicent Musyoka is a Professor at the Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf education at Lamar University in Texas. Dr. Musyoka completed her doctoral and masters study at Gallaudet University. Her current research interest are on multilingual immigrant Deaf learners and their families.
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