ROUGH EDITED COPY

EHDI
Malpensa ‑ 3:00 pm CST Breakout Session
March 5, 2019

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What the EI World Really Thinks of Language Deprivation
with: Tawny Holmes Hlibok and Poorna Kushalnagar  
3:00 PM CST

   >> We are going to go ahead and get started. We are working with technical difficulties. 
   >> TAWNY HOLMES HLIBOK: I work at the national association of the deaf and also at Gallaudet university as an adjunct professor. I'm going to be talking about what one of my classes studied. I do have to apologize that Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar could not be here. She was scheduled for surgery unexpectedly, so she's unable to be here with me today. We might just take a moment to make that switch when it happens. But I will work off of the old one for now. As explained in the abstract for this workshop, it's ‑‑ we're talking about community screening. 
    We will look at how this can be used to evaluation language deprivation. Next. So, some of you may not be familiar with the term "community screening." I'm take a moment to explain it. It's a way of making sure that more people are involved when it comes to survey taking. Generally when surveys get sent out, either those who are really ambitious to take it or, you know, some people don't mind filling out a survey monkey, right? 
    Here is a technical term for what it does, but it will give you an idea for how community screening works, how to engage what people are interested in, and how to recommend the next movie you're going to want to watch. When people post what their like or don't like, the algorithm does all of the number crunching behind the scenes. Going to get the captions on. 
   >> CAPTIONER: I am writing what I hear. So, you won't see words unless you talk. 
   >> [ Off mic ]. 
   >> TAWNY HOLMES HLIBOK: Can you go back? Let me change the plan because of timing. I will explain what the video is all about. The idea is that there are five different videos that are being rated on any Netflix platform, and then there are four people who are rating the movies that they have seen. So, those four people will give different ratings from 1 to 5. If they love it they give it a 5 and if they hate it they give it a 1. And the Netflix algorithm runs in the background and says if person one likes one two and three, they will probably like movie four. So, they group by genre or maybe somebody likes action films or they like cops in movies. 
    There is a conference called the feedback summit. We realized that sometimes we get the grants and we finish a cycle, and we didn't win the grant the next time around.  The reason is that the grant‑makers like to see organizations connecting to the community for feedback. And that's really what this video was about. It's a new thing. It's a way to collect data and feedback from the community, predict your behaviors, understand what it is that you prefer based on what you post on social media or what you. Hopefully that clears up what the concept is, and we can move on. 
    So some of the benefits of community screening are on this slide. It includes people, more inclusive. People are likely to be more truthful because they're doing it on their app or computer. They're a little bit or feel they're anonymous. And it helps provide customization and helps the company see trends. So, what was the application to a class project? After I went to that summit, I started thinking about how I might give my class a project to do. 
    So each student picked a topic. It could be related to parents and early intervention or interpreting. Some people came from other countries, so they picked topics that were germane to their language at home. And then we had an event where people posted their results and the whole community was invited to come and see. And there was some guided conversations and some guiding questions that sort of came up again and again. 
    Maybe ‑‑ can you close that? I'm not sure. So we had a student from Japan whose question was, is it appropriate in other countries other than the U.S. for Deaf children to learn ASL to help them learn English as a second language. You can see it was a hot topic. Looks like some yeses and quite ‑‑ some noes, and the ones right down the middle were not quite sure how to answer the question. So, that's an example of the class project that the students engaged in. It was asking the community for feedback. So, it's not just research, although they did research. They involved and engaged the community in their research question. Here we have a graphic of doctors, audiologists, the general public. What's their view? As you might imagine, they're all over the map. 
    Next slide. Nope. It was a hearing doctor. It was a hearing doctor who identified it. So this doctor surveyed deaf children and realized that the barriers they were experiencing were not really about being deaf. That it was really about language and access to language. And he said it in 1807. Interesting right? If you're interested in more history, I've got more to share with you. This is a cover from the book. It's available on Google books, because it's in the common domain right now since it's from 1807. And there have been subsequent research projects done. Katherine was the first to coin the term "language deprivation." Dr. Sanjay K did a YouTube presentation and it's still available. And then Dr. Wyatt Hall who grew up oral did a presentation for the American society for deaf children on language deprivation. These are not necessarily culturally Deaf children or ASL‑only camp at all. And it shows that Deaf people from all different walks of life have had a similar experience, which leads us to talk about language deprivation. So, what's happening in 2019? This is from Twitter. There's some discussion here. There was a live Twitter chat or feed. So, it would be #deafed. And further hashtag #languagedeprivation. People are talking about it and seeing adults who were language deprived as children, where they are deaf or Deaf‑Blind. This person was a teacher or audiologist. Different people engaging on #languagedepravation. [ Reading ] CIs are sound implants, not language implants, not learning implants. So, language depravation exists when doctors share misguided beliefs like these. And that's her words. You can see there was a discussion about it. Doctors, surgeons, educators. It's not just deaf people who are talking about this topic. Some posts on Instagram as well. This is a deaf counseling center saying 3 out of 5 deaf children grow up not knowing sign. And in the long term, the brain is impacted by that lack of language. And we need to bring attention during this international sign language week. And here we've got somebody who posted a video. This is a woman who is becoming an interpreter. And she talked about serving deaf and hard of hearing people and she says that she has concerns because of the lack of access and exposure to language is a real issue in the deaf community. This is a speech language pathologist who posted on it. So, you can also follow her. There were interesting conversations. She will speak and sign them both. Do we have that video? And her view is that it's basically a form of neglect. Which is strong. Strongly worded. I mean, even as a deaf person, I was taken aback a little bit by the strength of her opinion on that. These are other Instagram posts on the topic. 
    So, something that you can certainly start paying attention to when you're using your own social media. What we see on Facebook tends to be static, but you can get involved in some of the other topics by expanding your reach. So, if there are some good places to start that you would like to know about, here are some accounts that I would recommend. Twitter and Instagram. Sometimes the hashtags are more relevant than the names. And the sign language ‑‑ speech language pathologist, the language first lab woman who talked about the form of neglect. And often what we forget is that Deaf children of course may speak when they get to the ages of eight or nine. School gets a little more complex. Higher order thinking. More noise in the classroom, and we start to see difficulties in struggling. Suddenly they're crying at school every day and they're really struggling and not understanding what's happening. It seems like it's very noisy. They don't have an IEP. There's no interpreter, no CART services, no deaf mentor. More than 50% of Deaf children are mainstreamed. So, it's really important to realize that our kids need support all the way from birth and on. And that bilingualism is the way to ensure that they're not left out and they don't have to experience that frustration or misunderstanding. The goal is for our kids to understand and have access to the entire world and to learn and thrive as they grow. There will be more research about it and more presentations about it. It seems like an official term that we can use. 
    So LDS, kind of leading the charge on that, because there are many deaf adults who struggle emotionally, socially, communicating with their families. And we can directly trace that back to their childhood experiences. We don't want our current children to end up in the same boat.  So we want to be more proactive. And not allow ‑‑ it's not about criticizing a choice the goal is to make sure that we are keeping an eye out on our children. That we're hypervigilant, like batman would say. Keep an eye out and make sure that everything is going as it needs to be in Gotham. It is a term that is being used by professionals in different fields. You can ask people what does language deprivation mean to you. In the Deaf community, members have said that when they see hearing people talk, you know, they don't understand that. And they feel that is language depravation. I'm not sure I buy that. It is a lack of access. Society is not designed for a majority of sign language users, but I'm not sure I could call it language depravation. Whereas if a deaf child is at home and the whole family is talking amongst themselves and trying to communicate with their child, it's not intentionally, and we have to consider that. There are concerns. And sometimes there are different research studies. These are many different fields and many different backgrounds that people bring to it. So, we have to really keep thinking about it and keep talking about it and try to solve some of the issues. So I encourage us to do so with an open mind.  If you see a Deaf child who is 5 years old who has no language, something has happened. 
    Has anyone gone to Deaf school in the room? You have kids who come into your school who ‑‑ the entire kindergarten class came in with no language? You've had a 10‑year‑old? Okay. 12? Uh‑huh. It's common. We need to be proactive and assertive. If you want to know more, this book applies to children and adults. 
    So I will close with a video clip that I use often to talk about language deprivation. Let's show that video. 
    So that concludes my presentation. I hope that you will continue the conversation, look into the resources, get partnerships in place where you need them, and realize that there are opportunities out there, so many great workshops through this conference and of course at others. We see lots of partnership potential within the deaf community. Not just in deaf mentorship programs. We have people from North Carolina and people from Kansas state. I think I might have a few minutes to answer questions if there are any questions. 
   >> Since I first heard the term language deprivation, I feel like people are overly using it. So, I want to clarify something and hopefully you can answer it for me. Is language deprivation only used when a person is not signing? If a child is born into a deaf family and they are using ASL and they don't have English, can I say that a child is language deprived in English? 
   >> Good question. Thank you for your question. In Dr. Sanjay's video he would say no. The modality doesn't matter, so if it's French, German, ASL, whatever, it works. Any language works and it's something you acquire. So, it's really about the lack of input to the brain, which leads to conceptual understanding. 
   >> I am a hearing mother of a hard of hearing child, and I do know enough ASL to talk to the person next to me, but I consider myself a sign language toddler or sign language impaired. I have a question. I follow all of this, and I'm wondering, will we still have language deprived children it's voluntary to get involved in the Deaf community? It's voluntary to get early intervention services. I'm glad the other person asked the question. I'm sure we have people whose children are eligible for technology and don't provide that and are there by deprived of English. So, I sometimes wonder for the people that are working on this effort sometimes I feel that the people that can be hurt by the conversation are the parents who are trying, because the ones that aren't trying are not there to care. 
   >> TAWNY HOLMES HLIBOK: I really appreciate that. That's why we want to know more. National association of the deaf supports all people who have any degree of hearing loss, regardless of any modality or technology that you may use. And we are here to support all families. As long as everyone is willing to put in the effort, partner with early interventionists, I actually think we can see an end to language deprivation. 
   >> I'm the parent of a deaf child as well, and for the professionals in the room, I just want to talk about making sure that all of those resources are readily accessible, because we ‑‑ my personal experience as a parent, and I come as an educated and engaged parent ‑‑ is that my son is bimodal and non‑verbal at 3. He prefers visual language, but I had to go to my team and say, my child is language deprived because we were continued to be pushed down the ABT path even though he had plateaued for months and started to regress. So, I guess for the professionals that are here, if there are any, be willing to have that conversation if things aren't moving forward. My son went almost three years with no language as we tried to make the easy solution fit my child instead of looking at an individualized plan for him. We are now in sign and he has an educational interpreter. But we have a lot of time to make up. So, just keep that in mind. 
   >> TAWNY HOLMES HLIBOK: Thank you for sharing that story. You're completely right. Every child is an individual, and unique. And what works for one child may not work for another. We have to be observant about that. Please contact me at the NAD if you do not get the support that you need. 
   >> Can I ask a question? I am a mom of a hard of hearing kiddo as well, and one of the things that I struggle with is we did choose a total communication classroom, so he uses ASL and spoken language in school, be I struggle because school is only from 8:00 until 2:30. After that it's just a hearing mom. And when I try to go out into the community to find Deaf functions for him to see that sign language and see males ‑‑ because in the classroom, it's mostly females, so I want him to see that male role model also ‑‑ it's tough. Because I feel like I'm judged as a hearing mom. I feel like I'm providing that language deprivation after school because I'm hearing and I'm punished because I'm a hearing mom trying to get him that Deaf influence. 
   >> TAWNY HOLMES HLIBOK: Thank you for sharing that. You know, there are resources out there, and the point is that, you know, maybe there's an after‑school program that he should be taking advantage of. Maybe get deaf mentorship into your home. Thank you so much. So, we are out of time. I want to thank you all for coming. Enjoy the rest of the day. 
    [ End of realtime stenographic captioning ]