This webinar will be hosted via Zoom for national and international attendees on Sunday, September 7, 2025 from 1:00 - 3:00 pm ET.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial disclosures: Alexis Lawton receives a stipend as a doctoral student at Clemson University and a salary as an adjunct professor at West Coast University. She is also receiving an honorarium from Language First for presenting.

Nonfinancial disclosures: Alexis Lawton is the assistant director of programming at South Carolina Multilingual Learner Network.

Course Description:

This session will explore the intersection of nonmainstream dialects (e.g., AAE, Southern White English, Chicano English) and Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) language development. It will highlight the implications of dialectal bias, audism, and language deprivation and provide clinical and educational strategies to affirm all language varieties in DHH students and clients. Lastly, it will discuss how clinicians and educators can collaborate with Deaf professionals and families to support authentic language development.

Agenda

1:00-1:20: Language and Power

1:20-1:45: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Language Development 

1:45-2:10: Intersection: D/HH + Nonmainstream Dialects

2:10-2:30: Equity in Assessment and Intervention 

2:30-2:50: Partnerships and Advocacy 

2:50-3:00: Q&A / Wrap-Up 

Learner Outcomes:

Participants will be able to:

1. Define key concepts related to nonmainstream dialects, language deprivation, and DHH language development, including how these intersect with race and ethnicity

2. Describe the impact of linguistic and cultural bias on the assessment and support of racially and ethnically diverse DHH children who use nonmainstream dialects

3. Identify at least two equity-centered strategies that affirm both the linguistic and cultural identities of DHH children from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds

Registration information:

This is a digital purchase only; no physical ticket is provided. A form will populate for you to complete your registration and then your purchase will be added to your cart in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You will receive an email with instructions on how to participate as well as a Google Calendar invite with the Zoom link one week prior to the event. Registration ends one day prior to the webinar. All registrants will receive a copy of the presenter’s PowerPoint and the presentation recording. Please email info@language1st.org with any questions.