"The Critical Period for Language Acquisition"
Presented by Tory Sampson
Workshop Description:
This will be an academic lecture describing what constitutes a human language and how we acquire language. Then, we turn to the critical period for language acquisition and how this is observed in altered brain structures in deaf individuals who have experienced severe language deprivation of an accessible language. A key takeaway from this presentation is that there is a biological basis for the importance of a full sign language exposure in early childhood for deaf individuals.
Educational Objectives:
To be able to describe what a critical period is; to explain its effects on early and late language acquisition; to synthesize why deaf first-language late learners of ASL have altered brain structures; to briefly state the biological basis for the importance of a full sign language exposure in early childhood for deaf individuals.
About the Presenter:
Sampson is a doctorate student in the linguistics department at University of California, San Diego. Her thesis concerns the grammaticalization of a sign in ASL encompassing a period of 200 years, with 1860’s French Sign Language (LSF), 1910’s American Sign Language (ASL), and present-day ASL. Currently, she is researching how ASL signers express copular statements in ASL with a variety of interfaces using manual signs, non-manual markers, and the null element. She is also a member of the Mayberry Laboratory for Multimodal Language Development, where they conduct neuroimaging studies specifically of deaf people who have been severely deprived of accessible language.
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-Target Audience: American Sign Language Interpreters and DDBHHDDLD Communities
-Presentation will be conducted in ASL via Zoom
ASL Communication is an approved RID CMP sponsor for Continuing Education Activities.
This Professional Studies Program is offered for 0.2 CEUs* at the Some Content Knowledge Level.
SDCRID promotes an environment of mutual respect free of discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other protected class.
*Note on CEUs: In accordance with CMP Sponsors and RID, you may not receive CEUs if you are more than 10 minutes late or leave more than 5 minutes early. Partial CEUs are not awarded.
Thanks, everyone!
