2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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3/18/2018  |   12:00 PM - 4:00 PM   |  Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist, Online Version (VCSL:O) Training   |  Granite A-C

Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist, Online Version (VCSL:O) Training

Few assessment tools are available to document and measure the language development of children who are learning language visually and communicating in sign language. As a result, the VCSL checklist serves to fill an important need. Having a fully functional language by age five is important for all children, regardless of how they communicate. Many children who are language delayed and struggle with communication may experience academic challenges later on if language issues are not resolved in early childhood. Given these issues, the VCSL is the first standardized assessment tool to track visual communication and visual language milestones in children. The VCSL is a tool that documents language growth and identifies gaps or delays in typical language development. It assists teachers and ECE service providers in planning language development activities for individual children. The VCSL was created by Drs. Laurene Simms, Sharon Baker, and M. Diane Clark. It was normed on deaf and hard of hearing children who were acquiring visual language typically, within a social context supporting this language acquisition. The standardization process continued for one-year to collect a sufficient number of responses. An online system is now available to collect data and includes background questionnaires to collect information about the teachers, families, and children. The participates would be able to conduct online mock language assessment with the trainers who developed VCSL and/or who have received VCSL trained. This training requires more than two hours because each aspect of the assessment needs to be addressed, which would include lecture, hand-on practice training which would require everyone to have access to internet, and time for discussions to ensure every participate are well informed and leave the training with full understanding of how to conduct proper VCSL:O.

  • Participants will be able to utilize methods to identify whether or not children acquiring American Sign Language are following typical developmental pathways or experiencing language delays.
  • Participants will be able to learn a skill that will help them monitor this typical language development when they return home.
  • Participants will acquire the knowledge needed to train others how to administer the VCSL, both on paper and online.

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Presenters/Authors

Beth Hamilton (), N/A, BMHamilton5@gmail.com;
A dynamic educator, researcher, and presenter, Dr. Beth M. Hamilton specializes in early language and child development among deaf and hard of hearing children. She works as deaf/hard of hearing Educational Consultant around the nation. She holds a doctoral degree in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education from Lamar University and master degree in education and a bachelor degree in art therapy from Marylhurst University. She also has certifications in conflict and resolution mediation and early intervention.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -

M. Diane Clark (), Lamar University, diane.clark@lamar.edu;
Dr. M. Diane Clark, is a full professor and chair of the Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education at Lamar University. Prior to coming to Lamar, she was a full professor and Program Director for their Ph.D. program in the Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners at Gallaudet University. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 1985 under her advisor, Marc Marschark. She was a founding member of the NSF funded Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning. Diane co-developed the Visual Communication and Sign Language (VCSL) Checklist as the only normed ASL assessment for children birth to 5 years of age. Recently, she worked with DSDE faculty and students to develop a parallel Spoken Language Development checklist. Deaf children from 0-5 can be monitored for language development in ASL and/or English.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -