Presenter: Laura Lopez

Posted by on Friday, January 6, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

Growing- Up Trilingual: the Importance of Parent’s Involvement in a Deaf Latino Child’s Education 

With the growing Latino population, educators find themselves face-to-face with Spanish-speaking parents in the classroom across the US. Understanding how to work with Spanish-speaking families and removing barriers, especially language barriers between the families and the deaf child, is an important task to help parents become more involved in the child’s education. This workshop will provide the audience with an understanding of Latino families’ culture and their perspective on education. Comprehending where the family comes from and why they aren’t fully engaged in their deaf child’s education is essential for educators to know in order think of ways to get the family to be involved as early as possible.  Also, it is important to understand the benefits of trilingualism for the deaf child which can improve relationships in the home.

During the group discussion, participants will work to develop more effective home, school and community partnerships by using J.L Epstein Form T One Year Action Plan focusing on 6 types of involvement (Parenting, Communicating, Volunteering, Learning at Home, Decision-Making, and Collaborating with the Community).

Learners Objectives

Participators will:

  1. Develop an understanding of the Latino deaf child’s home culture and language.
  2. Learn how to increase Latino parents’ involvement in their deaf child’s education as early as possible.
  3. Discuss parental involvement in their school and utilize a tool guide to help create more effective parental involvement.
Bio:
Laura Lopez, a first generation Mexican-American born and raised in the city of Chicago by her Spanish speaking parents. Ms. Lopez has received a BA in Spanish and a BS in Family and Child Studies: Child Development from Gallaudet University in 2004. After graduating, she worked in the deaf education field in Chicago and Vermont for several years with students age 0 to 21. In 2009, she received her Masters of Education in Educational Leadership from DePaul University. She returned to the Vermont Center in Brattleboro, VT to establish their first Early Childhood Education Center for the Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing and Hearing children ages 6 months to 6 years old. The center has a bilingual-bicultural environment where ASL dominates. Due to her work in establishing the center, Ms. Lopez was honored by the M projects as a Pearl alongside 20 other accomplished deaf women in the USA in 2011.  With a strong belief in the importance of parental involvement, she desires to work with the Latino community where she can use her skills to improve communication and understanding between the family and child.

 

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