The 'Why' and 'How' of an ASL/English Bimodal Bilingual Program

During the past few years, the teachers and staff at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) have reviewed research to identify factors that positively impact language development for deaf and hard of hearing children, and established language and communication practices to reflect what they have learned. Based on the research, which details the advantages of early accessible visual language (Baker, 2011) and documents the variations in spoken language outcomes regardless of the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2006), they have examined how an American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual program can be designed to benefit children with a wide range of characteristics--from children who have minimal access to spoken language through hearing aids and cochlear implants to those who benefit greatly from these technologies. They refer to this as an "ASL/English bimodal bilingual approach," which includes establishment of language foundations and access to learning through two modalities, e.g., auditory and visual, and two languages, e.g., ASL and English (Berent, 2004; Bishop, 2006; Emmorey, Bornstein, & Thompson, 2005). Through their experience in establishing a bimodal bilingual program at KDES and through their consultations with schools and programs throughout the United States, they are finding that with purposeful planning this multisensory approach can be implemented to effectively support the overall development of deaf and hard of hearing children. (Contains 1 figure.)