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10/08/2015  |   1:00 PM - 4:00 PM   |  SAC: Flex B

Pre-Conference Session
How Emerging Findings In Neuroscience Apply to Early Intervention Practices: Addressing Brain Development and Early Visual Language in Infants, Toddlers and Young Children

The purpose of this session to is share the research findings from Visual Language and Visual Learning, a NSF-funded Science of Learning Center with a goal to better understand the biological, cognitive, linguistic, sociocultural and pedagogical conditions that influence acquisition of language and knowledge through the visual mode. Some of the topics discussed in this workshop will include: advantages of early visual language; language acquisition; visual sign phonology and the importance of fingerspelling for reading; and more. Information about available resources that VL2 produced for early intervention and families will be shared. This includes Parent Information Package, Research Briefs, various ASL Asses sment Tools, and VL2 Storybook Apps.

• Describe the similarities between the sign language phonology with sound/spoken language phonology in language development and in the brain.
• Detail how bilingual exposure does not block the development of speech, but late exposure may impair language and cognitive development.
• List and explain how the participants can find the information learned and which resources they can use to educate parents and teachers and to support the children's brain and cognition development.

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Melissa Herzig (POC,Primary Presenter), Visual Language and Visual Learning, melissa.herzig@gallaudet.edu;
Dr. Melissa Herzig is the Education and Research Translation Manager for the National Science Foundation Science of Learning Center, called Visual Language and Visual Learning, VL2, and she is the Associate Director for the Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience program at Gallaudet University, in which she was a Co-Founder. She is also responsible for leading assessments and evaluations—basic educational research, involving “Use” studies of the Center’s resources—both for VL2 and for her work with schools. Her primary VL2 Center role is to facilitate two-way communication between researchers and educators. She has a B.A. in Biology from Gallaudet university. She received her M.A. and Ed.D. in Teaching and Learning at University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She worked at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla California (Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Bellugi Director), San Diego State University (Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Emmorey Director), and she was a Postdoctoral Scholar Researcher at UCSD (Center for Research in Language, Padden Director). As a Postdoctoral Scholar, Herzig led the research project (under the aegis of Dr. Carol Padden and Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow), investigating deaf children’s use of sign language during spatio-cognitive tasks (“The Role of Gesture in Learning”). Both at The Salk Institute and at San Diego State University, Herzig directed research studies that explored the properties and functions of spatial mechanisms and gestures that are specific to signed languages. To come, her goals include the study of how these spatial mechanisms can be exploited to enhance instructional programs for deaf signing students. Herzig was also a teacher at Chula Vista High School for 8 years. She worked as a supervisor for student teachers at UCSD and was a lead supervisor for student teachers and interns at National University. Her areas of interest include Bilingualism, Reading and Literacy Development, and Motivation for Reading.