For decades, people believed that language was mostly arbitrary—words and signs with no direct connection to their meaning. But our new...

Imagine being able to look up an unfamiliar ASL sign by simply demonstrating it to your device. Whether you're a fluent signer or just beginning to learn, this type of interaction could transform accessibility in technology—think of ASL-compatible assistants like Siri or Alexa or search engines that understand signed queries. This vision is one step closer to reality thanks to the ASL Citizen dataset, a collaborative project we worked on with Microsoft Research, University of

A study published in The Journal of Special Education (2024) by Erin Finton, Wyatte C. Hall, Michele Berke, Ronald Bye, Stuart Ikeda,...

Our recent study, in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development "Hearing parents as sign language learners" by Elana Pontecorvo, Julie Mitchiner, and Amy Lieberman explores whether hearing caregivers can successfully learn a sign language like ASL to communicate with their deaf or hard of hearing children. Spoiler: they absolutely can! Key Findings: Hearing caregivers who participated in the study were beginning and intermediate signing skills. Many parents dem

Research tells us that exposing deaf and hard of hearing children to ASL from an early age has a wide range of benefits, spanning language, social development, cognitive development, and school readiness. But how do hearing parents learn ASL? Our experience has been very positive. All have learned so much and felt so supported. My anxiety over communication barriers has decreased tremendously. Learning a new language can be a daunting task and one that takes a lot of time and

Understanding the Dynamics of Visual Attention in ASL Learning American Sign Language (ASL) is all about seeing and using signs to communicate. For deaf or hard-of-hearing children, learning ASL depends on knowing when to look at the person signing. But how do children learn this skill? In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2024), researchers Paris Gappmayr and Amy M. Lieberman explored how deaf and hard-of-hear

Parents' ASL skills don’t impact toddlers’ vocabulary but are crucial as children grow, highlighting the need for early exposure.