My guest today is Dr. Leala Holcomb, a researcher of deaf education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who accepted my invitation to teach us all about what true equity and inclusion looks like when supporting deaf children’s language and literacy development. At Dr. Holcomb’s request, I interviewed them in writing via a collaborative online document, and I have hired a voice actor, Ginna Hoben, to read Dr. Holcomb’s words for this podcast interview. As with all episodes, a transcript of this episode is available at my website, JenniferSerravallo.com/podcast.

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To read a transcript and see the instructional videos referenced in the episode: www.jenniferserravallo.com/podcast (and click on the thumbnail of this episode).

For more about Dr. Holcomb: https://www.lealaholcomb.com/

To read more about being deaf in a mainstream school, Dr. Holcomb recommends Rachel Zemach's book The Butterfly Cage and her website.

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Leala is a researcher of deaf education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Lealawas a former educator of deaf children in an early childhood program, which inspired the creation of Hands Land. Hands Land is a non-profit organization that promotes language play through signed rhyme and rhythm. Leala has collaborated on initiatives in Viet Nam, Hong Kong, Morocco, and Rwanda as the deaf education expert. Leala providesprofessional development to teachers nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics pertaining to deaf education. Leala is currently a Co-Editor of the special issue, “Translanguaging in Deaf Communities” in the Languages journal and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education journal. Leala won several awards for their work as an early career researcher and got invited to be a keynote presenter at several conferences. Leala is specifically interested in exploring deaf-centered ways of teaching and learning.

Thank you to Alex Rose for audio editing this episode.

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