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The National ASL and English Bilingual Consortium for Early Childhood Education is a non-profit organization of professionals who are dedicated to the development, management, and coordination of ASL and English bilingual early childhood programs for children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families.
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[image description:  Logo is designed in a rectangle shape; on the left side, three hands of different sizes and blue shades are visible, starting with the smallest hand in front. Word next to the hands is spelled out in all capital letters: NASLECE, N being in dark blue, ASL being in black, and ECE being in a lighter shade of blue. Underneath the word: NASLECE, it is typed “National American Sign Language & Early Childhood Education English Bilingual Consortium.”]

Mission

[video thumbnail description: Screenshot of Dr. Laurene Simms, wearing a black blouse and glasses. She appears to be sitting and signing the letter "C". Behind her are various graphics: NASLECE spelled out on her left and NASLECE hands logo on the bottom right. Above her head is a banner displaying various photos of children.]
Our goals are...
  1. To develop an ASL & English bilingual home and school based curriculum and assessment tools.
  2. To develop educational materials and resources for use in ASL & English bilingual early childhood classrooms that promote linguistic, cognitive, communicative, and cultural competence.
  3. To disseminate resources that demonstrate the benefits of ASL & English bilingual early childhood education.
[image description: Two young multiracial KODAs are sitting crosslegged on the bed, reading a book. The boy is playing with his toy car and looking at the book while the girl appears to be reading. Bedroom wall is light colored and has sheer drapes from above the bed.]

Beliefs

[video thumbnail description: Two young Deaf Latinx boys are watching an ASL storybook on an iPad. Black text overlay shows one of the goal statements.]

Goals

[video thumbnail description: Two white women signing "Goals". White bold text in the middle spells out: "Our Goals" in capitals.]

Membership

[video thumbnail description: A white woman wearing a light-colored sweater is signing "access". Background is yellow backdrop.]

Featured news...

ECE Summit
The 9th ECE Summit in Washington, DC will be happening this coming April 2018.  More details will be posted soon.
Check out: http://www.bilingualece.org/summit.html
Deafness: Where are the 90%? 
Shortly after Nyle DiMarco won the coveted mirror ball a  NY Times post entitled Parents of Deaf Children, Stuck in the Middle of an Argument began making the rounds on Facebook. There was a beautiful picture of Nyle DiMarco and Peta as click bait for the reader but it wasn’t an article applauding Nyle’s accomplishment, no, it was another article bemoaning the fact that an unaided, unimplanted individual is finding successes and in turn perpetuating the great divide between parents who choose sign language and parents who do not. To read more... check out:
http://sunshinepraises.com/2016/06/deafness-where-are-the-90.html
Webcast: Maximizing Language Acquisition: ASL and Spoken Language
This webcast provides an evidence-based rationale for supporting language acquisition in both American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English for young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Experienced professionals in deaf education discuss the important ingredients essential to learning language as well as common misconceptions that tend to drive language and communication practices. Designed for professionals involved in early intervention, this webcast highlights how evidence points to use of an ASL and spoken English bilingual approach (sometimes referred to as a bimodal bilingual approach) as beneficial for young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Accompanying the webcast is a comprehensive reference list to support the information shared. References related to this webcast can be found at:
http://www.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center...
Save the Date
The 2017 National ASL and Bilingual Early Childhood Education summit will be hosted at Rochester School for the Deaf in Rochester, NY on April 6-8th, 2017.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Greetings from Rochester, NY! My name is Susan C. Searls, I am the director of the Early Childhood Program here at Rochester School for the Deaf. I am Julie Shahin. I am a preschool teacher here at RSD. The both of us are thrilled to announce that we will host the next ASL and English Bilingual Summit in 2017.
  • Where? Here at Rochester School for the Deaf
  • When? April 6th-8th, 2017
  • For who? Professionals involved with ASL & English Bilingual Early Childhood Education Programs.
                                          We hope to see you all next year.
[video thumbnail description: A woman with short salt pepper hair is signing the letter "E". She wears black glasses and a blue button-up blouse. A split screen reveals a graphic: "RSD will host the 8th ECE Summit in 2017" with RSD logo on bottom. ]
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[image: Feed of Instagram photos posted by @ecesummit]

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