Presenting at International Congress on the Education for the Deaf this July in Rome, Italy

I'm thrilled to share that I'll be participating in the "Exploring Signed Language and Visuospatial Skills in STEM Education" symposium at the International Congress on the Education for the Deaf this July in Rome, Italy!

This opportunity is meaningful to me as I'll be traveling to Italy, the country where the infamous 1880 Milan Congress decision severely restricted signed language education for deaf students worldwide. As a deaf person who was fortunate to grow up with both ASL and English from birth, there is a powerful sense of justice in participating in a conference that, 145 years later, celebrates deaf lives, signed languages, and the richness of multilingualism.

My presentation, "Leveraging VR technology for embodied STEM learning," will focus on leveraging the unique visuospatial skills associated with signed languages to enhance STEM education. I’ll dive into how we can leverage emerging educational technologies for deaf learners due to the inherent spatial advantages of using a signed language and their altered sensory experiences. I will showcase how virtual reality environments can be used to leverage visual learning pathways. I'll also be presenting EEG measurements that provide neurological evidence of these visuospatial processing differences. This work highlights the valuable cognitive perspectives that signed language users bring to STEM fields and how educational design can build upon these natural strengths.

If you'll be attending ICED 2025 in Rome, please reach out through my email, carly dot leannah at gmail dot com or through the contact page. I’d love to connect!