REAL Beginnings for the Future: Nurturing Language and Literacy Through Diverse Storytelling and Books

Workshop description

This session explores strategies for fostering early language and literacy in deaf, deafblind, deaf-disabled, and hard of hearing children ages 0-3. Participants will learn about research-informed approaches to support language development, cultural representation, and family engagement across home, school, and community settings. The session will highlight the value of native American Sign Language (ASL) storytelling and bilingual experiences in promoting strong language foundations. To illustrate these strategies, presenters will introduce the Bilingual Stories Bookshelf app, a resource developed by the Regional Early Acquisition of Language (REAL) team that offers stories shared by native ASL storytellers and Deaf authors. The app supports early language and literacy acquisition in ASL and English and can be used across home, educational, and community settings as a shared tool to strengthen collaborative language experiences.

Presented by Brian Cheslik and Stacy Abrams. 

Brian Cheslik

Dr. Brian A. Cheslik holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Gallaudet University and both a master’s and doctorate in Deaf Studies & Deaf Education from Lamar University (2021). A former K–12 educator, he has taught at the Louisiana School for the Deaf and Texas School for the Deaf. He is currently a Professor of ASL & Interpreting at UTRGV, serves as the Gallaudet University Regional Center (GURC) Midwest Director through the Clerc Center, and is a Certified Deaf Interpreter specializing in music and theatre. Dr. Cheslik is the founding Artistic Director of Deaf Austin Theatre, where he has directed Next to Normal (2019), The Last Five Years (2022), and Cinderella (2023). He also consults with theatres nationwide on accessibility and Deaf-centered production design and trains performance interpreters. His work has earned multiple awards in theatre, and he has published extensively in the field. His research focuses on ASL, interpreting, Deaf Studies, theatre education, and human sexuality. He is currently co-authoring Advancing Accessibility with Deaf Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Stacy Abrams

Stacy Abrams is a Senior Project Manager in Early Intervention at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University, where she has worked for the past 10 years. She grew up in Arkansas in a hearing family that signs and was the first baby enrolled in the Parent Infant Program at the Arkansas School for the Deaf. A graduate of Gallaudet University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, she has more than 25 years of experience supporting deaf and hard of hearing children and their families. Stacy previously taught deaf and hard of hearing students and coordinated Deaf Mentor Programs in New Mexico and Arizona. She is the founder of #whyIsign, a social awareness campaign promoting the value of sign language. Stacy and her husband are parents of two bilingual deaf college students.