Much of the way we articulate words isn’t random. It reflects how the brain balances effort & clarity. Common words are shorter & more “shrunk”, confusable words are pronounced more clearly. We asked if ASL signs show similar patterns of reduction using pose-tracking on thousands of ASL signs.

It's RRRREEAAADDDYYYY! The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual is now available for pre-order. It's a modern parenting guide for hearing families with deaf or hard of hearing children. Makes a great gift for parents, family members and educators, and a useful weapon for throwing at an LEA or admin,

Another new paper by Aaron Shield! He found that no bimodal bilingual autistic child demonstrated a consistent sign-language advantage, challenging the assumption that sign is inherently more accessible to autistic children. www.frontiersin.org/journals/lan...

Just here to remind everyone that while the federal government is shutdown, all study sections at the NIH are currently on hold. Another blow to science and to early career scientists like myself with young labs and research groups. Very hard to remain positive about this career path.

How my wife described yesterday's parent-teacher conference for our #deafkid: "Our 2nd grader is reading at a 5th grade level, and he's in the 89th percentile for math. Dang, all that ASL exposure is really messing him up." #ASL #deafed ♿

Some are embracing the fantasy that the cuts to #NIH funding will only have an impact here in the USA. As Nature reports, the NIH is the largest global funder by far and dwarfs the rest of the world’s funders of biomedical research. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Well, that was short lived.

This is how it’s going… bsky.app/profile/safa...

In this “Conversations with the Dean”, Dean Penny Bishop speaks with Leslie Dietiker, Naomi Caselli, and Elizabeth Bettini about how federal research funding drives equity, innovation, and long-term impact. Read More: http://spr.ly/633254shWZ #BUWheelock #BostonUniversity #EducationResearch

Okay y’all, gather round for a chat. It’s been a roller coaster, and I thought I’d share what we’ve learned. 🧵 (1/16) bsky.app/profile/luck...

At the Science Fair for canceled grants, I had the privilege of speaking with @naomicaselli.bsky.social. Her team (which includes deaf researchers) were making breakthroughs to better identify & address language deprivation — when the Trump administration terminated their grant.

Very grateful to have had the chance to attend the Science Fair of Cancelled Grants today. As a program officer overseeing health equity research, I’ve heard far too many stories of lost science, lost careers, and lost jobs.

Black American Sign Language is distinct from American Sign Language—and it developed because Black Deaf students were segregated in their own Black schools for the Deaf.

APHA is gathering grants by TOMORROW NOON for Phase 2 of their lawsuit vs. NIH which regards NIH **applications** that were unfairly pulled from review, mishandled, or delayed from being awarded due to DEI issues. To add your grant to this lawsuit, become an APHA member & submit this survey:

New cool paper with cool people! Overall, we found that sign languages with more users avoid signs that are particularly low in iconicity (a result parallel with spoken languages) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Blind toddlers often experience language delays. Blind adults do not. In our new paper at @langdevres.bsky.social, we ask whether differences in language input could help them catch up: Do parents speak differently to blind children than sighted children? (Barely... read on for details) 🧪1/N

This could be used as an introduction to statistical analysis. It’s so hard to introduce entire fields like this while trying to make another point. Extremely well done. pudding.cool/2025/04/birt...

🎓 Our AI and Education Initiative had the pleasure of meeting with a delegation from Lebanon, organized by the U.S. Department of State and WorldBoston, to explore how AI is transforming education around the world. @buwheelock.bsky.social @naomicaselli.bsky.social

Listen to @naomicaselli.bsky.social explain the results of this paper! We're so excited to have it out in the world 😊

We are exploring this approach to modeling semantic distance in running discourse using a rolling ngram window. Our new R Package SemanticDistance allows you to change the ngram window size. Big semantic distance jumps might mark topic shifts - improving on conventional approaches like LDA

Moving a photo in Microsoft Word

Check out this new paper out of the Deaf Center!

Out now in @pnas.org! 🌹Is a rose by any other name still as roselike?🌹 We study the prevalence of iconicity (does a word look/sound like what it means?) and systematicity (are pronunciation/meaning relationships shared across multiple words?) in large datasets of ASL, English, and Spanish. 🧵1/N

New paper out at @openmindjournal.bsky.social!! We studied early vocab in deaf, hearing, blind, and sighted children in order to learn how sensory access (vision 👀, hearing 👂) and linguistic experiences shape how children learn words... Read on for a quick summary! 1/N

This is such in depth journalism on this topic. I am grateful for the opportunity to weigh in.

Honored to be mentioned alongside scholars I admire: @naomicaselli.bsky.social, Padden, Mayberry, Chen Pichler, and more! www.science.org/content/arti... "Imperfect sounds: Cochlear implants give deaf kids unprecedented access to sound. But insisting they avoid using sign language may be risky."

If you are working in Deaf Studies and want a fully funded paid year as a researcher at Gallaudet University, this Deaf Studies incubator fellowship is open for applications deafincubator.com/apply/?fbcli...

Interested in education and human development? Follow the Wheelock College @bostonu.bsky.social starter pack.

Anybody know what we are supposed to do for the remote poster presentations at #tislr15 ?

I don't often find articles of interest in the Boston University college of education magazine, but thrilled to see these! BU continues to be a leader in #DeafEd, sign language research, & deaf literacy. Proud of my alma mater & Franklin Jones @naomicaselli.bsky.social @amymlieberman.bsky.social

Hearing ppl: How do deaf people read without sound? Deaf ppl: We can explain HP: Just no info out there! DP: Here's some studies and curriculum we use to bypass phonics HP: I guess we just have to keep yelling loudly! DP:...? HP: Actually it doesn't matter since most people aren't deaf, bye!

Being a linguist is inherently political. We know that all language is equal and that being treated differently because of your languaging has to do with the body you inhabit and not the language itself. #linguistics #language

As a grant reviewer, what do you really wish people would do/not do? Not big things, like find a significant question/innovative method/be consistent with aims Little things, like bold each acronym the first time it’s used. Add your pet peeves ⬇️ #HiddenCurriculum #Research

There are more! Deafies Starter Pack: go.bsky.app/9cCKqS8 Deaf Education: go.bsky.app/R8D27oT Deaf scholars: go.bsky.app/6USEvp8 Sign language researchers: go.bsky.app/CLzeYDN Disabled, Deaf, Blind, Neurodivergent Authors: go.bsky.app/J2RSmFi Deaf UK 🇬🇧: go.bsky.app/7ZyymtN

Wonder if ASL signs undergo phonetic reduction (a bit like vowel centralization in spoken language)? Amelia Becker’s poster 5100 @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social #psynom24 on Sat at noon presents findings from our #NSF project with @zedsehyr.bsky.social @naomicaselli.bsky.social @m2b2.bsky.social

Hey psych methods people! Here is a thread of psych research methods stuff shared at today's #psynom24 society for computation in psychology. #scip🧵👇 My first time attending this affiliate meeting - it was really neat!

I'm on a plane on my way to #psynom24! I can't wait to catch up with all my people and share some of the work from @spplab.bsky.social with the folks there!

OK, here it is: the starter pack to get to know the #multimodalists on Bluesky. Who is missing? go.bsky.app/QPLSxuX

Sometimes, more research is *not* needed. There is no evidence that deaf people are at increased risk of crashes, and they have better vision than hearing people, so maybe just stop looking for reasons to prevent deaf people from getting commercial vehicle licenses. rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/78523

How to get into local politics without getting into local politics. 1) Do some data analysis and write an article about it 2) Submit it to the local paper, crediting your spouse for their input 3) Be a woman married to a man 4) Watch the conversation about your husband's article unfold. 🫣

I began a starter pack for those of us in #DeafEd to stay connected now that we are here. If you want to be added, let me know! go.bsky.app/R8D27oT

Most recent co-authored manuscript focuses on issues related to comparison groups by hearing status in deaf-focused research. Written with @lealaholcomb.bsky.social @jascott.bsky.social and Wyatte Hall. academic.oup.com/jdsde/advanc...

Love the influx of academics to Bluesky. Will this be our new 🏠? To help grow the community, I just created an HCI+Accessibility "starter pack". Help me grow the list! Many are missing! go.bsky.app/PZxHNqP

Created a starter pack focused on early care and education research and policy. Hoping to grow this list so please let me know if you'd like to be added or have other suggestions for who to add! go.bsky.app/SpVmXZP

Community for Education Scholars in all areas and concentrations looking to find each other! Please reply to this post if you want to be added!! #EducationScholars go.bsky.app/BaXvoap

Deaf Education is not regular education with sign language. Deaf Education is not special education with sign language. Deaf Education is not just talking louder or using a microphone.

This systematic review of 70 studies identifies close relationships between competencies in sign languages and spoken/written languages. It is thus crucial for educational policy for deaf children to have sign/spoken bilingualism as its goal. bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

I have created this with a few of us listed but I know there are more of us on Bluesky: contact me if you wish to be added! 😊 go.bsky.app/CLzeYDN

Disability friends in the US, what do we know about food allergies and protections under the ADA? Do restaurants or other establishments (especially those where you’re a captive audience) have to accommodate people with food allergies, and if so, what kids of accommodations are reasonable?