This teleconference brings together the editors and authors of several chapters of the forthcoming volume: Worlds Apart? Disability and Foreign Language Learning. Ed. Tammy Berberi, Elizabeth C. Hamilton, and Ian Sutherland. New Haven: Yale UP, 2008.

The Table of Contents is provided here in advance of the book’s publication:

Foreword by Sander Gilman

1. “Bridging Worlds Apart: Disability and Foreign Languages Where We Live and Learn” by Tammy Berberi

2. “Teaching German to Students Who Are Blind: A Personal Essay on the Process of Inclusion” by Elizabeth C. Hamilton

3. “Everybody Wins: Teaching Deaf and Hearing Students Together” by Ian M. Sutherland

4. “Making a Difference: Evaluating, Modifying, and Creating Inclusive Foreign Language Activities” by Teresa Cabal Krastel

5. “ASL: The Little Language that Could” by Brenda Jo Brueggemann

6. “Teaching Foreign Languages to Students with Disabilities: Initiatives to Educate Faculty” by Rasma Lazda-Cazers and Helga Thorson

7. “Incorporating Foreign Sign Language in Foreign Language Instruction for Deaf Students: Cultural and Methodological Rationale” by Pilar Piñar, Facundo Montenegro, and Donalda Ammons

8. “In Dialogue with Michelle N. Abadia: My Life Journey Studying and Teaching with Adaptive Technology” Interviewed by Elizabeth Hamilton and Tammy Berberi

9. “New Technologies and Universal Design for Learning in the Foreign Language Classroom” by Nicole Strangeman, Anne Meyer, Tracey Hall, and C. Patrick Proctor

10. “Cédez le passage: A Chronicle of Traveling in France with a Disability” by Elizabeth Emery

11. “Awaiting a World Experience No Longer: It’s Time for All Students with Disabilities to Go Overseas” by Michele Scheib and Melissa Mitchell

12. “Dis/Abling the Narrative: The Case of Tombéza” by Salwa Ali Benzahra

13. “No One’s Perfect: Disability and Difference in Japan” by Katharina Heyer

Additional Resources

Electronic resources:

DISFL, a listserve dedicated to the discussion of disability and foreign
language learning. To subscribe, please contact the list moderator, Tammy Berberi, at: berberit@morris.umn.edu.

Association on Higher Education and Disability website: <http://www.ahead.org>
AHEAD is the premiere professional association committed to full participation of persons with disabilities in postsecondary education.

American Printing House for the Blind: <http://www.aph.org>

The American Sign Language Teachers Association’s web site: <http://www.aslta.org/index.html>

Center for Applied Special Technology:  <http://www.cast.org>
Founded in 1984 as the Center for Applied Special Technology at Harvard University, CAST has earned international recognition for its development of innovative, technology-based educational resources and strategies based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

The Instant Access Treasure Chest Foreign Language Teachers’ Guide to Learning Disabilities is located at <http://www.fln.vcu.edu/ld/ld.html>. This is an extensive clearing house of web resources centered on learning disabilities. Caveat: many of the links are outdated. The site includes a section on blindness and low vision, with several terrific sites listed on this particular page: <http://www.dpa.org.sg/VH/>.

Language Lab Unleashed: <http://www.languagelabunleashed.com/>
An excellent discussion forum for all aspects of language learning and technology. Website hosts a dynamic blog and archived webcasts.

Mobility International USA (<http://www.miusa.org>) has a searchable database of organizations that support international exchanges, and this is also useful for finding disability-related organizations or contacts for research unrelated to student exchanges. MIUSA exchanges are a great way for student researchers to learn about disability in different countries, since they have short accessible international exchanges for adults with disabilities, including students.

Moore III, Francis X. “Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Accommodating the Learning Disabled Student in the Foreign Language Curriculum. ADFL Bulletin 26.2 (Winter 1995). 28 March 2005. Reproduced in <http://www.fln.vcu.edu/ld/504.html>.

The Ohio State University, American Sign Language Program web site:  <http://asl.osu.edu/>

“Portals and Pathways to Inclusive Instruction,” Office of Faculty Resources for Disabilities, Emory University, 4 April 2006 <http://www.portals.emory.edu/faq/index.html>.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2006 (NCES 2006-071). Cited in NCES “Fast Facts,” <http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77>

Wilson, David R. “Building Bridges to Inclusive Foreign Language Education Through Appropriately Applied Technologies.” 28 March 2005. <http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com/>

“Accessible Authenticity: Using Internet Resources With School Foreign Language Learners in Difficulty.” 28 March 2005. <http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com/>

Print resources:

Alliance for Technology Access. Computer Resources for People with Disabilities. A Guide to Assistive Technologies, Tools and Resources for People of All Ages. 4th ed. Berkeley: Hunter House, 2004.

Bilyeu, E. E. Practice Makes Closer to Perfect: Alternative Techniques for Teaching Foreign Languages to Learning Disabled Students in the University. Central Washington University: Ellensburg, WA. Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, 1982.

Block, Lydia S. A Study of College Students With and Without Learning Disabilities in a Mainstream Foreign Language Class. Diss. The Ohio State U, 1992.

Cabal Krastel, Teresa. “Accommodating the Needs of Students with Learning Difficulties in the Foreign Language Classroom,” Diss. University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1999.

Tsai-Yu Chen and Goretti B. Y. Chang, “The Relationship between Foreign Language Anxiety and Learning Difficulties.” Foreign Language Annals 37, no. 2 (2004): 284.

Sharon M. DiFino and Linda J. Lombardino, “Language Learning Disabilities: The Ultimate Foreign Language Challenge.” Foreign Language Annals 37, no. 3 (2004): 390-400.

Ganschow, Leonore, Richard Sparks, James Javorsky, and Jon Patton. “Factors Relating to Learning a Foreign Language among High- and Low- Risk High School Students and Students with Learning Disabilities.” Applied Language Learning 3, nos. 1-2 (1992): 37-63.

Ganschow, Leonore, Richard L. Sparks, and Robert Shaw, “The Issue of Accommodations, Waivers, and Course Substitutions for Students Who Have Difficulties Learning a Foreign Language:  An Interview.” ADFL Bulletin 32, no. 3 (2001): 61-62.

Grigorenko, Elena L. “Foreign Language Acquisition and Language-Based Learning Disabilities.” Individual Differences and Instructed Language Learning. Ed. Peter Robinson. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002. 96-112.

Harwell, Joan. Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook. West Nyack, NY: Center for Applied Research in Education, 1989.

Hehir, Thomas. New Directions in Special Education: Eliminating Ableism in Policy and Practice. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press,  2005.

Horwitz, Elaine K. “It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over: On Foreign Language Anxiety, First Language Deficits, and the Confounding of Variables,” Modern Language Journal 84, no. 2 (2000): 257.

Jarrow, Jane. “Beyond Ramps: New Ways of Viewing Access.” Responding to Disability Issues in Student Affairs. Ed. Sue Kroeger and Judy Schuck. New Directions for Student Services, no. 64. Ed. Margaret J. Barr and M. Lee Upcraft. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. 5-16.

Johnson, Kendra D. and Trudy N. Hines, 100 Things Every College Student with a Disability Should Know. Williamsville, NY: Cambridge, Stratford Institute, 2005.

Kleege, Georgina. Sight Unseen. New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1999.

Kroeger, Sue, and Judy Schuck, eds. Responding to Disability Issues in Student Affairs. New Directions for Student Services, no. 64. Ed. Margaret J. Barr and M. Lee Upcraft. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Kuusisto, Stephen Kuusisto. Planet of the Blind: A Memoir. New York: Delta-Dell, 1998.

Leibs, Andrew Leibs, Field Guide for the Sight-Impaired Student: A Comprehensive Resource for Students, Teachers, and Librarians.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Leons, Eve, and Christina Herbert. “World Languages and the Student with Learning Disabilities: Best Practices.” Teaching in the Disciplines: Classroom Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities. A Landmark College Guide Ed. Lynne Shea and Stuart W. Strothman. Putney, VT: Landmark College, 2002.

McGlashan, Ann. “‘Tell Me I’m Not Dumb!’ Helping the ADD Language Learner,” Conference of the American Association of Teachers of German, Salt Lake City, 24 Nov. 2002.

Reif, Sandra and Julie Heimburge. How to Reach and Teach all Students in the Inclusive Classroom. West Nyack, NY: Center for Applied Research in Education, 1996.

Salzhauer Axel, Elisabeth and Nina Sobol Levent, eds. Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity, and Visual Impairment. New York: Art Education for the Blind, Inc. and AFB Press of the American Foundation for the Blind, 2003.

Schneider, Elke. Multisensory Structured Metacognitive Instruction: An Approach to Teaching a Foreign Language to At-Risk Students. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

Shapiro, Joseph P. No Pity: People with Disabilities Forge a New Civil Rights Movement New York: Times Books, 1993.

Silver, Patricia, Andrew Bourke, and Kregg C. Strehorn, “Universal Instruction Design in Higher Education: An Approach for Inclusion,” Equity and Excellence in Education (1998): 47-51.

Simon, Charlann, “Dyslexia and Learning a Foreign Language: A Personal Experience,” Annals of Dyslexia 50 (2000): 155-187

Smith, Sheila Graham. “Considerations in the Development of Foreign Language Substitution Policies at the Postsecondary Level for Students with Learning Disabilities.” ADFL Bulletin, 33. 3 Spring 2002. 61-67.

Sparks, Richard, Marjorie Artzer, James Javorsky, Jon Patton, Leonore Ganschow, Karen Miller, and Dottie Hordubay, “Students Classified as Learning Disabled and Non-Learning Disabled: Two Comparison Studies of Native Language Skill, Foreign Language Aptitude, and Foreign Language Proficiency,” Foreign Language Annals 31, no. 4 (1998): 535-551.

Sparks, Richard, and Leonore Ganschow. “Foreign Language Learning Difference: Affective or Native Language Aptitude Differences?” The Modern Language Journal 75, no. 1 (1991): 3-16.

Sparks, Richard, Leonore Ganschow, Silvia Kenneweg, and Karen Miller. “Use of an Orton-Gillingham Approach to Teach a Foreign Language to Dyslexic/Learning-Disabled Students: Explicit Teaching of Phonology in a Second Language.” Annals of Dyslexia 41 (1991): 96-118.

Sparks, Richard, Leonore Ganschow, James Javorsky, Jane Pohlman, and Jon Patton. “Test Comparisons among Students Identified as High-Risk, Low-Risk, and Learning Disabled in High School Foreign Language Courses,” The Modern Language Journal 76, no. 2 (1992): 142-159.

Sparks, Richard, Leonore Ganschow, Jane Pohlman, Sue Skinner, and Marjorie Artzer, “The Effects of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction on Native Language and Foreign Language Aptitude Skills of At-Risk High School Foreign Language Learners,” Annals of Dyslexia 42 (1992): 25-53

Sparks, Richard, James Javorsky, and Lois Philips. “Comparison of the Performance of College Students Classified as ADHD, LD, and LD/ADHD in Foreign Language Courses,” Language Learning 55, no. 1 (2005): 151-177.

Welles, Elizabeth B. “Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2002.”  Profession 2004. The Modern Language Association of America. 128-153.

Wolanin, Thomas R. and Patricia E. Steele. Higher Education Opportunities for Students with Disabilities. The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2004.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Vital and Health Statistics: Prevalence and Characteristics of Persons with Hearing Trouble: United States, 1990-91 10, No. 188 (1994): 7-9.