How to support the language and cognitive development of deaf children with Donna Jo Napoli (part 1)

Brad
Oct 10
2 min read

Release date: October 13, 2025

More than half of all deaf students who graduate from high school have reading skills at or below fourth grade level. Research indicates that low literacy makes it difficult for individuals to obtain or maintain any employment, let alone the kind of employment that affords independence, a house, and a family. For well over a decade, Donna Jo Napoli – my guest this episode – and her colleagues have been publishing articles on why deaf students seem to have this literacy deficit. As you will learn, Donna Jo places the blame firmly on a care system that emphasizes technology and convenience over techniques that actually support early language acquisition and social and emotional development. Donna Jo is a Professor of Linguistics and Social Justice at Swarthmore College, the author of fiction and science books, and the co-director of RISE Videobooks. In this two-part episode, Donna Jo and I discuss what can be done to improve the cognitive health of deaf children. This first part focuses on early language and cognitive development. The second part focusses more on what Donna Jo and others are doing to improve reading skills. More information about Donna Jo, her books, the research we discussed, and RISE Videobooks is below.

Biography of Donna Jo Napoli

Donna Jo Napoli has a PhD from Harvard and did a postdoctoral year at MIT. She is prof. of Linguistics and Social Justice at Swarthmore College, where her research is on the linguistic analysis of spoken languages and sign languages. She is part of a team that advocates for the language rights of deaf children (mostly in medical and legal journals) and is co-director of RISEVIDEOBOOKS.ORG, a project that produces and distributes for free bimodal-bilingual videobooks for parents and teachers to share with deaf children in dozens of countries. She also writes fiction and science books for young people, from preschool through high school, with over 90 in print, including many picture books and early reader books. How to promote literacy in general is her passion – especially when it comes to those who have particular language needs that impede acquisition of literacy skills.