Dr. Lisalee D. Egbert’s research combines early elementary and special education (specifically Deaf Education) with a focus on bilingual-bicultural (American Sign Language/English) education as it relates to early literacy. Her work explores the inter-development of language, literacy, and cognition within the framework of social justice and equality.
Addressing her Native American heritage and her first sign language, Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL), she contributed to an eBook titled Native Americans in Texas: A Look at Four Texas Tribes Before the European Arrival. Dr. Egbert, who is bilingual, has served as keynote speaker for Conferences in Deaf Education/Deaf Studies in the United States, and Canada and has presented break-out sessions at numerous conferences related to education, language, culture, and social justice. Her research has also been published in journals and periodicals. She served as associate editor for 6 peer-reviewed journals whose focus is predominantly literacy and language.
Dr. Egbert began her teaching career as a public-school teacher in 1993 in a Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) high school program and later in the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the largest districts in the United States, in a dual enrollment DHH setting. Teaching at TRIPOD (Toward Rehabilitation Involvement by Parents of the Deaf) in L.A. afforded her a wonderful opportunity to work with highly diverse and multilingual parents and Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children in the Los Angeles area. In the Parent, Infant, Toddler program (Special Education: PIT program ages 0 -3 years old), Dr. Egbert not only taught in the classroom, but also went on home visits to work directly with children and their families.
Dr. Egbert has often been called upon by both state and federal courts to testify as an expert witness on Deaf and Hard of Hearing issues. She also serves on several state and national boards which focus Deaf and Hard of Hearing children’s right to language – especially American Sign Language – in education and other services.
The Governor of Maryland for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing bestowed on Dr. Egbert a Civic Engagement Award for her service to the state regarding social justice, diversity, and equality. Moreover, she has been awarded California Legislature with certificate of recognition and commendation by the California Legislature and the City of Los Angeles.
Most recently, Dr. Egbert is the coauthor, with Todd LaMarr and Bee Vicars, of the article titled “Access and Equity in ASL Acquisition: Resources to Improve Early Access to Sign Languages” in the journal Odyssey. Moreover, her coauthored essays “Enhancing Deaf YES!” and “ASL Weather Signs” were accepted by the journal Wordgathering.
For more stories on the UTA Modern Languages Community, click here.
