Featured Speakers

Keynote Speaker

    Barbara Raimondo

       

Barbara Raimondo is a long-time advocate for the rights of deaf and hard of hearing individuals and

their families. She has worked as a government relations liaison, director of advocacy, parent consultant,

attorney, and trainer. She has presented and written about numerous topics including early hearing

detection and intervention, education, test equity, civil rights, family support, deaf-hearing partnerships,

parent and deaf community involvement, and others.  She has served on the board of the American Society

for Deaf Children, which presented her with its Lee Katz Award for her "dedication and service to families

raising children who are deaf or hard of hearing." She also has served on the board of the Maryland School

for the Deaf, including as president for three terms. She has testified before Congress. She and her

husbandare the parents of two deaf children. She received her law degree from George Mason University.

Invited Speakers

    Susan Elliot

 

Susan Elliott has taught Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Colorado public schools for 33 years and

became National Board Certified in 2006. As Colorado Teacher of the Year 2009 she was one of four

finalists for National Teacher of the Year. Born with a progressive hearing loss, she became profoundly

deaf as a teenager. She holds master’s degrees in Deaf Education from Gallaudet University (’77) and

Educational Administration and Supervision from the CSUN National Leadership Training Program (‘81).

Since 1977 she has taught in public school programs at every level.

Susan served as a member of the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees for 13 years and chaired the

Committee on National Deaf Education. In 2004 Ms. Elliott was inducted into the National Hall of Fame for

Persons with Disabilities. She presently teaches and coordinates a center-based program for the Deaf and

Hard of Hearing in Douglas County, Colorado and is a PhD candidate in Education specializing in Curriculum,

Instruction and Assessment.

Tim Hartshorne

  

 

Tim Hartshorne is a professor of psychology, specialized in school psychology, at Central Michigan

University.  His doctoral degree is from the University of Texas at Austin.  He is the grant holder for

DeafBlind Central:  Michigan’s Training and Resource Project.  He has been researching and presenting

about CHARGE syndrome since 1993, motivated by the birth of his son with CHARGE in 1989.  His particular

interest is in understanding the challenging behavior exhibited by many individuals with CHARGE. He has

been awarded the Star in CHARGE by the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation.  His research was recognized in

2009 by the Central Michigan University President’s Award for Outstanding Research.  His current project

is editing a book, along with Sandy Davenport, Meg Hefner, and Jim Thelin, on CHARGE scheduled to be

published in summer 2010.

       Debra Nussbaum

Debra Nussbaum is Coordinator of the Cochlear Implant Education Center (CIEC) at the Laurent Clerc

National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University. She earned her Master’s Degree in Audiology from

George Washington University and has worked at the Clerc Center since 1977; first as a pediatric

audiologist and since 2000 as Coordinator of the CIEC. She has spearheaded national efforts to look at

the combined roles of spoken language and signed language in the education of children who are deaf and

hard of hearing. She has developed numerous resource materials and professional training workshops,

and speaks nationally and internationally on this topic.

  Laurie Prusso

Laurie Prusso is a Professor of Child Development at Modesto Junior College. She provides consulting

services to Head Start, state funded programs, Local Planning Councils, CARES projects, and School-Age

programs around the state and has been a popular presenter at CAEYC and at other conferences and

retreats. Laurie earned her BA in Human Development and a Masters Degree in Education with an

emphasis in Early Childhood from California State University. She has worked with children, adult learners,

and parents.  In addition, Laurie has been a family childcare provider, a preschool teacher and director.

She is a Certified Positive Discipline© Associate and presents workshops and trainings. Her first and

favorite role is mother. With 6 grown children, all sons and 14 grandchildren, Laurie has over two hundred

years of experience parenting and teaching. In her spare time, she writes, plays the guitar and sings

when no one is around to hear her.

       Dr. Debra Russell

Dr. Debra Russell is an interpreter and interpreter educator, who holds the David Piekoff Chair of Deaf

Studies, University of Alberta. She has a degree in elementary education from the University of Alberta,

a Masters in adult education and community development from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in

educational psychology from the University of Calgary. As an interpreter educator, she has taught across

Canada, and has presented workshops and papers throughout the United States, Europe, Ukraine, Australia,

and Southeast Asia. Deb’s research focuses on consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, interpreting in

legal settings, and interpreting in educational settings. She is the co-editor of the book, Issues in Legal

Interpreting and most recently co-authored a chapter called “Assessing ASL-English interpreters: The

Canadian model of national certification ” with Karen Malcolm in the book Testing and Assessment in

Translation and Interpreting. Deb has been an ASL-English interpreter for thirty years, and continues to

maintain an active interpreting practice. In addition to her teaching and researching, she currently serves

as the North American Representative for the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI). 

Workshop Presenters

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