Petitto gives Keynote Address at the Centro Assistenza per Bambini Sordi e Sordociechi in Italy

December 16, 2019

Rome, Italy -- Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto's keynote focused on the brain, language, and cognitive advantages of bilingual language learning and bilingual reading in young children, and the importance of bilingual reading apps as learning tools.

Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto describes the impact of science on digital apps and society at-large during her address at the Centro Assistenza per Bambini Sordi e Sordociechi on December 16, 2019.

The event was sponsored by Mr. Roberto Wirth, founder of CABSS and significant funder of the Italy-USA Fulbright-Gallaudet University annual Fulbright Scholar from Italy.

From left to right: Dr. Stefania Fadda, Centro Assistenza per Bambini Sordi e Sordociechi Onlus CABSS (Rome Italy); Ms. Silvia Palmieri {Former Fulbright Scholar who created the first bilingual reading app in Italian sign language (LIS) and Italian}; and Professor Laura-Ann Petitto, Founder and Scientific Director of her Brain and Language Laboratory for Neuroimaging (BL2) and Science Director and Co-Principal Investigator of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Gallaudet University’s Science of Learning Center, Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2).

The event was specifically convened to mark the exciting release of the first interactive bilingual reading app in Italian sign language (LIS) and Italian by Ms. Silvi Palmieri (Former Fulbright Scholar who built her app with the VL2 Motion Light Lab’s Creative Director, Melissa Malzkuhn, and team).