Discover bimodal-bilingual videobooks of fun stories to share with your child.
Find videos designed to delight both children and adults, regardless of your signing ability.
Since 2013 students at Gallaudet University and Swarthmore College have been collaborating on RISE. All stories feature a deaf signer native to the sign language of the videobook. RISE aims to promote language acquisition and early literacy skills for deaf children by providing bimodal-bilingual video books that parents, early intervention specialists, professionals in the education field, or anyone interested in deaf education can share with the children.
About RISE
Enjoying a (video)book with your child helps to ensure later literacy development. Shared reading provides an opportunity for adult and child to talk with no goals other than fun --no stress.
For example, in a story about a fox and a rabbit, questions naturally rise, such as:
* What is that rabbit doing? * What is that fox doing?
By talking about these things, children learn about the world.
and such as:
* Why is the rabbit running? *Why is that fox chasing the rabbit?
They learn that different characters have different goals.
and such as:
* See that hole over there? *What do you think the rabbit will do next?
They learn to make inferences, which can help them anticipate what might happen next in the story.
The child learns important preliteracy skills,
adult and child help each other learn new signs,
adult and child form a bond over the shared stories.
Gene Mirus, Ph.D
Professor of Deaf Studies
Gallaudet University
gene.mirus@gallaudet.edu
Donna Jo Napoli, Ph.D
Professor of Linguistics and Social Justice
Swarthmore College
This collaboration of Gallaudet University and Swarthmore College is under the guidance of Prof. Gene Mirus and Prof. Donna Jo Napoli. RISE is grateful for initial support from the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation and continued support from Gallaudet University and Swarthmore College, especially the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.
The original RISE website was designed by Bekah Seidl (Gallaudet '18), revised by Kimiye Maeshiro (Bryn Mawr '23), then by Devina Kalwani (Swarthmore '24), then by Taylor Gray (Swarthmore '26), Aiden Park (Swarthmore '27), and Damian René (Swarthmore '27).
BENEFITS of Shared Reading
Enjoying a (video)book with your child helps to ensure later literacy development. Shared reading provides an opportunity for adult and child to talk with no goals other than fun --no stress.
• What is that rabbit doing? And the fox?
• Why are they acting like that?
• See that hole over there. What do you think the rabbit will do?
• If you were a rabbit and you saw a fox, what would you do?
• What about if you were a fox?
• Which would you rather be: a rabbit or a fox?For example, in a story about a fox and a rabbit, questions naturally rise, such as:
* What is that rabbit doing? * What is that fox doing?
By talking about these things, children learn about the world.
and such as:
* Why is the rabbit running? *Why is that fox chasing the rabbit?
They learn that different characters have different goals.
The questions that come up naturally in sharing a book are important. For example:
The child learns important preliteracy skills,
adult and child help each other learn new signs,
adult and child form a bond over the shared stories.
and such as:
* See that hole? What would you do if you were the rabbit?
They learn how to guess what might happen next in the story.
This collaboration of Gallaudet University and Swarthmore College is under the guidance of Prof. Gene Mirus and Prof. Donna Jo Napoli.
All stories feature a deaf signer native to the various sign languages from around the world.
