Debra (Debbie) Trapani
Debra (Debbie) Trapani, EdS, is director of National Programs and Outreach-Early Intervention at
Gallaudet University's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center in Washington, D.C. She is also
currently leading the Regional Early Acquisition of Language (REAL) Project in collaboration with the
Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind as well as the development and implementation of the Clerc
Center's new national learning and engagement platform. Previously, Trapani worked as a parent-child
educator, a teacher of preschool through secondary school students, a literacy specialist, a mentor for
ASL and English bilingual professional development, and an administrator of the Delaware School for
the Deaf and Statewide Programs in Delaware before coming to the Clerc Center. Growing up deaf,
Trapani was a student in several deaf education settings in California before graduating from a school
for the deaf. She is the proud parent of two beautiful girls, one Deaf and one hearing.