“Switched at Birth”: All-ASL episode planned; Zoey Deutch to guest star

SWITCHED AT BIRTH - "The Intruder" - Regina's actions rock both families. John's baseball record is in danger of being beaten. Daphne and Emmett decide to enter their zombie film in a horror film festival. Emmett has a run-in with Toby. Meanwhile, Bay meets another street artist, on an all new episode of "Switched at Birth" on ABC Family, airing Monday, September 10th at 8:00PM ET/PT. (ABC FAMILY/DANNY FELD) D.W. MOFFETT, LEA THOMPSON

The ABC Family award-winning drama “Switched at Birth” will produce an episode told completely in American Sign Language (ASL), a first for a scripted series on mainstream television, according to a news release.

The special episode will air at 7 p.m. Monday, March 4, and will be presented from the perspective of the series’ multiple deaf characters, with open captions for hearing viewers. The storyline places the audience in the middle of a student uprising in which the very essence of their deaf identity is at stake.

“Switched at Birth,” currently in its second season, is the first mainstream television show to feature multiple deaf and hard-of-hearing series regulars and scenes shot entirely in American Sign Language.

“I’ve been wanting to do an all-ASL episode since the series began, and the storyline we’ve been focusing on this season gave us the perfect opportunity. It’s an exciting, visual, empowering story of kids who are different fighting back, and it allows our audience to experience the world as our deaf characters do. We’ve been building to this for 39 episodes and we’re all thrilled to be the first to try this,” series creator and Executive Producer Lizzy Weiss said in the news release.