Exclusive: The Switched at Birth Cast Brought Deaf Students to Tears with Holiday Surprise

There's nothing more heartwarming this time of a year than a good holiday spirit.

Freeform and the cast of Switched at Birth got into the spirit with a surprise for a special group of deaf student fans of their show. The teens thought they were being brought in for a focus group about the show but were instead surprised with a screening of the Season 5 premiere and then a holiday party with the cast, including Katie Leclerc, Vanessa Marano, Marlee Matlin, Constance Marie and Lucas Grabeel. The entire affair was part of Freeform's "Pop Up Santa" series, which has been airing during the network's 25 Days of Christmas programming.

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Switched at Birth has been a groundbreaking show and important for the representation of deaf people in modern media. The show not only features deaf characters in lead and series regular roles, but is the first show to ever do a show completely in American Sign Language with no spoken dialogue at all. The cast and the students they surprised were given a chance to say what the show, and its final season, means to them, adding a touching, bittersweet note to the fun surprise.

The show kicks off its fifth and final season on Jan. 31 at 9/8c. The final ten episodes will see the Freeform drama reach the monumental 100th episode milestone and also kicks off with a gripping four-episode look at racism on American college campuses.