If you are interpreting in an educational setting, would it be more appropriate to stand at the front of the classroom or sit with the deaf student therefore being able to maintain eye contact and attention at all times?
When interpreting in any situation, an interpreter must be able to have eye contact at all times with the deaf client(s), and the client(s) be able to see what is happening near the speaker.
In the case of the classroom, the teacher is responsible for all the students, hearing or deaf, paying attention (which might mean some educating on your part). The interpreter can either sit near the student or at the front of the classroom as long as it allows interpreter-student eye contact and the student being able to see what the teacher is doing. For example, some interpreters in a math class (with permission from the teacher) will follow the teacher as s/he writes a problem on the board, so the students can watch both.
Of course, students of different ages have different attention spans and needs, and any vision problems would have to be considered. There is not one right or wrong answer for every situation – as is often true of interpreting, “it depends on the situation” (e.g., the age of the student, the class, communication needs of the child). The ability of the interpreter and student to have direct eye contact and the student to see what the teacher is doing during the lesson is a top priority, whether you are near the student or at the front of the classroom.
Right now I’m searching for something related to learning disabilities for those who are Deaf/HOH. So far it’s proving difficult to find. Does anyone have any links they can share?
This is difficult in the U.S. because deaf (or blind) children are not supposed to be dually classified as having learning disabilities. Other countries are a lot more realistic. Probably the most current resource would be Edwards, L. (2010). Learning disabilities in deaf and hard-of-hearing children. In M. Marschark & P. E. Spencer, The Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education, Volume 2 (pp. 425-438). New York: Oxford University Press.
I want to know the difference between mainstreaming (deaf ) students or inclusion placement. What exactly is inclusion as it relates to the educational school systems. What exactly is mainstreaming.
“Inclusion” and “mainstreaming” are often used interchangeably. However, “inclusion” specifically refers to those regular classrooms in which deaf children receive all of their services within that setting. “Mainstreaming,” while it is often used in the generic sense for regular school classrooms, differs from “inclusion” in offering services like hearing aid fitting, speech/language therapy, or tutoring on a pull-out basis, in a resource room or other location. Antia, Stinson, and Gaustad (JDSDE, 2002) suggest that this difference makes an inclusive classroom one in which the deaf child is a “member” whereas in the mainstream classroom they may be a “visitor.” Some may not agree with that distinction, arguing that the school, the teacher, and peers will determine that atmosphere, but that is one that you will see in the literature.
Are there guidelines available for transitioning a child from oral to sign communication?
I don’t know of any guidelines available for transitioning from oral to sign communication [nor has anyone else to whom we have put this question], but I am aware of situations where this has happened. I have seen a variety of approaches and which is best depends on the child’s current language skills and ability to communicate in spoken language.
For a child who is not effectively communicating in spoken languages, I have seen schools provide the child with one-on-one educational interpreter to facilitate communication. This person should be able to work with the child during private times to work on sign communication, preferably working through lessons that the teacher is using in class. This child needs to learn the sign vocabulary and the language associated with concepts being taught.
A child like this would not be able to understand a full sign language interpretation of the teacher’s and peers’ communication. It is not the best solution to simply provide the child with an educational interpreter who simply interprets the teacher’s talk. The teacher’s talk is directed to children with typical language skills for their age, and the language level would be above a child who needs to “catch up.” However, it is appropriate to use an educational interpreter who understands that his or her role is to foster transition and not to provide a direct interpretation.
The educational interpreter should be very fluent in sign language. Some schools mistakenly believe that if a child does not have language skills comparable to hearing peers, a less-than-fluent interpreter or even an aid is acceptable. This is not true. It requires significant skills to modify the teacher’s talk into less complex language and vocabulary and to scaffold understanding. The educational interpreter should be able to modify classroom communication so that it would be more understandable. The educational interpreter needs to work with the educational team so that s/he clearly understands the language skills of the child and what kinds of modifications the entire team agrees upon. The child’s progress should be monitored by the educational team.
Some schools have provided younger children who are transitioning with a deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) teacher’s aide. Some DHH adults can be very skillful at communicating with individuals who are less than fluent in sign language. They can help prepare a young child to later work with an educational interpreter. The DHH aid could also provide tutoring in classroom lessons, to provide the child with multiple opportunities to learn sign vocabulary and sign language. I have seen this work very well with children who need to learn a lot of language and vocabulary to catch up with hearing peers. When the child has sufficient language skills, he or she should transition to working with an educational interpreter.
For older children who have significant skills in spoken language but are having difficulty following classroom communication using speech alone, schools have provided educational interpreters for class time. However, again, it is important that the student have time with the educational interpreter outside of class in order to learn and review the signs associated with spoken words. Simply watching an interpretation of the classroom communication is not a great way to learn sign language. If the student has significant spoken language skills, the interpreter also needs to use those spoken skills to help learn sign language, so you would expect to see the educational interpreter providing a more English signing interpretation and you would see the articulation of English words on his or her mouth.
We have two deaf sons who were adopted internationally, 3 years ago. They are 10 and 12 years old. We want to incorporate expressive and receptive ASL goals in their IEPs. Should it be in a separate category for just ASL or should it be 2-4 ASL goals within each traditional category, specific to each subject? They are both behind in ASL because of lack of exposure – they were not signing ASL prior to being adopted. (Our family does sign.)
A friend recently pointed out that “hearing kids take English every year, why shouldn’t deaf kids take ASL?” The boys are in a school district without other signing deaf children, but they do have a strong/skilled Interpreter. How best should we edit/tweak the IEP to be sure that fluency in ASL is a priority and have established goals? Do you know of any programs that model a “virtual” classroom? The boys could “participate” or at least observe a class at the state deaf school (2.5 hours away) as part of their academic week here?
The basic question here is “what is the purpose of the ASL development?” I would not think adding an ASL goal to each subject area would be the best route. Rather, it seems as though the need is to develop ASL, the language. So, you’re absolutely correct: just as hearing kids get English daily, if you want to develop ASL fluency, it needs to be experienced everyday. The boys need time to do this, and it needs to be built into their daily schedules.
The complication appears to be that only the interpreter is fluent in ASL. Are you comfortable with the interpreter coming out of the interpreting role to be a “teacher,” so to speak. This raises ethical and educational difficulties for interpreters, teachers, and others of us in the field. The issue is probably best dealt with by the full IEP team (including the interpreter). The school district’s responsibility, however, does not necessarily include the mandate that the boys have to learn ASL. They are providing a certified interpreter thus providing accessiblity to the curriculum. They might fight any ASL development goals that you put in the IEP, but it is definitely worth a try.
The idea of a virtual classroom seems an excellent way to approach this. It really doesn’t matter where you live, as many schools for the deaf have virtual capability, and I would think have staff who could/would do this. Or perhaps another route to take would be to set up virtual classroom experience for the boys’ entire class. Have them all downlink with a school for the deaf and work together on ASL development with the boys being the leaders from their end. You might want to contact the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton about both of these ideas, but we will be in touch offline with specific contacts.
I am profoundly deaf. I completed my associate degree in digital imaging from NTID, in Rochester, New York, and my BA degree in Graphic Design from Curtin University, Australia. I want to work as a teacher for deaf children at a primary school level. What is your advice regarding the best way for me to get a degree in Education? Is it possible to get such a degree by distance education?
The University of Northern Colorado, Greeley Colorado USA has on online graduate degree program to prepare teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing (http://www.unco.edu/cebs/sped/prospective/deafandhearing/index.html). However, I am not aware of any online undergraduate programs.
Because of your connection to Australia, you might also contact the Renwick Centre at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (http://www.ridbc.org.au/renwick/index.php) to see what training opportunities they provide.
How can I become an interpreter for the deaf in the Binghamton, New York, area? I took ASL in high school and enjoyed it. I have been to Deaf Clubs but cannot find any now and would like to get back into it.
The place I would start is at the Southern Tier Independence Center, located in Binghamton. Their website is www.stic-cil.org. The relevant FAQ on their website is somewhat out of date, but it includes the following information (slightly edited here):
Hi! I am a teacher for the deaf in RI. I am looking for articles on the long term effects of hearing loss on education performance. This actually is for a friend who is a parent of a hoh 11th grader and has to face a team at her local school who is saying things like “oh she listens when she wants to” and “she can hear just fine with out FM” all this despite a mod bilateral hearing loss, bilateral hearing aids, and an FM recommendation from the audiologist. She is looking for articles that speak to the affects of hearing loss on educational performance for high school aged students.
Unfortunately, this is a much bigger question that can be answered in a single article. There are two books currently available in paperback (or used@Amazon.com) that would be inexpensive and useful. The first probably more so, because it has more information on older students, but the second one also has a lot of relevant information (despite the name) and was written for parents. The second one also is available in many public libraries.
Marschark, M., Lang, H.G., & Albertini, J.A. (2002). Educating deaf students: From research to practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Marschark, M. (2007). Raising and educating a deaf child, Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
My son is 23 and was diagnosed at the age of 13 with a bi-lateral moderate to severe hearing loss. He was able to cope with the loss in middle and high school without the assistance of hearing aids. We later found out he taught himself how to lip read.. In college the loss became more noticeable and emotionally and socially hard for him to accept.. He did not continue his college career or football career somewhat due having to accept the disability. Do you have any suggestions for counseling and/or networking organizations that you can recommend to help him become more educated and socially involved with the hard or hearing/deaf community?
There are a few missing pieces of information that would make this reply more relevant, for example, Was your son late deafened or was the diagnosis just made later in his life? What was the impact on his earlier studies? What is the etiology of his deafness?
You said he was ‘Coping with the loss…w/o the assistance of hearing aids’. This could mean many different things. How did he learn to cope with the loss of his hearing or just the fact that he was different? How did he cope with the frustration of people thinking he had a cognitive impairment instead of a hearing loss? Despite the good efforts to teach himself ‘how to lipread’, I suspect there may have been some gaps in his learning and understanding along the way. If he is like other deaf/hoh students, I am sure he discovered strategies to cover up for the gaps in his learning and to not look ‘stupid’. One can learn to ‘fake it’ when in a learning environment or interacting with others but we still are not getting the information that is being presented.
I suspect that in addition to identity issues and coping with the loss of hearing, his academic challenges continued into college. College is immensely difficult all on its own. Complicate it with the hearing loss and gaps in social and academic knowledge, and you have the potential for significant delays and misunderstanding along the way….not to mention the impact all this has on his sense of self worth and beliefs in what he is capable of learning and doing in life. His decision ‘not to continue his college career’ is quite understandable, given the tremendous loss and learning struggles he must have encountered.
I also might want to point out the difficulties and loss that you, as his parent must be experiencing. Adjusting to this kind of loss of the hopes and dreams all parents have for their children can be daunting, difficult and lengthy. On the other hand, you may be well adjusted and accepting of your son’s situation and are there to offer guidance and stability while he makes his journey through life.
At this point, finding a therapist who can help him deal with his losses and devising coping strategies for navigating through life would be of tremendous help. A counselor or therapist in the high school or maybe even at a local community college that has knowledge of services for deaf/hoh students might be an idea. In addition, it makes sense to get in touch someone from the ‘disability services office’ at a college to assist with discovering which accommodations can be made for him at school, if he decides to return to college. There was a day and time when deaf or hard of hearing students had to ‘make the best’ of the situation w/o interpreters, notetakers, c-print and tutoring, but those days are long gone. Colleges offer a wide variety of services to help students get the information they deserve to be successful in college. Please feel free to contact me via email if you would like more information.
I am a teacher for deaf children in Kenya and looking at English compositions written by most deaf children in our school now and in the past, most tend to take the sign language structure. Is there any research which has been carried out to find the relationship between sign language and written English and how can I access it?
Many teachers notice that children will write the way they sign. Teachers can sometimes read and understand these texts, but because they are not written in standard English, they are often not understood by readers who do not know sign language.
A considerable amount of research has been done describing the nature of this writing and the writing of DHH children in general (see Mayer, 2010 for a recent review). As to the issue of the relationship between signed language and written English, it is worth thinking about this from two perspectives –meaning (content) and form (syntax, grammar etc.). Children can discuss and develop the ideas for what they will write about in a natural signed language (e.g., ASL. BSL). This can be helpful in the planning stage of writing. But when it comes to writing down these ideas, children need to have control of English as well. If they are generating ideas in a natural sign language, they will need to translate these ideas into English before they write them down. This can be very challenging and there is evidence of interference from the L1 (e.g., ASL) to the L2 (e.g., English). This can make it look like “sign language written down.”
Suggestions for further reading:
Mayer, C. (2010). The demands of writing and the deaf writer. In M. Marschark & P. Spencer (Eds.), Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education: Volume 2 (pp. 144-155). New York: Oxford University Press.
Mayer, C. (1999). Shaping at the point of utterance: An investigation of the composing processes of the deaf student writer. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 4, 37- 49.
Singleton, J.L., Morgan, D., DiGello, E., Wiles, J. & Rivers, R. (2004). Vocabulary use by low, moderate and high ASL-proficient writers compared to hearing ESL and monolingual speakers. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 9, 86-103.