This section of the web site provides strategies for dealing with the variety of challenges you may face in the “support services” area when deaf and hard-of-hearing students take your course.

Your campus may provide a variety of support services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in your class. For example there may be:

• An individual or an office on campus that coordinates support services.

• Sign language interpreters.

• Tutors who are knowledgeable in your content area and in sign language.

• Notetakers who free deaf students from taking notes in order to allow the deaf students to watch the interpreter on a continuous basis.

• Captionists who work with live captioning systems.

• Environmental classroom systems – loop systems – that require that you wear a microphone to enhance sound quality for students in your class who are wearing hearing aids.

As you work with support service providers it is important to acknowledge that deaf and hard-of-hearing students have needs that are different from those of the hearing students in your course. If it is your first time working with deaf and hard-of-hearing students and support providers like interpreters or captionists, it is important to be open to the experience. As the professor you are responsible for setting a positive tone regarding your classroom setting, all students, and support providers.

Finding Material

We’ve organized the material in this web site into short, readable sections with names like “Interpreting,” “Live Captioning,” “Tutoring/Office Hours,” and “Notetaking.” As you seek information about challenges you face centering on deaf and hard-of-hearing students look for words in the four columns above that match your particular situation.

Think of the topics above like a large collection of suggestions that can help you in the teaching/learning process with your deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Under each topic you’ll find material organized into challenges and accompanying strategies. You’ll also find links to related topics in the collection, as well as occasional video segments that help to clarify the issue.

In addition there are occasional handouts. These are provided for your use, and are provided in a format that will allow you to open those files, modify them as needed, and they distribute them to your students. For example there is a handout with communication interaction rules for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students when working together in groups.

Feedback

We’re always interested in knowing what you think. If you don’t find a topic that relates to the issue you face, or if the material is not helpful (or even if it is), please click the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the page and send us email – we’ll help if we can.