Do You Hear What I Hear?
Well? Do you? Do you hear what I hear right now?
Well, if you do, it’s the sound of progress
…..slowly
….slowing
….down.
Well, not completely. But there is still a lot of work to do. Within the hearing community to help the Deaf community, that is. As future teachers, it is important that we learn as much as we can about the different types of students we will encounter in our classrooms. So much time is put into discussing ADD, ADHD, learning disorders, cognitive impairments and second language learners but much less frequently talked about are the physically impaired students. Granted, I use this term lightly since I don’t personally believe in using the word ‘impaired’, but, for the sake of argument, I shall use it in this post.
One of the most important aspects of having a hearing impaired student in a classroom is the connection between the student, teacher and interpreter (considering that they require one). Interpreters are a major part of the Deaf community, since they are used to bridge the gap between the hearing and Deaf worlds. Though, with over 10% of the US population being deaf or hard of hearing, it’s amazing that the number of certified interpreters is so low. The last numbers that I have been given (Fall of 2006) state that the state of Michigan is ranked #5 of the 50 states in having the number of deaf and/or hard of hearing individuals living there. So obviously, we have a very high percent of people in need of the interpreting services. However, when accounting for the number of interpreters around, Michigan comes up a meager #45! So what is this saying? That as a state (and this is true across the country, too) we have such a high demand for interpreters but severely lack the supply of them to satisfy the need.
“There is a shortage of sign language interpreters in Iowa and on the national level,” she said. And that means sometimes being asked to work a pretty heavy schedule – being on call for a hospital or police emergency in between regular. “Most of us are booked two to three weeks in advance,” she said.
It is always important to remember that our first job as teachers is to make sure our students are in an environment where they feel comfortable and safe to learn in. By making sure the students know that their teachers understands their potential difficulties and have clear communication with them through the interpreters, the student will feel more at ease in the classroom. Linda Marie Allington; an interpreter, post-secondary educator and ESL instructor, gave a presentation at the Salt Lake Community College on Dealing effectively with literacy and communication in college courses. The following is an exceprt from her presentation that I believe is true for any level of education.
First let’s talk about teaching, and we are going to talk first about the direct communication issues that affect all teachers dealing with deaf and hard of hearing students. Most of us are familiar with typical classroom accommodations, interpreters of various sorts. Sign language, oral, cued, realtime captioning, other print accommodations such as C-Print, notetaking , assertive listening devices which we are using right now where we improve the audio access, advantageous seating so the person has the best visual and caption media.
It’s important for faculty to understand that most students require both visual and auditory access and the print access accommodations and it’s appropriate for the facilities to provide both because the duty in the classroom is not only to participate in the ongoing dialogue but to record for future study what’s going on.
Outside of the classroom, you can see how interpreters and the Deaf community has become more evident and easily accessible. It is more and more common to see ASL interpreters at large events such as sporting events, concerts, theater performances and presentations. Watching the people standing there, waving their arms around, can sometimes be confusing or even seem easy to those who do not understand exactly what interpreting means. However, there are times it can be very amusing, even for those who do not fully understand what is going on. Keith Wann is a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults). He was born hearing to two Deaf parents, so his first language was not spoken English but ASL. Now, he is an interpreter and preformer who does comedy shows in ASL with the aid of a voice interpreter. What’s great about Keith’s performances is that it gives the hearing audience the experience of not understanding the comedy and relying on the interpreter to get the point across. The link below is to one of his shows called “When Two World Collide” which brings up some of the differences between hearing and Deaf culture. If you enjoyed this performance, I encourage you to laugh at some of his other skits on Youtube.com.
picketca said,
April 16, 2007 at 12:05 am
First of all, I’d like to say that I love the sign language pictures you add to each of your posts!
As I continue to work on my pedagogy project I’m continuing to keep in mind the section where we need to make sure to include what we would do to accommodate those learners who may need a little extra help, or attention. And this is where I’ve come for ideas, your blog! It has been very helpful and I thank you for that.
I didn’t realize there was such a need for interpreters (maybe if I had known coming right out of high school I would have considered pursuing that route in college!). This really worries me, as it does you.
I love when you said, “It is always important to remember that our first job as teachers is to make sure our students are in an environment where they feel comfortable and safe to learn in. By making sure the students know that their teachers understands their potential difficulties and have clear communication with them through the interpreters, the student will feel more at ease in the classroom.” I think that this sums up exactly why we need to include accommodations section in our lesson plans, this will happen in our careers and we need to be aware and ready to help these students any way we can.
-Cassie
canknight said,
April 16, 2007 at 4:26 am
Wow, I did not realize that Michigan had such a need for interpreters. Dealing with deaf or hearing impaired students is not something that I often think about and this post really made me examine how I felt about that type of situation. I have never had a deaf peer or even really dealt with a deaf person, so I will be the first to admit that I am naive on the subject and uninformed.
As a teacher we must be equipped to help all students and it is our job to make sure we are giving everyone in the room the best possible education. You make great points about what is necessary to accomplish this with deaf students. The teacher to student relationship and understanding is so important here.
Interestingly enough, I have a younger sister who was going to persue a career in sign language and she even worked with a deaf boy as career exploration in high school. Sadly, she is no longer focusing on this as a career. But, the reason is because only there are only a couple of universities in the state of Michigan that offer this as a degree. Many campuses do not have classes for it past the introductory level. Because she is a college athlete and it pays for school she has had to go to a school that does not offer the degree. I think it is a disservice of universities to not offer more in this area, especially if there is a need for it.
This was a very informative post. Thanks for sharing the info!
That's What I Said...My Comments « Intellectual Expression said,
April 17, 2007 at 5:12 am
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