State Leaders Summit : Making a Commitment to Systems Change in Deaf Education
May 7, 8 & 9, 2007, Columbia , MD
Session Date and Time: May 8, 2007,
Name of Facilitator/Presenter Janne H
Sharing national resources, learning about other resources, and where are the gaps in resources?
Solutions/Strategies; Commitments of Participants; Improvement Suggestions, Key Points of Discussion:
- Decision Maker for high school could also be used in middle school- helps kids make decisions.
- What are some of the needs in the areas of family involvement? Interest in a one-stop shop
- Starting a project to find out what is out there and create links to it and then see where there may be gaps and start to fill in
- One area to look at is brain research- to see what babies need for language development
- Parent support networks- eg. Parent to parent, guide by your side ( Michigan), is there some way to coordinate some of these networks?
- Products with be web based initially and then print resources will be made available to families who do not have web access.
- Parents really want all the information so they can make well informed decisions but it has to be synthesized that parents can access easily to make decisions.
- Some needs are around networking and sharing information to help folks find what they are looking for easily without having to search for hours.
- Need more from research being done on instructional practices for our kids- as parents advocates and professionals- demand has to come from the top and bottom to the Dept.
- OSEP folks here said tell us what you want- since research has been moved, list of participants in packet and email addresses are included so you can contact folks.
- Networking need to increase awareness of DHH educational research funding that meets the NCLB standard. Opportunities to learn about more grant opportunities- is there a place to go to learn more about these opportunities?
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
GALLAUDET resources at www.clerccenter.gallaudet.edu
- Web sites of all the state deaf schools and departments- send out to attendees, would be great.
HANDS & VOICES http://Handsandvoices.org (with chapters and/or start up groups in over 35 states)
1) Guide By Your Side
This Hands & Voices program embodies direct parent to parent support, and deaf/hard of hearing adults as mentors covering birth to 3 or any age thru at transition from high school to post secondary. It is currently implemented in Michigan , Wisconsin , Iowa , Colorado , Virginia and Minnesota .
2) Communication Considerations
Soon to be available on the web site, a unique way to share information with families and professionals the H&V way (unbiased & equitably presented). From an alphabetical list of diverse communication considerations like acoustical adaptations, social cognition, modality & methodology options, educational advocacy, Deaf cultural, cochlear implants, etc.recognized experts in the field are asked to respond to four questions on each topic. The final question is where to go for additional information on the web/books etc.
DEAF OLYMPICS (February 2007)- history, timeline information on the web site (what website?). Important event for deaf kids to see and track.
EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETERS: CD/DVD for general education teachers- what to know about having a deaf child in the classroom and how to work with interpreters?- NTID has a green apple series- has to do with interpreting specifically. Also has one for administrators. Also does Pepnet have some resources? NTID program has a handbook with it as well. Also recommended: www.classroominterpreting.org
. TX- state test includes English competency, new test rolling out in January. Summer institutes will be held, one week in each educational service center area for interpreters to move to the next level (40 hour week of interpreter training). Parents are coming more and more to interpreter training program.
. National program for training ASL and signing English interpreters- for working with school age kids. Online programs so can be accessed from anywhere in the world. One program is an updated training program for those already in the field who need more skills. The other is a BA program where one area is educational interpreting. www.unco.edu/doit
Programs and resources are listed. University of Northern Colorado .
DEAF/HARD OF HEARING POLICY GUIDANCE UPDATE
. NASDSE offering a training team to do on-site train-the-trainer sessions
. Hands & Voices also created "A is for Access: Creating & Implementing Full and Effective Access for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing" that NASDSE will use for their training. This DVD is also available for general purchase at www.handsandvoices.org (visa/MC accepted)
SPANISH SPEAKING FAMILIES Resources for Spanish speaking families- resources not necessarily focused on sign language- not being satisfied with what you have at the moment, rights. Latino group having a meeting in TX at some point. Someone here from TX may know more. Latino Council- not sure if it is focused for deaf/hard of hearing kids/parents or adults?
TX is developing a tri-lingual certification- tri-lingual interpreting is an issue on the border states .
JOIN-TOGETHER GRANT
. www.deafed.net offers pre-service & in-service teacher training and support with Master Teacher's program, mentoring, technology applications and more.