Interpreter Services

Students who are deaf/hard of hearing are assigned a note taker and ASL interpreters or a Communication Acess Realtime Translation Provider (CART). In most cases students needing this service are assigned interpreter support prior to the first week of school and instructors are most often notified before classes begin.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students

There are three terms that we have all heard and sometimes confuse.

• The generic term Hearing Impairment is a word used to describe all types of hearing deficits, ranging from a mild loss of hearing to profound deafness. (Most Deaf/Hard of Hearing  people would prefer not to be called Hearing Impaired.)
• The term Hard of Hearing describes a condition where hearing is compromised to varying degrees and often a hearing aid can enhance the person's understanding of speech.
• Deaf/Deafness is a condition in which perceivable sounds are effectively inaudible and have no meaning for ordinary life purposes. If hearing aids are used, they may enhance awareness of vibrations but not common speech.

Primary Mode of Communiction

Some factors that will determine the mode of communication utilized by the deaf/hard of hearing student include:

• degree of hearing loss
• and the nature of prior education the student has received.

Some students are skilled speech-readers and some have good oral skills. Many deaf students will communicate through American Sign Language (ASL).

DSPS provides ASL interpreters for these students for classroom activities and communication. Note takers are often provided for the student in class. Deaf/hard of hearing students who do not use ASL may utilize a Communication Access Realtime Translation Provider (CART) in class to provide them with a transcript of the classroom lecture.

English Competency

Deaf/hard of hearing students vary in their competence in the English language. If one is born without hearing, or loses usable hearing prior to learning an oral language, there is no opportunity to acquire language as others do.

For many deaf people, English is a second language and is actually taught as a second language. Remember that many deaf students are dealing with two different languages, English and ASL.

These languages are not based on the same grammatical structure. When working with deaf/hard of hearing students, it is important to be aware that they may need extra assistance to improve their written English language skills.