Educational Interpreters and Access to Education for Deaf and HOH Students

R

rockdrummer

Guest
Link to full article:
Look Who's Being Left Behind: Educational Interpreters and Access to Education for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students -- Schick et al. 11 (1): 3 -- The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Empirical Articles


Look Who's Being Left Behind: Educational Interpreters and Access to Education for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students
Brenda Schick
University of Colorado at Boulder

Kevin Williams

Boys Town National Research Hospital

Haggai Kupermintz

University of Haifa

For many deaf and hard-of-hearing students, access to the general education curriculum is provided, in part, by using the services of an educational interpreter. Even with a highly qualified interpreter, full access to the content and social life in a hearing classroom can be challenging, and there are many aspects of the educational placement that can affect success. The skills and knowledge of the educational interpreter are one critical aspect. This study reports results from a study of approximately 2,100 educational interpreters from across the United States. All the interpreters were evaluated using the Educational Interpreters Performance Assessment (EIPA), an evaluation instrument used to assess and certify classroom interpreters (see Schick, Williams, & Bolster, 1999). The results show that approximately 60% of the interpreters evaluated had inadequate skills to provide full access. In addition, educational interpreters who had completed an Interpreter Training Program had EIPA scores only .5 of an EIPA level above those who had not, on average. Demographic data and its relationship with EIPA ratings are explored. In general, the study suggests that many deaf and hard-of-hearing students receive interpreting services that will seriously hinder reasonable access to the classroom curriculum and social interaction.

1 Interpreting generally refers to the cross-rendering of two languages, such as English and ASL. Transliteration refers to a form of signing that represents the spoken language directly, such as using English grammatical structures and vocabulary. However, English transliteration borrows heavily from ASL, especially in those elements that are not lexical, such as prosody, nonmanual adverbial and clausal markers, and the use of spatial mapping for discourse and cohesion.

2 The RID is a professional organization in the United States that certifies interpreters who work with adults. See RID -.

3 There is no full compilation of state standards for educational interpreters, and it is difficult to summarize requirements succinctly. Using state-specific data provided by L. Johnson (personal communication, April 30, 2005) and supplemented with other sources, we know the following (although this is probably not completely correct). Twenty-five states require some type of national test for educational interpreters (RID, EIPA, or NAD). Of these, 12 allow only the EIPA, 2 allow only RID, 2 allow RID or NAD, and 9 require either the EIPA, RID, or NAD. Eight states require some national assessment or a state-managed quality assurance program.

4 The NAD no longer administers their evaluation tool, but is developing, with RID, a new set of certification tools for community interpreters.

5 In many states, such as Colorado, requirements include standards on content knowledge, continuing education, and/or university degrees in addition to performance standards.

6 PSE, as it is intended in the EIPA, is a form of nativized English, used by members of the Deaf community. We do not refer to the type of English signing that hearing people produce because they are not yet fluent signers. We consider PSE to be rule governed, complex, and capable of representing a hybridization of English and ASL. PSE has also been described as a contact language (Lucas & Valli, 1989). See Davis (2005) and Kuntze (1990) for interesting discussions about nativized English signing.

7 MCE is the form of English signing that was developed specifically to teach deaf students English in a more accessible form. It follows the syntax and semantics of spoken English, although it borrows aspects of ASL, such as prosody, adverbial and clausal nonmanual morphology, and some spatial mapping. Interpreters do not have to follow a specific MCE system perfectly and, as with ASL and PSE interpreters, how well the message is conveyed is important, not just the ability to represent classroom communication using MCE signs.

8 Contact information for the EIPA Diagnostic Center: Boys Town National Research Hospital, 555 North 30th Street, Omaha, NE 68131, 402 452-5033 or e-mail: eipa@boystown.org.

9 The first assessment did not use official EIPA videotapes, but the ratings were conducted by the EIPA Diagnostic Center. The second assessment followed all current EIPA procedures.

10 Some school districts have adopted a rule that the student must have language skills within 1.5–2 standard deviations of his hearing peers in order to be placed in a full-time interpreted-education setting. Note that this is the same criterion used to qualify students as having special needs in the domains of language development, speech, and many other areas.

Correspondence should be sent to Brenda Schick, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 2501 Kittredge Loop Road, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0409 (e-mail: Brenda.Schick@colorado.edu).

Received May 2, 2005; revised August 28, 2005; accepted August 30, 2005
Click to expand...
 
It's a couple years behind the times. The RID/NAD certification test has been up and running for a while now.

Also, what means this? (My emphasis on the following statement.)

"2 The RID is a professional organization in the United States that certifies interpreters who work with adults."

Certified interpreters work with children also. Many public elementary schools now require certified terps, which means that they are working with young children.
 
Reba said:
It's a couple years behind the times. The RID/NAD certification test has been up and running for a while now.

Also, what means this? (My emphasis on the following statement.)

"2 The RID is a professional organization in the United States that certifies interpreters who work with adults."

Certified interpreters work with children also. Many public elementary schools now require certified terps, which means that they are working with young children.
Click to expand...
Perhaps they only worked with adults at the time the article was written or perhaps it's just incorrect.

Correspondence should be sent to Brenda Schick, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 2501 Kittredge Loop Road, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0409 (e-mail: Brenda.Schick@colorado.edu).
Click to expand...

I was kind of shocked at the 60 percent number and hope it's not that bad anymore. I have however witnissed some of the terps they use for my son not really engaging him. I'm sure it's like any field where there are good and bad. And I am not trying to disrespect interpreters. I commend them for their jobs especially to the ones that get it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
rockdrummer said:
I was kind of shocked at the 60 percent number and hope it's not that bad anymore....
Click to expand...
I haven't seen them all (of course) but I do know that in my state there are many who could stand improvement, and sadly, they aren't seeking it.

Let me put it one way. I attend most of the local Silent Dinners, regional interpreter workshops, and state-wide interpreter conferences. I very rarely see any of the local K-12 interpreters at these events. There are some career educational terps whom I have never seen at any events.

There are some wonderful school terps but not enough of them to go around.
 
I have to get blunt here.

I grew up with high diversity of interpreters from tiny knowledge of ASL/SEE and deaf culture to high quality as RID Certified interpreters. When I was young and I had no clue that I have the rights to make the decision on interpreters not school board or disability directer until my sophomore year in high school. After I learned that I have the rights to deal with the interpreters. I fired three interpreters in high school just in one year because of their ethical issues (e.i. attitude problem, didn't interpret everything, and arrived late all the time) I got really fed up with lack of ASL skilled interpreters in my old hometown (northwest of Los Angeles metro area) and had to be patient with some trashy interpreters. I moved to Oregon and went to school board and asked them to hire two RID certified interpreters for my senior year. They said okay they will find them. I haven't hear from them until my first day as senior year in different high school. I walked in my first class and saw two women sitting there and I asked them if they're the interpreters. They signed so fast in ASL. They're also RID certified interpreters. I was like whoa impressive! I was really happy to have them as my interpreters for my senior year. I must admit that they're two of best interpreters ever I had in my lifetime. I enrolled at Western Oregon University and they had many skilled ASL interpreters. Not all of them are RID certified interpreters. I have seen many interpreters are very talent in ASL and have the knowledge of deaf culture. Unfortunately, I had to fire a several interpreters in Western Oregon University and Art Institute of Seattle because of ethical issues. Since I have many experiences with high diversity of interpreters and I wish I knew about this right that we, deaf people have when I was really young when I had big problems with a several interpreters in middle school so I could get rid of them and able to focus on my education better than dealing with the drama with them.

I do have some issues with some RID certified interpreters. I met some of them who happens to have HUGE EGO that they are so good at ASL and have the knowledge of deaf culture which they are really not that good at all. Sometime I wonder how did they got certified at the first place? Not every RID certified interpreters are skilled in ASL or have the knowledge of deaf culture. About one third of RID certified interpreters that I met have attitude problems which made them look not very professional and lowlife people. I know many RID certified interpreters are very selfish when it comes to money. For example, they refused to work with deaf children at K-12 schools because of low salary wage. Many of them ignored Deaf people's needs by join VRS because of better salary and benefits. Hello! We, deaf people need them too! One thing I hate most about some RID certified interpreters that they are seen like they're unable to work together as team since they are jealous of each other by their skills and popularity that made them enemies. That caused so many problems for me at my classes which is why I had to got rid of them.

I have more respects for interpreters who are not certified because they work so hard to make sure Deaf people like me to understand them and get the informations what we need to know. They got more ASL talent and knowledge of deaf cultures than compared to most of RID certified interpreters that I met. Also these interpreters who are not certified that I know work with deaf people much longer than RID certified interpreters that I know do. These not certified interpreters always willing to interpret for me than some RID certified interpreters would.

One of these days, I plan to hire a several full time interpreters to work with me for my future company. I will not give a damn if they're certified or not as long as they got excellent ASL skill and have the knowledge of deaf culture. They must be professional all the time no matter what period. I plan to do the same thing for my deaf children if I have them and I expect them to have better interpreters than I had when I was young.
 
Thanks for sharing that MetroGuy. It really gives folks something to think about. Seems that RID certification criteria doesn't require knowledge of deaf culture and proficency in ASL or perhaps they are cheating on the tests. :dunno:. Your story just goes to show that in the field of terps you have the same problems that occur in many fields. Even in my field of technical support we see similar problems. There are people in the field that are not truly interested in helping others or are simply not qualified. It's always a crap shoot when I make calls to a help desk. The quality of service depends on the quality of the person that picks up the phone. Some are helpful and some are useless.
 
I sadly have toconcede that I have seen many less than adequate interpreters at the k-12 level. Many school districts will hire non-certified interpreters, as well, and I have seen some with woefully limited skills. That is another reason that I am supportive of the deaf schools, where communication is not facilitated with interpreters. Communication dyadic, between teacher and students. In the case of the deaf instructors, students are taught with native fluency. In the case of the hearing instructors, while oftentimes the syntax is more PSE, the signing is still fluent.
To my way of theinking,this provides a huge advantage, both in the classroom and out. Not only is the student exposed to more fluent language models, but their attention and focus are not so divided in a classroom situation.
 
jillio said:
I sadly have toconcede that I have seen many less than adequate interpreters at the k-12 level. Many school districts will hire non-certified interpreters, as well, and I have seen some with woefully limited skills. That is another reason that I am supportive of the deaf schools, where communication is not facilitated with interpreters. Communication dyadic, between teacher and students. In the case of the deaf instructors, students are taught with native fluency. In the case of the hearing instructors, while oftentimes the syntax is more PSE, the signing is still fluent.
To my way of theinking,this provides a huge advantage, both in the classroom and out. Not only is the student exposed to more fluent language models, but their attention and focus are not so divided in a classroom situation.
Click to expand...

i have seen many of that occuring every day.. i know one interpreter and she is not fully certifited yet she work in public school ? and another one is a nurse and she is also not fully certified interpter but yet shes called to interpret for deaf students. i think it need to be changed..
 
Why is it that it appears that interpreters in some school district locales don't have to be certified? And how wide-spread is this?
 
Tousi said:
Why is it that it appears that interpreters in some school district locales don't have to be certified? And how wide-spread is this?
Click to expand...
And what should the parents of a deaf child attending those schools do to assist in fixing the problem. Is it as simple as demanding a certified terp that is actually qualified? Do these deaf students have rights that can be enforced?
 
jillio said:
I sadly have toconcede that I have seen many less than adequate interpreters at the k-12 level. Many school districts will hire non-certified interpreters, as well, and I have seen some with woefully limited skills. That is another reason that I am supportive of the deaf schools, where communication is not facilitated with interpreters. Communication dyadic, between teacher and students. In the case of the deaf instructors, students are taught with native fluency. In the case of the hearing instructors, while oftentimes the syntax is more PSE, the signing is still fluent.
To my way of theinking,this provides a huge advantage, both in the classroom and out. Not only is the student exposed to more fluent language models, but their attention and focus are not so divided in a classroom situation.
Click to expand...
I would agree that not having to interpret would be advantageous.
 
rockdrummer said:
And what should the parents of a deaf child attending those schools do to assist in fixing the problem. Is it as simple as demanding a certified terp that is actually qualified? Do these deaf students have rights that can be enforced?
Click to expand...

I have seen that in that public school where I worked as an aide. Too often the parents and the administrators have no knowledge of ASL so they see someone who knows a few signs and think that that person is fluent in ASL. The terps for that program were not the best and they tended to cross the line sometimes. At the time I didnt have the training in deaf education and the ethical standards so I didnt know what was right or wrong but with what I know now, looking back there were so many ethics being broken big time. GRRRR!
 
shel90 said:
I have seen that in that public school where I worked as an aide. Too often the parents and the administrators have no knowledge of ASL so they see someone who knows a few signs and think that that person is fluent in ASL. The terps for that program were not the best and they tended to cross the line sometimes. At the time I didnt have the training in deaf education and the ethical standards so I didnt know what was right or wrong but with what I know now, looking back there were so many ethics being broken big time. GRRRR!
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!!!! That is big issue right now with many school districts that I know of. It is not just for interpreters... They are doing the same thing to hire teachers for the Deaf in public schools. I met three teachers that teach deaf children aren't fluent in ASL or SEE. I was shocked that they hired them and they are seen like they struggled to understand what deaf students said or asked. They struggled to understand what I said to them. These people who hired them need to be educated. If these people don't know ASL, they can ask deaf people like us for second or third opinions before they go ahead hire them. Too bad it won't happen unless if deaf students or their parents complains. Some school district boards would ignore them unless they threaten them with lawsuits. Lawsuit is only way to force school district to get their acts together.
 
shel90 said:
I have seen that in that public school where I worked as an aide. Too often the parents and the administrators have no knowledge of ASL so they see someone who knows a few signs and think that that person is fluent in ASL. The terps for that program were not the best and they tended to cross the line sometimes. At the time I didnt have the training in deaf education and the ethical standards so I didnt know what was right or wrong but with what I know now, looking back there were so many ethics being broken big time. GRRRR!
Click to expand...

What about your (where you work) current school? Does it employ classroom interpreters?
 
Tousi said:
What about your (where you work) current school? Does it employ classroom interpreters?
Click to expand...

Nope cuz everyone signs. We only use terps for staff meetings or workshops. :)
 
MetroGuy03 said:
EXACTLY!!!!! That is big issue right now with many school districts that I know of. It is not just for interpreters... They are doing the same thing to hire teachers for the Deaf in public schools. I met three teachers that teach deaf children aren't fluent in ASL or SEE. I was shocked that they hired them and they are seen like they struggled to understand what deaf students said or asked. They struggled to understand what I said to them. These people who hired them need to be educated. If these people don't know ASL, they can ask deaf people like us for second or third opinions before they go ahead hire them. Too bad it won't happen unless if deaf students or their parents complains. Some school district boards would ignore them unless they threaten them with lawsuits. Lawsuit is only way to force school district to get their acts together.
Click to expand...

That was why I went back to school for my Master's in Deaf ed, not special ed cuz I needed to learn a lot about Deaf ed. My BA degree in Special Ed only touched deaf education and deafness in one lecture out of the whole program! So people who only have degrees in Special Ed usually dont have the intensive training in Deaf Ed cuz it is a whole another ball game cuz of the language issues.
 
shel90 said:
That was why I went back to school for my Master's in Deaf ed, not special ed cuz I needed to learn a lot about Deaf ed. My BA degree in Special Ed only touched deaf education and deafness in one lecture out of the whole program! So people who only have degrees in Special Ed usually dont have the intensive training in Deaf Ed cuz it is a whole another ball game cuz of the language issues.
Click to expand...

I am aware of the difference between special education and Deaf education.
 
MetroGuy03 said:
I am aware of the difference between special education and Deaf education.
Click to expand...

That's good cuz many people arent. I wasnt before I went to grad school but I knew there seemed a lot that I needed to learn.

Anyways, back to the topic..with adults who get lousy terps, adults usually can figure out what's being said but children dont have that skill yet so it is critical that the terps are providing the message clearly and correctly.
 
shel90 said:
That's good cuz many people arent. I wasnt before I went to grad school but I knew there seemed a lot that I needed to learn.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I didn't know the difference between special education and Deaf education until I went to Western Oregon University that have both programs for that. They explained me the differences. Now I know.

shel90 said:
Anyways, back to the topic..with adults who get lousy terps, adults usually can figure out what's being said but children dont have that skill yet so it is critical that the terps are providing the message clearly and correctly.
Click to expand...

Very true. Only way to get better interpreters if deaf children's parents get involved and fight for their deaf children's better education. I know many deaf children possibly will not like it if their parents join them in their classrooms to watch interpreters to make sure they're good or doing their jobs. That will worth it and make big difference for sure. That is too bad not many parents of deaf children are not involved in their lives. If they do, they could make huge differences for deaf children and their futures.
 
Tousi said:
Why is it that it appears that interpreters in some school district locales don't have to be certified? And how wide-spread is this?
Click to expand...

Actually, they are all supposed to be certified according to federal law. But unless a complaint is filed with the DOJ, the school system is not forced into compliance with the law. Parents need to learn to demand nothing less than a certified interpreter.
 
Back
Top