Frustrated!!!

[Reba]

Just wanted to thank everyone again for your input...I haven't heard anything more about what is going to happen next, but I have put my concerns in writing and out to those who I believe can make the change.

Hopefully things will change...and soon!

I hope things go well for you and the student.

 

[chipmunkis]

Things like this is examples of why deaf schools are much much better....

I agree... I hate the way things get handled, and that the people with the power are not people who "get" it.

That is good to hear. It is good that the parents are not happy with the situation. Sounds like you have a lot of people on your side. Small town or large town the student deserves better. I hope the district does hire another interpreter. What about hiring a parent would that be an option? or at least a temporary solution, it has happened at my old high school before?

I suggested that this morning... I don't know if it will happen but it might be a better temporary option until they do get someone qualified.

 

[thumbelina]

It would make for a better temporary solution. The parents know their own child, even if they dont have any official training. I hope it all works out.

 

[Reba]

It would make for a better temporary solution. The parents know their own child, even if they dont have any official training. I hope it all works out.

Most of the hearing parents of Deaf students for whom I've interpreted do NOT sign.

 

[thumbelina]

Most of the hearing parents of Deaf students for whom I've interpreted do NOT sign.

That's interesting. I always thought parents would sign so that they could communicate with their deaf child. Then again i guess it depends on what the parents believe, I know even if i was not learning sign language know i would to be able to communicate with my child.

 

[Reba]

That's interesting. I always thought parents would sign so that they could communicate with their deaf child. Then again i guess it depends on what the parents believe, I know even if i was not learning sign language know i would to be able to communicate with my child.

I hate to burst your bubble but that's not the real world.

Very few parents can sign with their deaf children. In recent years more parents are learning but they are still rare.

Even the ones who do sign are rarely fluent. Very few siblings sign either.

It's heartbreaking.

If you want to know more about it, start a thread and ask the deaf members here how many of the hearing parents fluently signed with them as children.

 

[DDU]

no signs

I would suggest that if you do get stuck in that situation again is to not sign at all. Be a note taker. It would benifit the student a lot more. I had terps and notetakers in college and the notes were a lot better. Also you could make yourself a pain in the ass for the teacher, interrupt the teacher, tell the teacher to slow down or repeat the statement. Do it enuff and the teacher will ask for a real terp!!
Also, tell the kids parents to see a lawyer. Being nice to the school and writing a letter will not get a response. That is what lawyers do. In my 3 cases against 3 school districts 2 only required a lawyer to contact. Only one went to court and was settled in my favor

 

[thumbelina]

That is really sad. Although i guess i can see that, i am having that problem with my parents.

 

[Glenn]

I would suggest that if you do get stuck in that situation again is to not sign at all. Be a note taker. It would benifit the student a lot more. I had terps and notetakers in college and the notes were a lot better. Also you could make yourself a pain in the ass for the teacher, interrupt the teacher, tell the teacher to slow down or repeat the statement. Do it enuff and the teacher will ask for a real terp!!
Also, tell the kids parents to see a lawyer. Being nice to the school and writing a letter will not get a response. That is what lawyers do. In my 3 cases against 3 school districts 2 only required a lawyer to contact. Only one went to court and was settled in my favor

I don't think that is her role to be a note-taker.

Being a PITA is counterproductive at best. For one thing, it disrupts the learning environment of the entire class.

 

[Anij]

I hate to burst your bubble but that's not the real world.

Very few parents can sign with their deaf children. In recent years more parents are learning but they are still rare.

Even the ones who do sign are rarely fluent. Very few siblings sign either.

It's heartbreaking.

If you want to know more about it, start a thread and ask the deaf members here how many of the hearing parents fluently signed with them as children.

Totally agree.

My parents didn't sign with me at all - in fact only once I was an adult where they even willing to start learning ASL 101 ... neither of them actually use it with me on a regular basis ... they have decided that it's "easier" if I speak (they mean easier for them, not me).

It's very frustrating - not only because many parent's can't communicate with their children ("it's too much work", is a common line)... but also because in not understanding ASL, it means they often aren't able to understand why an interpreter is NEEDED in school for their child, not just "helpful" (compared to a "singing EA", who may only have taken ASL 101 and be functionally useless as any type of "interpreter"... and yes, this DOES happen, and parents/teachers think that it's a real "interpreter" ... then wonder why the child is falling behind etc ... )


certified interpreters should be mandatory/required in educational settings for Hoh/Deaf/SI students who use ASL (or SEE etc) .. .having someone who "knows sign" does NOT make them an interpreter ... and it's the student who suffers!!

 

[Anij]

chipmunkis - Thank you for being honest about your skill level and advocating for the needs and rights of this student.

I'd see if there is a freelace certified interpreter available in the area who can be booked, or CART (if not CART someone who can type fast and accurate on a traditional keyboard ... not AS good, but better than nothing ... ).

Worst case, those classes (without ASL interpreters, CART etc) should be video & audio recorded, so that they CAN be interpreted for the student to "catch them up" as needed ... at least then the classes are "on file" for the student ... whereas otherwise they'd be completely lost.

 

[chipmunkis]

Most of the hearing parents of Deaf students for whom I've interpreted do NOT sign.

This boys parents do, from what I understand, although they use more Signed English than ASL.

I would suggest that if you do get stuck in that situation again is to not sign at all. Be a note taker. It would benifit the student a lot more. I had terps and notetakers in college and the notes were a lot better. Also you could make yourself a pain in the ass for the teacher, interrupt the teacher, tell the teacher to slow down or repeat the statement. Do it enuff and the teacher will ask for a real terp!!
Also, tell the kids parents to see a lawyer. Being nice to the school and writing a letter will not get a response. That is what lawyers do. In my 3 cases against 3 school districts 2 only required a lawyer to contact. Only one went to court and was settled in my favor

I did mostly take notes out of necessity...as I told the student, I don't have the skill to interpret for him and, as he is pretty good at lip-reading, I felt that for him to focus on my less-than-ideal signing when i couldn't keep up to what was being taught would be less beneficial to him than getting what he could out of it by lip-reading, and he could check with me (at the slower pace that I am able to do) to make sure that he'd gotten the information he needed afterward.
I wouldn't feel that it was fair to anyone to be a PITA.

I don't think that is her role to be a note-taker.

Being a PITA is counterproductive at best. For one thing, it disrupts the learning environment of the entire class.

Since I was there I did feel it was most beneficial to him to have me taking notes, and making sure I had information I could accurately pass on to both him and his Interpreter when she returned from being ill.

I agree about the PITA.... I don't want to be in the position I was in that day, nor do i want the student to be in that position again, but I also do not think it is right- or beneficial to anyone including him- to be disruptive.

 

[chipmunkis]

chipmunkis - Thank you for being honest about your skill level and advocating for the needs and rights of this student.

I'd see if there is a freelace certified interpreter available in the area who can be booked, or CART (if not CART someone who can type fast and accurate on a traditional keyboard ... not AS good, but better than nothing ... ).

Worst case, those classes (without ASL interpreters, CART etc) should be video & audio recorded, so that they CAN be interpreted for the student to "catch them up" as needed ... at least then the classes are "on file" for the student ... whereas otherwise they'd be completely lost.

Thanks. Unfortunately, because we do live in a smaller town which is not close to a big city at all (2 1/2 hours to the nearest big city) there are not any freelance terps here...
I like the idea of videotaping, or at the least, audio taping the classes for him to review later with his interpreter... but I am hoping that the school district just gets on the ball and finds a way to resolve the problem the RIGHT way!

 

[chipmunkis]

*snipped for space*

certified interpreters should be mandatory/required in educational settings for Hoh/Deaf/SI students who use ASL (or SEE etc) .. .having someone who "knows sign" does NOT make them an interpreter ... and it's the student who suffers!!

I could not agree more!

 

[thumbelina]

Totally agree.

My parents didn't sign with me at all - in fact only once I was an adult where they even willing to start learning ASL 101 ... neither of them actually use it with me on a regular basis ... they have decided that it's "easier" if I speak (they mean easier for them, not me).

It's very frustrating - not only because many parent's can't communicate with their children ("it's too much work", is a common line)... but also because in not understanding ASL, it means they often aren't able to understand why an interpreter is NEEDED in school for their child, not just "helpful" (compared to a "singing EA", who may only have taken ASL 101 and be functionally useless as any type of "interpreter"... and yes, this DOES happen, and parents/teachers think that it's a real "interpreter" ... then wonder why the child is falling behind etc ... )


certified interpreters should be mandatory/required in educational settings for Hoh/Deaf/SI students who use ASL (or SEE etc) .. .having someone who "knows sign" does NOT make them an interpreter ... and it's the student who suffers!!

Its sad that parents don't learn sign language. Being able to not communicate with people at home is the worst. I am very fortunate to be at a school where many people know sign language. I have noticed though when i go home I cant communicate which becomes very frustrating. i cant imagine growing up my whole life not being able to communicate with my family. I have only had to deal with it for a month now. Luckily i am at the age where i can just leave home forever and would never have to deal with it if i do not want to.

Interpreters need to have the skills of who they are interpreting for. I agree just knowing sign language would not make someone an interpreter. Students should not have to suffer because of the lack of skill on the interpreters part. Interpreters are to help a student, not bring them down because of lack of skills.

 

[DDU]

terp as a PITA

A good terp will out of necessity be a PITA when necessary. It is the terps duty to make sure that the teacher is aware of the terps tole as a co-educator in the classroom. That means to be assertive. Since the school expects you to be a terp you can use the authority of a terp as well.
Disruptive ?? I think not. Who suffers? The hearing students? Then what about the deaf student? Should he shuffle to the back of the class and be a good deafie?

 

[chipmunkis]

A good terp will out of necessity be a PITA when necessary. It is the terps duty to make sure that the teacher is aware of the terps tole as a co-educator in the classroom. That means to be assertive. Since the school expects you to be a terp you can use the authority of a terp as well.
Disruptive ?? I think not. Who suffers? The hearing students? Then what about the deaf student? Should he shuffle to the back of the class and be a good deafie?

My comment has NOTHING to to with concern for the hearing students! I think I have been pretty clear that I am upset that the DEAF STUDENT did NOT have the services HE should have had.

If asking the teacher to repeat or to slow down would have made me know the language to use, I would have..it wouldn't have mattered to me that the hearing students or the teacher were having to wait while I got things clarified. But it wouldn't have changed anything in terms of what was going on that day, because I would not have known how to sign the scientific terms etc. any more, no matter how much time I had or how often it was repeated to me.

I think that the Deaf student would have suffered more for me interrupting and making an issue of something that i could not change at that time, than he did by me doing my best to take as many notes as possible...I am angry and upset for him that he was expected to settle for me that day instead of having a terp, and I wanted to at least provide something useful for him to leave with.

Was I wrong for thinking this way? Perhaps...I don't know. But it has nothing at all to do with being more concerned about the hearing kids or the teacher than about the Deaf kid.

 

[Glenn]

...certified interpreters should be mandatory/required in educational settings for Hoh/Deaf/SI students who use ASL (or SEE etc) .. .having someone who "knows sign" does NOT make them an interpreter ... and it's the student who suffers!!

Agreed 100%, but unfortunately, in my experience this is not as common as one would hope.

Certified terps command a certain level of pay. Administrators are under pressure to cut costs. Ergo, there can be a conflict between the two.

It all comes down to what kind of education administrators are willing to provide for students. Sometimes they are willing to do what it takes and other times they can be pretty horrible about providing adequate accommodations. I know this from experience.

 

[DDU]

call to duty

My comment has NOTHING to to with concern for the hearing students! I think I have been pretty clear that I am upset that the DEAF STUDENT did NOT have the services HE should have had.

If asking the teacher to repeat or to slow down would have made me know the language to use, I would have..it wouldn't have mattered to me that the hearing students or the teacher were having to wait while I got things clarified. But it wouldn't have changed anything in terms of what was going on that day, because I would not have known how to sign the scientific terms etc. any more, no matter how much time I had or how often it was repeated to me.

I think that the Deaf student would have suffered more for me interrupting and making an issue of something that i could not change at that time, than he did by me doing my best to take as many notes as possible...I am angry and upset for him that he was expected to settle for me that day instead of having a terp, and I wanted to at least provide something useful for him to leave with.

Was I wrong for thinking this way? Perhaps...I don't know. But it has nothing at all to do with being more concerned about the hearing kids or the teacher than about the Deaf kid.

your original posting asked for suggestions as to what you can do. going "technical" and being a PITA is one stratagem. talking to the teacher before and after the class to explain your situation is another. getting what is required by law will get people hating you. i have been there, been vilified in newspaper editorials and news radio. fun ? no. but the law is clear. school administration will delay and ignore to their advantage. after all the kid is out the door before most people will approach a lawyer.

 

[chipmunkis]

Agreed 100%, but unfortunately, in my experience this is not as common as one would hope.

Certified terps command a certain level of pay. Administrators are under pressure to cut costs. Ergo, there can be a conflict between the two.

It all comes down to what kind of education administrators are willing to provide for students. Sometimes they are willing to do what it takes and other times they can be pretty horrible about providing adequate accommodations. I know this from experience.

I just found out yesterday that here, terps get the exact same rate of pay as other "staff"...somehow they got all put under the same umbrella years ago when our Union was drawing up the contracts, and they still are. Personally I think it's appalling but unless the interpreters all band together to fight for that to be changed, it'll stay the same. I think that is why we, being located where we are, have a hard time getting and keeping terps... they are not willing to move up here, and get paid shitty wages for a job that they can make more at in other places.

your original posting asked for suggestions as to what you can do. going "technical" and being a PITA is one stratagem. talking to the teacher before and after the class to explain your situation is another. getting what is required by law will get people hating you. i have been there, been vilified in newspaper editorials and news radio. fun ? no. but the law is clear. school administration will delay and ignore to their advantage. after all the kid is out the door before most people will approach a lawyer.

I do understand your point about being a PITA, and I hope you understand, after reading my previous response, why I am not ok with that strategy. I just wanted to clarify that my reason had nothing to do with trying to keep things nice and pleasant for the hearing kids...it's not about them at all, it really isn't, and I was hurt by the suggestion that I was more concerned about them than about the kid I was there for.