Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Interpreter restored for deaf student - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA
A Peterborough mother struggling to get the local Catholic school board to assign a sign language interpreter to her five-year- old son had some success after a story ran inThe Examiner last month.
Jonah Van Spronsen started junior kindergarten with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter at St. Patrick's School in the city's southeast end in September.
The family privately hired the interpreter during the summer before the school year to help Jonah get comfortable with the person who would help him communicate with his teacher and other pupils.
In early February, Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic School Board pulled his interpreter and assigned an educational assistant who can sign to Jonah.
Jonah's mother, Jessika Van Spronsen, took his story toThe Examiner.
Van Spronsen said she met with school board officials again following the story in the newspaper and after about two weeks an interpreter was assigned to Jonah.
But it could be a temporary change.
The school board is bringing in someone from Newmarket to assess Jonah on April 7 to help determine whether he qualifies for an ASL interpreter, Van Spronsen said.
"He has gotten an interpreter however they need to do a speech assessment on him in order for him to retain the interpreter for the rest of his school time," she said. "No other child gets this kind of an assessment to see whether they can get an English language teacher teaching them."
Van Spronsen explains that her son has been deaf since he was born and that he has communicated with sign language since he was four months old.
Jonah has a rare genetic disorder called CHARGE that affects his hearing, speech, respiratory system and heart.
He's completely deaf in the left ear and he has limited hearing in the right ear that has improved to 65% hearing with a hearing aid on the right side, Van Spronsen said.
Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic School Board officials refuse to comment on the case, citing the confidentiality of information about students.
The school board uses an array of supports, such as interpreters, educational assistants, computers, teaching methods and technology, to help exceptional students based on the individual student's needs, superintendent of special education Dale Godin toldThe Examiner last month.
"There's not one single silver bullet that's going to fix the problem that blocks a child from learning. It's often a complex array of different things that we need to put into place," he said. "We have all kinds of sympathy for parents because they're trying their best to advocate for their child."
A student who is fluent in American Sign Language would be given an interpreter, Godin has said.
"In some cases, with very young students, we would say, who may not have been assessed yet, then it wouldn't be appropriate to assign an interpreter because we wouldn't know whether or not the student ... would have the level of signing that would make it necessary to have the interpreter," he has said.
Van Spronsen said she gave the school board letters from Jonah's physicians at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto stating that they've seen him using sign language and taking away the support of an interpreter would be detrimental to his development.
"I hate that this is going on with poor little Jonah," she said.
The about two weeks with an educational assistant instead of an interpreter hurt Jonah's development, Van Spronsen said.
"He resorted to baby signing. It was hideous. He came home not communicating at all in ASL. He was just communicating in signs that babies do," she said.
Jonah's story has spurred community members to send emails to the Canadian Hearing Society about the issue, Van Spronsen said.
"The deaf community has sent over 300 emails to the Canadian Hearing Society in support of Jonah and they were forwarded to the school board," she said.
The local Canadian Hearing Society brand referred media requests to the Toronto office for comment.
A Peterborough mother struggling to get the local Catholic school board to assign a sign language interpreter to her five-year- old son had some success after a story ran inThe Examiner last month.
Jonah Van Spronsen started junior kindergarten with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter at St. Patrick's School in the city's southeast end in September.
The family privately hired the interpreter during the summer before the school year to help Jonah get comfortable with the person who would help him communicate with his teacher and other pupils.
In early February, Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic School Board pulled his interpreter and assigned an educational assistant who can sign to Jonah.
Jonah's mother, Jessika Van Spronsen, took his story toThe Examiner.
Van Spronsen said she met with school board officials again following the story in the newspaper and after about two weeks an interpreter was assigned to Jonah.
But it could be a temporary change.
The school board is bringing in someone from Newmarket to assess Jonah on April 7 to help determine whether he qualifies for an ASL interpreter, Van Spronsen said.
"He has gotten an interpreter however they need to do a speech assessment on him in order for him to retain the interpreter for the rest of his school time," she said. "No other child gets this kind of an assessment to see whether they can get an English language teacher teaching them."
Van Spronsen explains that her son has been deaf since he was born and that he has communicated with sign language since he was four months old.
Jonah has a rare genetic disorder called CHARGE that affects his hearing, speech, respiratory system and heart.
He's completely deaf in the left ear and he has limited hearing in the right ear that has improved to 65% hearing with a hearing aid on the right side, Van Spronsen said.
Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic School Board officials refuse to comment on the case, citing the confidentiality of information about students.
The school board uses an array of supports, such as interpreters, educational assistants, computers, teaching methods and technology, to help exceptional students based on the individual student's needs, superintendent of special education Dale Godin toldThe Examiner last month.
"There's not one single silver bullet that's going to fix the problem that blocks a child from learning. It's often a complex array of different things that we need to put into place," he said. "We have all kinds of sympathy for parents because they're trying their best to advocate for their child."
A student who is fluent in American Sign Language would be given an interpreter, Godin has said.
"In some cases, with very young students, we would say, who may not have been assessed yet, then it wouldn't be appropriate to assign an interpreter because we wouldn't know whether or not the student ... would have the level of signing that would make it necessary to have the interpreter," he has said.
Van Spronsen said she gave the school board letters from Jonah's physicians at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto stating that they've seen him using sign language and taking away the support of an interpreter would be detrimental to his development.
"I hate that this is going on with poor little Jonah," she said.
The about two weeks with an educational assistant instead of an interpreter hurt Jonah's development, Van Spronsen said.
"He resorted to baby signing. It was hideous. He came home not communicating at all in ASL. He was just communicating in signs that babies do," she said.
Jonah's story has spurred community members to send emails to the Canadian Hearing Society about the issue, Van Spronsen said.
"The deaf community has sent over 300 emails to the Canadian Hearing Society in support of Jonah and they were forwarded to the school board," she said.
The local Canadian Hearing Society brand referred media requests to the Toronto office for comment.