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Southern county schools have severe shortage of sign language interpreters » Today's Front Page » The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia
Hearing impaired children in West Virginia are at a distinct educational disadvantage because of a dearth of sign language interpreters in public schools, a legislative panel was told Tuesday.
There are 400 deaf children in classes across the state, but only between 70 and 75 interpreters, Marissa Sanders, executive director of the West Virginia Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, told Education Subcommittee C.
The need for interpreters is especially keen in rural parts of the state, she said.
And this leads to a difficulty in ensuring such children a quality education, she said.
“Finding qualified interpreters and finding interpreters is always a challenge, especially in rural areas,” Sanders said.
In fact, there are “very few” such instructors in southern counties.
“The only county I know of that has them now is Mercer,” she said.
“I know that it’s a challenge. There is more likely to be an adequate number in urban areas.”
Sanders learned the alphabet via a sign language specialist as a first grader, then studied this for six years.
Which is why she terms the art as “its own language.”
“Many people just think it’s just English in sign form,” she said.
“But it’s its own language with its own syntax. It really is like learning a foreign language.”
Among goals of her agency for the 2012 legislative session is to offer sign language as a foreign language, offering credits at the college level.
Sanders also plugged a “bill of rights” for such students, the idea being to put them on equal footing for those with normal hearing.
“The bill of rights would hopefully improve the access to communication and education and services,” she said.
This would be fashioned after the one developed in 2005 by the National Association of the Deaf.
Sanders also wants legislators to consider reclassifying interpreters as “other professional employees.”
In a power-point presentation, she noted that school nurses and interpreters may have earned bachelor degrees and have seven years of experience.
But there’s a disparity in pay — the nurse earns $33,950, while the interpreter pockets less than $25,000.
Sanders also asked the committee members to consider improved access to substitute interpreters and to technology, including the use of video phones for deaf students, or those with hearing impaired parents.
Hearing impaired children in West Virginia are at a distinct educational disadvantage because of a dearth of sign language interpreters in public schools, a legislative panel was told Tuesday.
There are 400 deaf children in classes across the state, but only between 70 and 75 interpreters, Marissa Sanders, executive director of the West Virginia Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, told Education Subcommittee C.
The need for interpreters is especially keen in rural parts of the state, she said.
And this leads to a difficulty in ensuring such children a quality education, she said.
“Finding qualified interpreters and finding interpreters is always a challenge, especially in rural areas,” Sanders said.
In fact, there are “very few” such instructors in southern counties.
“The only county I know of that has them now is Mercer,” she said.
“I know that it’s a challenge. There is more likely to be an adequate number in urban areas.”
Sanders learned the alphabet via a sign language specialist as a first grader, then studied this for six years.
Which is why she terms the art as “its own language.”
“Many people just think it’s just English in sign form,” she said.
“But it’s its own language with its own syntax. It really is like learning a foreign language.”
Among goals of her agency for the 2012 legislative session is to offer sign language as a foreign language, offering credits at the college level.
Sanders also plugged a “bill of rights” for such students, the idea being to put them on equal footing for those with normal hearing.
“The bill of rights would hopefully improve the access to communication and education and services,” she said.
This would be fashioned after the one developed in 2005 by the National Association of the Deaf.
Sanders also wants legislators to consider reclassifying interpreters as “other professional employees.”
In a power-point presentation, she noted that school nurses and interpreters may have earned bachelor degrees and have seven years of experience.
But there’s a disparity in pay — the nurse earns $33,950, while the interpreter pockets less than $25,000.
Sanders also asked the committee members to consider improved access to substitute interpreters and to technology, including the use of video phones for deaf students, or those with hearing impaired parents.