Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
CITIZEN-TIMES.com: WCU’S support program seeks teachers of deaf-blind students
Western Carolina University’s Teacher Support Program recently launched a regional search to find teachers of students who are both deaf and blind to extend free support services to those teachers.
“There were only 41 students identified as deaf-blind on the last headcount of exceptional children for the state, and we believe there are more than 300 children who meet the criteria,” said Ken Prohn, project coordinator for the Teacher Support Program.
The program, now in its ninth year, offers support services at no charge to educators who request help and has specific funding to serve teachers of deaf-blind students. Designed to help teachers solve difficult problems, reduce stress, become more effective and maintain career longevity, Teacher Support Program services include weekly collaborative problem-solving sessions, electronic networking through discussion boards and online chatting, information and materials searches needed by a program participant, peer monitoring, staff development sessions and on-site, in-class consultations.
Prohn mailed letters to principals at schools in Western North Carolina to explain the program and request information about teachers who work with deaf-blind students.
“We want to increase the educational outcomes for students who live with dual sensory impairments,” said Prohn, who has 23 years of experience working in special education classrooms. “We know the Teacher Support Program can make that a reality through communication and collaboration among those who participate.”
Kelly Lane, a special education teacher with the Progressive Education Program in southern Buncombe County, said her students include 16-year-old Steven Huddleston, who has dual sensory impairments, and she faces challenges trying to communicate required topics, such as space and astronomy or ideas from age-appropriate literature.
“How do you get those concepts across to someone who has extremely limited hearing and vision?” Lane asked. “The Teacher Support Program has shared ideas with me about how to do that. Also, when there is a specific problem or other question, the program puts us in touch with people that can help or share common ways other teachers have addressed the issue.”
Steven’s mother, Michele Hommes, said what she wants most for her son is a classroom that provides activities that stimulate him and capitalize on what he can do.
“He cannot communicate verbally, but he can make choices,” said Hommes, who describes how her son reaches for her hand when he needs affection and combat-crawled across a room just to stick his hand through a dog-door into bright, natural sunlight.
“I know he likes spicy, homemade macaroni and cheese, not store bought, and he likes chocolate cookies but doesn’t like the milk because when he doesn’t like food, he drops it and chooses something else,” Hommes said. “He’s able to do a lot of things.”
The Teacher Support Program was launched in 1998 when David Westling, Adelaide Worth Daniels Distinguished Professor of Special Education, and Karena Cooper-Duffy, associate professor of special education, initiated a small program to help teachers work collaboratively to identify problems and solutions. Today, more than 200 preschool- to community college- level educators from traditional classroom teachers to occupational therapists interact through the program.
Current grant funding for program support and expansion comes from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to benefit projects for children and adults who are deaf-blind, and from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
For more information, check out Teacher Support Program Special Education or contact Prohn at 227-3377 or prohn@email.wcu.edu.
Western Carolina University’s Teacher Support Program recently launched a regional search to find teachers of students who are both deaf and blind to extend free support services to those teachers.
“There were only 41 students identified as deaf-blind on the last headcount of exceptional children for the state, and we believe there are more than 300 children who meet the criteria,” said Ken Prohn, project coordinator for the Teacher Support Program.
The program, now in its ninth year, offers support services at no charge to educators who request help and has specific funding to serve teachers of deaf-blind students. Designed to help teachers solve difficult problems, reduce stress, become more effective and maintain career longevity, Teacher Support Program services include weekly collaborative problem-solving sessions, electronic networking through discussion boards and online chatting, information and materials searches needed by a program participant, peer monitoring, staff development sessions and on-site, in-class consultations.
Prohn mailed letters to principals at schools in Western North Carolina to explain the program and request information about teachers who work with deaf-blind students.
“We want to increase the educational outcomes for students who live with dual sensory impairments,” said Prohn, who has 23 years of experience working in special education classrooms. “We know the Teacher Support Program can make that a reality through communication and collaboration among those who participate.”
Kelly Lane, a special education teacher with the Progressive Education Program in southern Buncombe County, said her students include 16-year-old Steven Huddleston, who has dual sensory impairments, and she faces challenges trying to communicate required topics, such as space and astronomy or ideas from age-appropriate literature.
“How do you get those concepts across to someone who has extremely limited hearing and vision?” Lane asked. “The Teacher Support Program has shared ideas with me about how to do that. Also, when there is a specific problem or other question, the program puts us in touch with people that can help or share common ways other teachers have addressed the issue.”
Steven’s mother, Michele Hommes, said what she wants most for her son is a classroom that provides activities that stimulate him and capitalize on what he can do.
“He cannot communicate verbally, but he can make choices,” said Hommes, who describes how her son reaches for her hand when he needs affection and combat-crawled across a room just to stick his hand through a dog-door into bright, natural sunlight.
“I know he likes spicy, homemade macaroni and cheese, not store bought, and he likes chocolate cookies but doesn’t like the milk because when he doesn’t like food, he drops it and chooses something else,” Hommes said. “He’s able to do a lot of things.”
The Teacher Support Program was launched in 1998 when David Westling, Adelaide Worth Daniels Distinguished Professor of Special Education, and Karena Cooper-Duffy, associate professor of special education, initiated a small program to help teachers work collaboratively to identify problems and solutions. Today, more than 200 preschool- to community college- level educators from traditional classroom teachers to occupational therapists interact through the program.
Current grant funding for program support and expansion comes from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to benefit projects for children and adults who are deaf-blind, and from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
For more information, check out Teacher Support Program Special Education or contact Prohn at 227-3377 or prohn@email.wcu.edu.