{"id":30708,"date":"2015-05-09T13:33:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T18:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=30708"},"modified":"2015-05-09T13:33:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T18:33:13","slug":"expert-education-for-the-deaf-needs-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/05\/09\/expert-education-for-the-deaf-needs-improvement\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert: Education for the deaf needs improvement"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDUCATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Expert: Education for the deaf needs improvement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Approach in minority groups <\/strong>focus of criticism<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Francisco Vara-Orta<\/p>\n

March 24, 2015<\/p>\n

In a public lecture here Tuesday evening, Gallaudet University assistant professor Catherine O\u2019Brien was sharply critical of how deaf children are educated in the United States, saying school districts should re-examine how they culturally approach teaching the deaf, especially those in minority groups such as Mexican-Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we still trying to teach a fish to climb a tree?\u201d O\u2019Brien, who is deaf, expressed through a vocal interpreter, getting nods in agreement from the audience at the University of Texas at San Antonio\u2019s Main Campus.<\/p>\n

Referring to schools still teaching phonics to the deaf \u2014 such as how a letter should sound \u2014 she added, \u201cHello, these are deaf children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers often aren\u2019t adequately trained in sign language, making it hard on deaf students who rely on clear communication to learn, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way you access education is through knowing the language first, and often schools reverse that order when it comes to deaf students,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes deaf students can be misclassified as special needs and disciplined for behavioral issues when the root of the problem is a language barrier that causes their frustration, she added.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien has won national accolades for her research. UTSA officials described Gallaudet University as the world\u2019s only liberal arts university for the deaf.<\/p>\n

The Consortium for Social Transformation in the UTSA College of Education and Human Development sponsored the lecture, which drew about 150.<\/p>\n

How Mexican-American children who are deaf are educated in U.S. schools is an underexplored topic, she said. O\u2019Brien became motivated to explore it as part of her research after the father of two deaf children invited her into his home with an interpreter who could speak English, Spanish, and American Sign Language \u2014 hard to find, she stressed.<\/p>\n

The father explained he emigrated from Mexico with his family in search of a better education for his kids, O\u2019Brien recalled. But he struggled to find a place where they could excel and where the teachers and staff understood how to communicate with them in the three languages they navigated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere you have a trilingual student who no one seems to know how to educate. So how is that?\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThe father then got on his knees and begged for me to look into this and that stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said Mexican-American students already feel oppressed in many ways and cited findings on how minority students who also are deaf have a heightened risk of falling behind in school and spending adulthood in poverty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to change the expectation for our deaf Mexican-American students. We need to have high expectations of them,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWe need to roll up our sleeves and get in there with them and also teach the community to see these students\u2019 value.\u201d<\/p>\n

fvara-orta@
\nexpress-news.net
\nTwitter: @fvaraorta<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.expressnews.com\/news\/education\/article\/Expert-education-for-the-deaf-needs-improvement-6156724.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDUCATION Expert: Education for the deaf needs improvement Approach in minority groups focus of criticism By Francisco Vara-Orta March 24, 2015 In a public lecture here Tuesday evening, Gallaudet University assistant professor Catherine O\u2019Brien was sharply critical of how deaf…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[1629,23,23623,23624,24,105,23622,898,23625,22,63],"class_list":["post-30708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-american-sign-language","tag-asl","tag-catherine-obrien","tag-consortium-for-social-transformation","tag-deaf","tag-education","tag-francisco-vara-orta","tag-gallaudet-university","tag-mexican-american","tag-san-antonio","tag-spanish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-7Zi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23439,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/06\/12\/critical-needs-of-students-who-are-dhh-a-public-input-summary\/","url_meta":{"origin":30708,"position":0},"title":"Critical Needs of Students Who are D\/HH: A Public Input Summary","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"June 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"National Deaf Education Center Publishes Findings That Identify Five Major\u00a0Barriers Impacting Deaf and Hard of Hearing K-12 Students Across the\u00a0Nation The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University has published findings from its public input process in which 1400 comments were collected from 775 respondents, 85 percent of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"laurentclerc","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/laurentclerc-300x141.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32083,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/10\/09\/board-of-trustees-names-roberta-bobbi-cordano-to-serve-as-gallaudet-universitys-next-president\/","url_meta":{"origin":30708,"position":1},"title":"Board Of Trustees Names Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano To Serve As Gallaudet University’s Next President","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Board Of Trustees Names Roberta \"Bobbi\" Cordano To Serve As University's Next President Roberta \"Bobbi\" Cordano selected as university's 11th president The Gallaudet University Board of Trustees announced on October 9, 2015 it has selected Roberta \"Bobbi\" Cordano, J.D., to become the next president of Gallaudet University, effective January 1,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"roberta bobbi cordano","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/roberta-bobbi-cordano.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2334,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2007\/10\/08\/gallaudet-university-board-of-trustees\/","url_meta":{"origin":30708,"position":2},"title":"Gallaudet University Board of Trustees","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Office of Public Relations EDWARD MINER GALLAUDET MEMORIAL BUILDING 800 FLORIDA AVE. 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