ACCESS TO PEERS AND ADULTS WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING
IS CRITICAL
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Are Role Models and Peers who are Deaf Really Important?
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“95% of children who are deaf/hard of hearing are born to hearing parents.” (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004).
“Most children who are deaf/hard of hearing do not have interactions with other children who are D/HH.” (Cawthon, Johnson, Garberoglio, & Schoffstall, 2016).
If you have been in deaf education for any amount of time, you most likely have seen or experienced these statistics. The question is, is having access to adults and peers really important for students who are D/HH?
Children and youth need ongoing access to students like them. If students use ASL, signs or cued speech, fluent adult and student signers with whom they can communicate effectively are especially critical. Adult and peer role models are beneficial to self-awareness, social communication and overall social-emotional well-being [emphasis added]. For students with IEPs, the IDEA “special factors” requirement includes “opportunities for direct communications with peers and professional personnel in the child’s language and communication mode” (34 C.F.R.§ 300.324(2)).
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- Why are role models important?
- What do role models do?
- Where does role modeling happen?
- When are role models needed?
- How exactly do role models support deaf people?
The bottom line is that access to peers and adults who are D/HH is critical for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Having access to others like them, who have struggled with the same things, can help build a sense of belonging and identity for our students. There are so many ways and ideas on how to build a community for your students who are D/HH. Using a platform like Friends Like Me for your students who may have no other student who is D/HH in their district or using Flipgrid for socialization for students within your district who may be at different schools are great ways to help your students.
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Deaf History Month (March 13-April 15) |
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In 2006, the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) announced that March 13 to April 15 is National Deaf History Month. This month includes three key moments in American History for the Deaf community:
Ways to share about Deaf History Month:
- Have students share a deafness-related fact or story on the morning announcements each day or week of Deaf History Month.
- Have students who are D/HH create posters announcing Deaf History Month and its importance or posters with facts and statistics related to Deaf History.
- Have students create a Deaf History bulletin board outside in a main hallway so that other students and staff can read about Deaf history.
- Create a living museum with students acting as famous deaf individuals and present them virtually (Flipgrid, perhaps?) or face-to-face.
- Have students collaborate in groups either in-person or virtually to create a series of pamphlets or documents about specific characters who are D/HH from current times and throughout history.
How do you celebrate Deaf History Month?
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RMTC-D/HH works hard to serve your needs and interests. Your opinions and concerns are an important part of our planning efforts. Your input is critical to help us meet your expectations. Please help us by completing the 2021 RMTC-D/HH Annual Stakeholder Survey.
The survey closes April 21, 2021.
In an attempt to reach our entire targeted audience, RMTC-D/HH has disseminated this survey through Constant Contact and traditional email. As a result, you may receive an invitation to complete this survey more than once; we apologize in advance for this. Thank you for your time and input!
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April 2021 TA-Live! Panelists |
RMTC-D/HH is pleased to announce the panel of experts for the April TA-Live! Webinar Principle 9 - Access to Peers and Adults Who Are D/HH is Critical: Katherine Montesino, ToDHH who is Deaf herself from Sumter County; Victor Nelson, graduate student who is D/HH from Broward County; and Harry Wood, STEM Trainer with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Regional STEM Center who is also Deaf. Come learn from their experiences being deaf/hard of hearing themselves, and how having access to other peers and adults who are D/HH impacted them.
Have a question for the panelists? Fill out a short form in advance!
The webinar will be aligned with the seventh principle of the Optimizing Outcomes Guidelines, “Access to peers and adults who are D/HH is critical.”
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Progress Monitoring for Students who are D/HH |
RMTC-D/HH has a new document to help guide educators when choosing literacy progress monitoring tools! “Progress Monitoring Literacy for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH)” is a list of assessments that are Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) compliant and that are valid and reliable for students who are D/HH. You can find this document on the RMTC-D/HH Downloadable Documents webpage.
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Laura Chinloy is a mother, wife, and educator of amazingly smart, creative, energetic, fun young children who are Deaf. Laura has worked for the Miami-Dade school system for 26 years, teaching Pre-K through 8th grade. Her heart belongs to the youngest students and she feels it is there she has the privilege of witnessing the greatest learning gains and rewards. Establishing a love of learning and a willingness to explore, a desire to create while exposing her students to rich complex language are her priorities.
Know an educator (e.g., teacher, SLP, interpreter, educational audiologist, paraprofessional) who is doing amazing things with students who are D/HH? Fill out this form to nominate someone or even yourself!
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You can read the interview with Laura Chinloy, ToDHH in Miami-Dade County. RMTC-D/HH was interested in learning more about her experience as a ToDHH pertaining to Principle 8 of the Optimizing Outcomes Guidelines, “Access to peers and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing is critical.”
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Expanded Skills Spotlight |
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Title: Cultivating and Fostering Social Capital for students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Standard:
Evaluate ways that individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing provide support for each other in their community.
Have an idea or lesson plan for Expanded Skills standards? Email your idea to RMTC-D/HH!
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Brief description of the lesson:
This lesson focuses on the development of student identity based on culture, language, and community. Students will explore the various components that attribute to their community and evaluate how these components influence their identity and how they view themselves.
You can either
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Resources that are in the RMTC-D/HH Media and Materials Loan Library* that have relevance to the essential principle “Access to peers and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing is critical.”:
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The Hearing World Around Me (#95): Trix Bruce's stories are those of culture clash and connection, contact, and confusion, and the many ways language and identity can twist our perceptions of each other. You will enjoy her energetic style, witty delivery, poetic grace, and open-hearted honesty while you gain a realistic perspective of life as a deaf person among the hearing.
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Through Deaf Eyes (#75): This video explores almost 200 years of deaf life in America and presents a broad range of perspectives on what it means to be deaf. The deaf minority has seldom, if ever, had a voice. Through Deaf Eyes provides that voice, and that story, for the first time ever.

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No Ordinary Hero- The Super Deafy Movie (# 441): A beautiful and inspiring family drama about diversity and inclusion. When a deaf actor who plays a superhero on television looks beyond his cape to influence a deaf boy to redefine what "being normal" means, he also finds inspiration to transform himself. Featuring a cast that includes Oscar winner Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God), Shoshannah Stern (Weeds, Jericho), Ryan Lane (ABC Family's Switched at Birth), and John Maucere (Law & Order, ABC Family's Switched at Birth). No Ordinary Hero is a family-friendly film and a must see for parents who desire to have their children grow up celebrating the differences that exist between us."
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How Deaf Children Learn- What Parents and Teacher Need to Know (#1875): In this guide, Marc Marschark and Peter Hauser, both professors at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, highlight important new advances in scientific and educational research that can help parents and teachers of children with significant hearing loss.
*Florida stakeholders can borrow these and many other resources from RMTC-D/HH's Media and Materials Loan Library, for FREE. Each material comes with a return label, making even the shipping at no charge to the borrower.
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Family Corner is a section for professionals that will address how they can help parents to be more involved and be more collaborative. This section will be from the perspective of a parent of a child who is deaf and has other disabilities and who also happens to be an educational professional. Depending on the topic, this section may deal with how to approach parents on the topic or help educators understand the parents’ perspectives.
What families need to know about: Access to peers and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing is critical
When teachers and other professionals are working with parents, it is important to emphasize to them to be on guard for social isolation and to actively seek out opportunities for a child who is deaf or hard of hearing to interact with peers and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing. This concern becomes especially acute in areas that are small and rural, and where the populations of people who are deaf or hard of hearing are low. Fewer people simply means that there are fewer opportunities for access or interaction.
Some parents overlook these kinds of concerns or place them further down their priority list. Often, the assumption is that children will have friends that are classmates or neighbors. However, that isn’t always the case. Many parents do not understand the need for peers and adult role models who are also deaf or hard of hearing. The result can be isolation, even when surrounded by hearing peers and adults.
Without the peers and role models, it also becomes harder for the child who is deaf or hard of hearing to develop an understanding of cultural and behavioral expectations while trying to understand their place in the world. Most of us have heard the tale of the child who is deaf or hard of hearing who thinks he or she will either die or become hearing when they reach adulthood because the child has never met or seen an adult who is deaf. Unfortunately, that story is true and has happened more than once over the years.
Alternately, if a child who is deaf or hard of hearing is given the opportunity to build relationships with peers and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing, the child not only makes progress toward finding his or her place in the world, but also develops rich, long-lasting relationships. An example is one young man, who at 29, still maintains friendships with peers from his deaf/hard of hearing preschool, going back to when he was 2 and 3 years old. The group is now scattered across the country, but they remain in contact through Facebook, video phone calls, texts, and other technologies, further confirming the importance of the relationships. The levels of familiarity and trust they experience allows them to discuss issues, concerns, and joys in their lives, which promotes positive mental health.
Positive role models can be a source of encouragement after the K-12 setting, as their influence and encouragement can impact postsecondary success. In one example a student who is D/HH and has cerebral palsy (CP) was able to complete both an associate’s and bachelor’s degrees due to the support of a Deaf college professor. This professor took the time to sit and talk with a high school student on the brink of graduating about the need to persevere. It took the professor a number of years to complete his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. His message was if you want that degree, don’t quit, no matter how long it takes or whatever obstacles are in your way. It is one thing for mom and dad to say that, but to have a person who is also deaf who has done what you are trying to do is very impactful.
Remember the need to emphasize the importance of access to peers and adults who are also deaf or hard of hearing. Let the parents know about opportunities to make such connections. Try and foster those connections at school as well. This is as much a part of the child’s education as math, science, and history.
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RMTC-D/HH keeps an up-to-date list of scholarships and summer camps for students who are D/HH. Both documents can be found on the RMTC-D/HH Downloadable Documents webpage. Summer camps and other camps are an amazing opportunity for students to meet role models and other students who are D/HH. By participating in a summer camp, students can begin to build their own social capital and network of friends they can continue to communicate with after camp ends. Watch the video from Alivia Brower, high school student from Broward County, to hear her experience and self-identity journey of an individual who is deaf/hard of hearing. She discusses her trip to the NTID Regional STEM Center's (NRSC) Robotics Convention where she met other peers who are D/HH for the first time.
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The University of North Florida Deaf Education is holding its Spring 2021 Virtual Job Fair & Mini-Interviews on April 7 from 3:30pm to 5:30pm eastern time. If your district or program has or is expecting to have vacancies in your deaf education program, this is an opportunity to share information about your program and help interns with practice interviews. It also gives districts and programs the opportunity to meet prospective applicants in this critical shortage area.
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The FDOE ESE Survey is now open! This survey is for parents of students with individual educational plans (IEP) receiving special education services during the 2020-21 school year. All information provided will remain confidential. You may submit one online survey for each child receiving services.
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Upcoming Events: Save the Date! |
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RMTC-D/HH provides Tech Notes as a free resource to teachers, professionals, and parents around the state in order to pass along potentially useful information and expand the knowledge and opportunities available to educators and families of children who have hearing loss. This email was funded by the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Student Education through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Part B funds. The information included does not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties involved. |
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Stay in touch via social networking; follow us daily!
#TechnologyTuesday: Latest in technology in regards to Deaf Education
#ResourceWednesday: Resources from other organizations that are specific to Deaf Education
#BehindTheScenesThursday: Memories of RMTC-D/HH events and exclusive “behind the scenes” captures of RMTC-D/HH’s goings-on
#FunFAQFriday: Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) in the field of Deaf Education
#FamilyFriday: Events and resources specific for families with children who are D/HH
#SpotlightSaturday: Lesson plans related to the Florida Expanded Skills Standards AND spotlighting different highly effective teachers and what they are doing in their teaching environment
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References:
Cawthon, S., Johnson, P., Garberoglio, C. L., & Schoffstall, S. (2016). Role models as facilitators of social capital for deaf individuals: A research synthesis. American Annals of the Deaf, 161(3), 115–127.
National Association of State Directors of Special Education [NASDSE]. (2018). Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Educational Service Guidelines, 3rd ed. www.nasdse.org
Mitchell, R. & Karchmer M. (2004). Chasing the mythical ten percent: Parental hearing status of deaf and hard of hearing students in the United States. Sign Lang Stud. 4(2):138–163
Suggested citation:
Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard [RMTC-D/HH]. (April 2021). Access to peers and adults who are D/HH is critical. Tech Notes. https://www.rmtcdhh.org/tech-notes-archive/
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