Deaf Education Trends in Deaf

Deaf Education Trends in Deaf Education Teaching deaf children is a challenge for any educator. The Federal government mandates that the child has a right to receive the same education as the hearing population. However, sometimes providing this experience can be problematic for the educational agency. There are several key issues that can be identified regarding special needs teachers. This research will examine the internal and external factors that will influence the outcome of these issues in the future.

The first step in resolving the issues that challenge those in deaf education is to enumerate them. Next, each issue that is identified can be examined from an internal and external perspective. In order to examine the issues in this manner, a thorough examination of available academic literature will be conducted. This examination of the literature will be combined will take into account the internal and external factors that will influence future trends in deaf education to provide an overview of how deaf education will appear in the future.

Shortage of Qualified/Certified Sign Language Interpreters Perhaps the most important issue facing the future of the education of the deaf is the growing shortage of Qualified/certified Sign Language interpreters. There are a disproportionate number of sign teachers and interpreters working on emergency teaching certificates. There are many reasons for the large number of teachers that are teaching without a proper certificate. One of the key reasons is the low number of certification facilities.

Expense and distance from the facility play a major role in the inability of the teachers and interpreters to complete their certification (Larwood, 2004). This represents an internal problem in the situation. The shortage of teachers for the deaf is an extension of an overall shortage of teachers that is affecting education on a national basis. There are many reasons for these shortages including low salaries and increased stress due to the shortages themselves. The growing shortage is self-perpetuating.

The fewer teachers there are to perform daily duties, the more stressed those that are in the profession become. This scenario has prompted several states, such as Wyoming to mandate increased teacher salaries statewide (NEA, 2006). However, salaries alone are not likely to be the single answer to the problem. The shortage of certified sign language interpreters is an extension of the external problem of an overall teacher shortage in the country.

However, the problem is compounding by the internal problem that stems from the education of the deaf as a specialty within the larger teaching profession. Aside from being faced with the problems of low salaries, little reward, and increased stress due to the shortage, teachers of the deaf have the increased problems of difficulty in completing their teaching certificate.

Closure of State Schools for the Deaf due to special education Funding issues Due to critical finding issues, there have been many contemplating simply closing schools that exclusively service the deaf community. This would mean that deaf students would have to attend their local public school. In a meeting regarding the possible closing of the Ohio School for the Deaf and Ohio State School for the Blind (2007), it was pointed out that the services provided by these schools does not cost the local school district or the parent.

They are funded entirely by state and federal funds. Up until this point, the issue has remained focused exclusively on budgetary constraints, with little discussion of the consequences for the students. Although many of the students can successfully integrate into the local school setting, it is not without great expense and effort on everyone's part. When these students are re-integrated into the regular classroom setting, it can cost the district upwards of $100,000 to provide the services necessary to provide for the education of a single student.

(Ohio State School for the Deaf, 2007). With the closure of Schools for the Deaf the burden will be shifted from the state and federal agencies to the local school district and the local community through increased taxes. These costs are a real cost associated with the closure of the schools for the deaf. However, it is clear that these real costs are not being considered in the decision to close schools for the deaf.

Those that are in favor of closing these schools only consider the costs of operation of the school that is being closed. They do not consider the additional expense to the local school district and community. This was the case as legislators continue to consider legislation disbanding special education facilities to service deaf students in that state (Hopkins, 2007). They are only looking at one side of the budgetary issues, rather than looking at the total expenditure picture. This is a short-sighted approach that will cost more in the long-term.

Appropriate education in the age of distance technology vs. Vygotskyy's theory Larwood (2004) proposed distance education at a potential solution to the problem of finding certified sign language teachers and teacher for the deaf. This same solution may hold prospects as a solution to the problem of educating the deaf students themselves. Online schools are popping up all over the nation as a potential solution to a number of educational issues. They are particularly appealing to those students that do not "fit" into the traditional school setting.

Many of these schools, such as TRECA Digital Academy offer programs in partnership with local school districts (Schumm, 2007). Online may be the ultimate solution for the technical and budgetary issues facing those that specialize in the education of the deaf. However, one has to also consider the impact on the cultural aspects of the student. According to Vygotsky, a child learns the social and cultural aspects of their society by interacting with others. The cultural aspects of society are always a concern in the online learning environment.

There is concern that children that do not have interaction with others will not become fully integrated members of that society. In an online school setting, the child can excel academically, however they are doing so in a rather isolated environment. A deaf child is even more socially isolated than hearing children. There needs to be special attention given to deaf students and their needs for socialization. Video conferencing combined with chat via software such as elluminate Live is one option for keeping the student culturally and socially informed.

Extracurricular activities are especially important when a deaf child will be receiving their education through an online school. There are many challenges facing those that choose to educate the deaf. Many of the internal issues are closely related to external factors. The entire educational system in the United States is faced with teacher salaries, budgetary issues and the problem of how to integrate changing technology.