Questions from Others...any Response?
Hello.
I am going to type a few of the questions that I recently received. I would love to have any of you respond to any of the questions. And, if you have other questions, this would be a good time to do so. Thanks. -David Schleper, Clerc Center
I am going to type a few of the questions that I recently received. I would love to have any of you respond to any of the questions. And, if you have other questions, this would be a good time to do so. Thanks. -David Schleper, Clerc Center
4 Comments:
At 9:32 AM, David Schleper said…
Chachie Joseph and Sally Ann Zwicker recently had this questions:
1. What has been the experience of tutors in dealing with deaf kids with disabilities? Like autism, multiHC etc Any guidance you can offer in situations like this?
Like most people, I believe that deafness is not a disability. So, like you, I am talking about children who are deaf, but who have disabilities, such as children with autism, mental retardation, deaf/blind, and so on.
When we looked at the original 5 sites around the country who were involved in the Shared Reading Project expansion project, 20% of the children in that study had cognitive or physical disabilities. Those people still were involved in the Shared Reading Project, and did well. More information is available on this in the Shared Reading Project: Evaluating Implementation Processes and Family Outcomes by Dr. Linda Delk and Lisa Weidekamp. (for those who need visual reminder, this is the green book, which is part of the Sharing Results from the Clerc Center.)
I remember working with parents and caregivers with children who had disabilities. I think, like all tutors, the important concept is to treat this like any other visit. Think positive, and that helps both the parents and caregivers (who will feel more relax) and for the children.
Any other suggestions?
-David Schleper, Clerc Center
At 9:34 AM, David Schleper said…
Another question by Chachie Joseph and Sall Ann Zwicker in Florida:
2. This is probably a common problem. Scenario where tutors are working with the family members, kid comes along and ends up getting involved in the reading. Come time for the parent to practice with the kid, the kid isn't interested anymore. Yes, can tell them not to involve the kid (but there are no babysitters), devise activities for the kid to keep them busy (whole other level of preparation for the tutors) --- what have other tutors done in situations like this?
So much depends on the family, and what works. I remember one example, where the tutor brought puzzles for the child to work on while tutoring. In another family, the tutor had her child (who was the same age) and they played together while the tutor worked with the parent. Another time, the child worked on knitting. I think that it would help if the tutor talks to the family, and help them with suggestions of what to do during this time.
- David Schleper, Clerc Center
Any other suggestions?
At 9:00 AM, David Schleper said…
3. Just to say that the recent training in Fort Lauderdale with Sally Ann went very well. Had 20 deaf participants and 1 hearing (normally the other way around)! They had a ton of questions and participation was great. The best part ---they really GOT the difference between Principle #3 and #6!
Some suggestions from participants:
-SRP to expand materials for multi disabilities, multicultural and high risk populations
-Some questions re the transition of materials from VHS to DVDs. Will the old materials be available in DVDs?
-Suggest having Spanish subtitles for the stories on the DVDs
-Braille on books
-to work into the training the chance for participants to read aloud 2-4 pages while demonstrating/applying the principles
Also, they indicated (and this also came from the Fort Myers people earlier) that they were not getting any responses from folks when they emailed with questions re materials for SRP etc Who is their primary contact for this? -- Chachie Joseph, Florida
At 9:07 AM, David Schleper said…
Dave's response to #3:
* We have been always aware of students who are deaf who have disabilities. What we need is more examples in the field of tutors working with those families. The more ideas we have on this, the more likely it will spread to other areas.
* At this time, we do not plan to caption the DVDs of bookbags, either in English or Spanish. We will keep looking at this, and if it becomes a big need, we might change our mind.
* As soon as we have the new DVDs, I will be able to let you know related to the switch from videos to DVDs.
* We do not have braile used in the books. However, if someone is interested in doing this, let us know how it works!
* The person to contact for help for materials should be two people (at the same time). One is me, David.Schleper@gallaudet.edu. The other one is Marteal.Pitts@gallaudet.edu. It helps if there is a problem to have both, as sometimes I am out of town for awhile, and you might need it soon. Also, make sure that you let us know what you need, and give us at least a month warning!
-David Schleper, Clerc Center
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