 |
||
 |
||
| KU Deaf Education Rural Project
Mainstreaming children with disabilities has taken its place in public schools, but teaching children who are deaf or hearing impaired requires a master's level education and state certification. For teachers in rural areas, it can be logistically difficult to obtain such an education. A $457,000 three-year grant from the U. S. Department of Education has been awarded to three faculty in the department of hearing and speech at the University of Kansas School of Allied Health to help train such teachers. The faculty, Barbara Luetke Stahlman, Ph.D., professor, P. Lynn Hayes, Ed.D., assistant professor, and Susan Jackson, Ph.D., assistant professor, will coordinate the grant with three doctoral students. Luetke Stahlman, who is also director of deaf education at KU Medical Center, said, "There is a need to better serve students who are deaf or hard of hearing in the nation, in the Midwest and in Kansas in particular." According to Luetke Stahlman, more than 30 percent of the school districts in the Midwest and as much as 83 percent of the school districts in Kansas are rural. "Many of those interested in becoming certified teachers of the deaf or taking related course work live in rural or remote areas. They feel isolated because they need to discuss positive and appropriate inclusion strategies," said Luetke Stahlman, author of the methods textbook Effectively Educating Students With Hearing Impairment (1991, Longman). The grant will provide up to $2,000 per semester in tuition support for general or special education teachers. The master's degree program in deaf education will be provided through interactive video courses, on-site training in rural areas, correspondence courses, World Wide Web courses and a specially designed KU summer session. About 25 students will be supported annually. Participants will be recruited and taught from several Midwest states. In addition, tuition support of up to $350 per course will be provided to administrators, educational interpreters, paraprofessionals, school psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and physical therapists so they may take deaf education classes to gain certification. For more information, contact: Dr. Lynn Hayes -- lhayes@kumc.edu (913) 588-5750 Story by Amy Bennett |
||
