CAID Announcements

This is the first time that a prime time TV show is showing a representation of the Deaf community - not just one or two deaf professionals as a novelty but nearly everyone on the set, extras, under 5's, minor players, even some crew members were deaf. See CAID Spring News N Notes for article and pictures.

In this episode an esteemed ear surgeon is killed after testifying against a colleague in a case involving a child who dies after a cochlear implant surgery. A Deaf Studies professor is accused and his students rally in support of him. The NTID Drama Club will be hosting a viewing party in the RIT Student Development Center, so cast and friends can see themselves on "the big screen".

Dr. Louis Abbate, Executive Director of the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in
Longmeadow, announces that on Thursday, March 29, 2007, two members of the school’s National Advisory Council will spend the day at both campuses of the Willie Ross School: the Longmeadow Campus and the East Longmeadow Partnership Campus.
The purpose of the visit is to visit classrooms, meet with campus directors, lead
teachers, and staff in order to assess the implementation of the school’s new
mission and its goal of academic excellence.

Members of the National Advisory Council include Dr. Marc Marschark and Dr.
David S. Martin, who will be at the school on March 29th. Both are internationally
known educators and researchers who have made significant contributions to the field of education of the deaf.

Marc Marschark, Ph.D., Professor in the Center for Education Research Partnerships at
Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute for the Deaf, has published and presented widely on his research and teaching interests of language and cognition among deaf and hearing adults and interactions of language, cognitive, and social development of deaf children. His presentations to staff at Willie Ross School have made a significant impact on the development of the new mission. Dr. Marschark not only serves his own institution but also is Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Deaf Children, as well as numerous other agencies and committees.

David S. Martin, Ph.D., has long been involved with WRSD in an advisory capacity
and as a presenter on curricular issues. During the 2005-2006 school year, he
led a group of Willie Ross School lead teachers in aligning the WRSD English Language Arts curriculum with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. After serving in leadership positions in schools on both the east and west coasts of the United States, he accepted a position at Gallaudet University as Dean of the School of Education, from which he retired as Dean Emeritus. His present work includes consultative and supervisory work throughout the United States, in South Africa, and in London. Dr. Martin was awarded the Willie Ross School’s Community Advocacy Award in 2006. He has published widely in the field of deaf education.

On April 10th, Dr. Martin will return to Willie Ross School for a professional development day during which the new mission, its impact on curricular issues, and the implementation of the new technological equipment into the teaching process will be
addressed. On that day he will be accompanied by Dr. Harry Lang, Professor and Educational Researcher at Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Dr. Lang’s background in engineering and mathematics and his perspective on the effective use of technology in the classroom is pertinent to ongoing assessments of the new mission.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, please contact Dr. Louis Abbate, Executive Director of WRSD, 413.567.0374 Voice/TDD or labbate@willierossschool.org.

History Through Deaf Eyes is a two-hour PBS documentary that explores almost 200 years of American history, the experience of the Deaf community in the United States from 1814 to the present. The program aligns the broad sweep of U.S. history with the experiences of deaf people, showing how major social, economic, medical, and technological shifts in America have changed deaf lives. It is propelled by the stories of people, both eminent and ordinary, and conveys a broad range of persepectives on what it means to be deaf.

The National Cued Speech Association's new brochure, "Why Can Susie Q. Read?", follows a mythical family, Mr. and Mrs. Q and their deaf daughter, Susie, to explain the effective use of Cued Speech for access to language and communication, literacy, listening, speech, speechreading and the learning of foreign languages.

A Cued Speech chart and a list of the activities of the National Cued Speech Association are included. Copies are available for free by contacting NCSA at 800-459-3529 v/tty, info@cuedspeech.org, and accessing the webite at http://www.cuedspeech.org.

August, 23, 2004

ROLE MODEL VIDEO A USEFUL TEACHING TOOL FOR DEAF CHILDREN

A videotape series produced in part by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is making a difference in the lives of young deaf and hard-of-hearing people across the nation.
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Achieving Goals, which features interviews with successful deaf professionals and highlights their careers, has earned six industry awards to date.

"There are thousands of deaf children who often are the only ones with a hearing loss in their families or classes," said Patricia Billies, project coordinator for the Northeast Technical Assistance Center, a federally funded program housed at NTID that supports deaf and hard-of-hearing students throughout the Northeast. "The professionals featured in this series expose these young people to outstanding role models that they otherwise might never see."

The series includes an optometrist, an attorney, a pediatrician, a veterinarian, a professional baseball player, a financial analyst, an educator, and an entrepreneur, among others. The featured individuals represent different races, cultures and socioeconomic statuses.

NETAC and NTID, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, partnered to produce the videotapes, which are available to U.S. libraries, high school and college faculty, as well as parents and others who work with deaf and hard-of-hearing students. These tapes, together with their companion Web site, http://netac.rit.edu/goals, make students aware of the diverse career options available to them.

The series has landed a coveted Gold Telly Award for outstanding work worldwide, a Crystal Award of Excellence from the Communicator Awards, an Aurora Award for industry excellence, an Accolade Award for outstanding craft and creativity, and two Certificates for Creative Excellence from the U.S. International Film Festival Awards.

The next tapes in the series will feature computer specialists, a filmmaker, a car mechanic, a pilot, a chef and others, and will be available next year. To request a free videotape, contact Anthony Ivankovic at Anthony.ivankovic@csun.edu.

NTID is the first and largest technological college in the world for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. One of eight colleges of RIT, NTID offers educational programs and access and support services to its 1,100 students from around the world who study, live and socialize with 14,400 hearing students on RIT's Rochester, N.Y. campus.

Web address: http://www.rit.edu/NTID
See http://www.rit.edu/NTID/newsroom for more news on NTID.

February, 2004

Clerc Center Renews Deaf Discussion Forum for Occupational and Physical Therapists
The Student Services Team of the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University has renewed a discussion forum called DeafOTPT. The forum, which can be accessed via the Clerc Center Web site at http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/SupportServices/ot/deafotpt.html, has already attracted 41 members.

The forum was created for sharing information related to occupational (OT) and physical therapy (PT) intervention with deaf and hard of hearing students/clients. The therapists and/or participants in the discussion may be deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing. “We welcome OTs, PTs, parents, friends, relatives, other professionals…anyone and everyone,” said forum moderator Andrea Pearlman, OT at the Clerc Center.

This forum was created to meet the needs of all participants and will cover a variety of topics. A sample of topics that may be discussed include: sign language, visual perception, visual motor skills, motor planning/praxis, balance, coordination (bilateral, eye-hand, eye-foot, etc.), sensory integration, standardized tests, intervention strategies, learning styles/learning disabilities, and research ideas and/or projects.

The discussion forum serves as a database that stores, sorts, organizes, and manages messages submitted by participants as contributions to ongoing discussions. The forum allows participants to read, create, and respond to messages on the Internet.

To join the forum, send an e-mail with your name and e-mail address to: Andrea.Pearlman@gallaudet.edu. “As always, we are interested in knowing more about participants. Please feel free to let us know where you are working and what populations you serve,” said Pearlman. “Once we receive your information, an account will be established and you will immediately be enrolled in the forum. Detailed instructions on how to access the forum and participate will be sent.”

On December 9, 2003, the U.S. Department of Education released a rule concerning the assessment of children with significant cognitive disabilities. Under this rule, states, school districts and schools will be permitted to count the "proficient" scores of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who take assessments based on alternate achievement standards. The number of those proficient scores may not exceed one percent of all students in the grades tested (about nine percent of students with disabilities).

• Students with significant cognitive disabilities may be assessed using alternative assessments held to alternative achievement standards. These standards must be aligned with the State's academic content standards.
• Up to one percent of these students' proficient scores may be counted toward LEA and State level proficiency measures. There is no cap for individual schools.
• An LEA or SEA may seek to have the one percent amount raised if it can show that the number of students with significant cognitive disabilities exceeds one percent.
• There is no limit on the number of students who may take alternative assessments and are held to the regular assessment standards.