Educators talk challenges of traditional schools for deaf, hard-of-hearing students

IOWA CITY — Iowa School for the Deaf Superintendent Chris Kaftan this week spoke about the isolation that deaf and hard of hearing children can feel in a traditional learning environment — and what options are available for families.

Kaftan, who began his role in July, spoke Tuesday with educators from area education agencies on a panel at the University of Iowa discussing deaf education.

Over 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents who have “never met a deaf person before,” Kaftan said through an American Sign Language interpreter.

“As a father of a deaf child and as an educator, I always tell parents I will work with them through researching all of their options and learning about what’s best for their child,” said Kaftan, who also is deaf. “It’s important parents learn to sign. It doesn’t matter if you decide to give your child a cochlear (implant)” — a surgically implanted device that helps people hard of hearing or deaf perceive sound.

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“They’re still deaf, and they could learn how to listen with the cochlear, but if they take that off, they’re still deaf. That’s why I encourage parents to learn how to sign,” he said.

The Iowa School for the Deaf is one option for families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Located in Council Bluffs, it serves students in kindergarten to 12th grade from Iowa, Nebraska and North and South Dakota, Kaftan said. Families of students who are accepted there pay no tuition since the school primarily is state-funded.

Some students’ families live hours away from the school, making it a difficult choice for them to send their child across the state or state lines for an education, Kaftan said. More than three-fourths of students at the Iowa School for the Deaf live in the dorms on campus. There are about 100 students enrolled this academic year.

But for many students who are deaf or hard of hearing, being at a deaf school is the first time they feel connected to school and can socialize freely.

Anna Crenshaw, teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing for Central Rivers Area Education Agency, who was on the panel, said the students she serves are often the only person in a school who knows sign language.

“That is so isolating to be the only one who speaks the same language you do,” said Crenshaw, who herself signs. “I have developed strong one-on-one connections with my students, especially those who sign.”

The AEAs oversee education of Iowa students with disabilities and offer media instructional materials and consulting services to schools and students in their geographical boundaries. Central Rivers AEA is based in Cedar Falls and serves 18 counties in Iowa.

Also on the panel was Grant Wood AEA Chief Administrator John Speer, who said a big challenge is the shortage of audiologists and sign language interpreters like Crenshaw across the state. Grant Wood is “one of the lucky AEAs,” fully staffed in audiologists and teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing, he said.

Even at the Iowa School for the Deaf, there are job openings for interpreters and teachers with know ASL, according to current open positions posted to its website.

Grant Wood AEA, based in Cedar Rapids, serves a seven-county region including Linn and Johnson counties. There are about 370 students in the Grant Wood AEA region served by deaf and hard-of-hearing services, Speer said.

AEA audiologists and teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing support students from ages birth through 21. Audiologists gather hearing information and data about a child’s access to verbal instruction to help determine accommodations, modifications and the hearing assistive technology needed.

Teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing instruct and support students in their chosen mode of communication and assist in determining what modifications and accommodations are needed to make the child’s home or school accessible.

AEA staff who work with deaf and hard-of-hearing students each serve about 20 students, Crenshaw said. This year, however, Crenshaw serves only six students who communicate mostly or exclusively with ASL.

Crenshaw said she is working with a deaf 9 year old who immigrated from Guatemala and has “no language.” Crenshaw’s daughter, who is deaf, and didn’t get language until she was 12 when Crenshaw adopted her, she said.

“Many deaf and hard of hearing students don’t get language access, and they fall behind and keep falling behind,” Crenshaw said. “The reason I work with kids birth through 21 years old is because sometimes those kids need more time to develop their language skills, learn self advocacy and learn reading and writing.”

Speer — who met Kaftan for the first time Tuesday — said he hopes to work more closely with the Iowa School for the Deaf. “We could never replicate what (the Iowa School of the Deaf) does, and we wouldn’t try because they do such a good job at what they do,” Speer said.

Speer said he does want to create “more immersive experiences” in Eastern Iowa for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. He said parents often don’t want their child to go to the Iowa School for the Deaf because of the distance. “Once they get there, the kids flourish. But that first step is sometimes difficult,” he said.

Sandra Anderson, a lecturer in the University of Iowa’s ASL Program, told the panel that “geography doesn’t matter.”

“It’s about where that student is happy and thriving,” Anderson said through an ASL interpreter.

“Hearing parents don’t have a clue,” Anderson said. “My parents didn’t either, but my audiologist recommended that I go to the school for the deaf. To this day, do doctors do that? No, they do not. What resources are they providing parents? One resource — cochlear implants.”

Kaftan said it was as a student at a deaf school that he “found my identity.”

“I wasn’t lonely anymore. I had peers to talk to. I had girls I could flirt with,” he said with a laugh from the audience.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a federal law — ensures students with disabilities are educated in the most appropriate setting. That means special education students learn in the least restrictive environment, such as schools providing services in general education classroom.

The least restrictive environment for a deaf child, however, “is the worst thing for them,” Kaftan said. It deprives them of a “language-rich environment” where their teacher and peers can communicate with them in their own language.

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