{"id":19,"date":"2022-11-30T17:17:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T17:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/?page_id=19"},"modified":"2026-04-03T19:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:41:09","slug":"working-with-deaf-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/working-with-deaf-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Working with Deaf Students"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">General<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deaf and hard of hearing students should adhere to the&nbsp;same classroom policies&nbsp;regarding tardies, absences, participation in class and general expectations. A deaf student signing in class out of turn should be dealt with in the same manner a non-deaf student talking.<\/li>\n<li>Call on deaf students to answer questions and participate in class.<\/li>\n<li>Become familiar with note-taking procedures, key differences between English and American Sign Language, captioned videos, and other available resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Instructors must caption all videos so deaf students can access the course material. Please\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSeqsXd5KlJvbN5yU7EC7qSVKcrcKbv7H1lI6insv8hsT6yN3A\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">contact Media Captioning<\/a>\u00a0to request captioning.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Working with Students Who Use ASL and\/or an Interpreter<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Speak to the student, not to the interpreter; however, the student typically will look at the interpreter while you are talking.<\/li>\n<li>ASL&nbsp;does not have a gender-specific pronoun; when speaking to the deaf student with an interpreter, use &#8220;I&#8221; and &#8220;you&#8221; instead of &#8220;tell him&#8230;&#8221; or &#8220;ask her&#8230;.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>A majority of ASL grammar is derived from specific facial expressions, mouth movements, descriptive hand shapes and use of space, not from individual words\/signs. ASL does not use articles (a, an, the), and uses only an active voice.<\/li>\n<li>Some cultural references to music, films, literature, and even humor may not be understood when translated for ASL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/working-with-asl-intrepreters\/\">Working with ASL Interpreters<\/a> for related information.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Working with Students Who Do Not Use Sign Language<\/h2>\n<p>Some students lip-read, however, many words appear the same. Follow these tips:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Look directly at the student when speaking. Don\u2019t speak with your back to the student when writing on the board.<\/li>\n<li>Speak in a normal tone unless asked otherwise &#8211; don&#8217;t shout or exaggerate mouth movements.<\/li>\n<li>Repeat questions asked by other students.<\/li>\n<li>Try rephrasing instead of repeating if a student does not understand you.<\/li>\n<li>When checking for understanding, avoid asking yes\/no questions.<\/li>\n<li>Extraneous noises such as coughing, paper shuffling, or an airplane overhead can interfere with communication. Hearing aids can amplify these sounds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&nbsp;Helpful Links<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/working-with-deaf-students-myth-vs-fact\/\">Working with Deaf Students: Myth vs. Fact<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pepnet.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pepnet2 (Postsecondary Education Programs Network)<\/a>: Serving Deaf College Students&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/lifeprint.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lifeprint.com<\/a>: ASL University animated American Sign Language dictionary. Search signs using keywords or an alphabetized list.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aslpro.com\/cgi-bin\/aslpro\/aslpro.cgi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ASL video dictionary<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Instructors must caption all videos so deaf students can access the course material. Please\u00a0contact Media Captioning\u00a0to request captioning. Working with Students Who Use ASL and\/or an Interpreter See Working with ASL Interpreters for related &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/working-with-deaf-students\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.austincc.edu\/interpreter-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}