Olivia Krise, M.Ed., NIC-A, lecturer, and Jamie L. McCartney, Ph.D., CI & CT, NIC-M, associate professor, were awarded a $50,000 grant from the Ohio Deans Compact.
The program, entitled "DEAFinitely Mentoring!," includes Ohio deaf students, their families, and the students’ educational interpreters. Competitive submissions were evaluated based on impact to postsecondary outcomes.
Because 95 percent of deaf children are born into households as the only deaf person and 90 percent of these parents never learn to sign fluently, many deaf children are language deprived. Sadly, these delays follow children into adulthood.
To enhance language learning for these students and families, the Ohio Deans Compact Grant will provide one deaf adult mentor for every ten deaf students and families. Additionally, the child’s educational interpreter will receive separate mentoring with this individual. Kent State University ASL/English Interpreting majors will interpret some meetings so that individuals can understand one another.
Due to language deprivation, deaf students often are unaware of available opportunities. Throughout the mentoring process, students will be exposed to transition expectations, as well as a variety of employment opportunities. They will also receive first-hand accounts from mentors that help them understand the postsecondary process. Furthermore, real-life experiences will be shared about the application process, housing, scholarships, etc.
The intent is to improve access to language and strengthen relationships between parents and children. Additionally, the educational interpreter will be provided through the grant, along with access to pre- and post-skills-based screenings.
Krise and McCartney will attend quarterly meetings with the Deans Compact to apprise grantors of the study’s results. The first meeting is September 8 – 9 in Columbus, Ohio.
The findings will be used to develop a guidebook for future deaf mentors to sustain the current project, and for other areas to simulate a program similar to DEAFinitely Mentoring!