The role of interpreters in inclusive classrooms.

The roles of interpreters in an inclusive classroom were examined through a qualitative, 3-year case study of three interpreters in an inclusive school. Interviews were conducted with interpreters, classroom teachers, special education teachers, and administrators. The interview data were supplemented with observations and field notes. Results indicate that in addition to sign interpreting between American Sign Language and speech, the interpreters clarified teacher directions, facilitated peer interaction, tutored the deaf children, and kept the teachers and special educators informed of the deaf children's progress. The interpreter/aides and the classroom teachers preferred this full-participant interpreter role, while the special educators and administrators preferred a translator role. Classroom teachers were more comfortable with full-time interpreters who knew the classroom routine, while the special educators and administrators feared that full-time interpreters fostered child and teacher dependence. These issues are discussed in terms of congruence with the Registry of Interpreters code of ethics and how integration of young children might be best facilitated.

Academic and Social Benefits of a Co-enrollment Model of Inclusive Education for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/hh) students are traditionally educated within self-contained programs at residential or special day schools, within self-contained or resource classrooms in public schools, or within regular education classrooms with support provided by an itinerant teacher. The co-enrollment model offers a promising alternative in which these students are educated within a regular education classroom composed of both d/hh and hearing students and team-taught by a teacher of the deaf and a regular education teacher. This article examines the development of one such program and the social and academic performance of the d/hh students within the program. Data on social interaction between d/hh and hearing classmates suggest that specific instructional strategies that promoted students' sign language development, identified d/hh students as "sign language specialists" and grouped d/hh and hearing students during academic activities resulted in increased interaction between these two groups of students. Stanford Achievement Test scores in the areas of reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, mathematical problem solving and procedures indicate that although d/hh students scored below the national normative hearing group, reading comprehension levels exceeded the national normative sample of d/hh students during both years two and three of the program. We discuss the challenges of implementing a co-enrollment program.