Deaf education program attracts $950,000 federal grant

SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 24, 2013) — The Master of Deaf Education and Hearing Science Program at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio — one of the nation’s most innovative programs training teachers who work with deaf and hearing-impaired children — has received nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Education.

The six-semester master’s degree program accepts 12 students annually. The $950,000 federal award will provide full scholarships and semester stipends to 48 students over the next five years. Their careers will be an invaluable gift to children in South Texas and beyond, said Blane Trautwein, Ed.D., CED, assistant professor and program director.

The program is one of only nine in the country that emphasizes development of spoken language in children with hearing loss. Teachers learn to help children articulate words through the use of residual hearing, high-powered hearing aids, and surgical procedures such as cochlear implants. The program is part of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery in the School of Medicine.

The curriculum consists of 36 course hours. Students participate in reciprocal peer coaching, where they observe experienced teachers providing language development to children. They then take over the therapy under the evaluation of a peer and their mentors. Dr. Trautwein and his colleague, Sarah Ammerman, Ph.D., assistant professor, have presented this teaching model at national and local conferences.

In this grant competition, only 11 submissions out of 42 nationwide were selected for funding by the Department of Education.

 

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving National Institutes of Health funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 29,000 graduates. The $765.2 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu
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