Working With Educational Interpreters

Area of Science:

• Education
• Linguistics
• Audiology

Background:

• Growing number of deaf or hard-of-hearing students in local schools.
• Educational interpreters facilitate communication between spoken English and sign language, cued speech, or oral transliterating.
• Specialized expertise of interpreters and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) differs, with interpreters excelling in sign language/cued speech and SLPs in speech/language development and classroom discourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the mutual needs of SLPs and educational interpreters.
• To provide guidelines for improving collaboration between SLPs and educational interpreters.
• To enhance service delivery for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent research reports.
• Analysis of survey data collected from educational interpreters.
• Development of guidelines for SLPs based on research and interpreter feedback.

Main Results:

• Identified key areas for collaboration: evaluating student communication skills, establishing treatment goals, and intervention strategies.
• Highlighted the complementary expertise of SLPs and educational interpreters.
• Provided practical recommendations for improving interprofessional working relationships.

Conclusions:

• Effective collaboration between SLPs and educational interpreters is crucial for supporting students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Implementing the proposed guidelines can lead to more cohesive and effective service delivery.
• Strengthening the partnership benefits students by optimizing communication and educational support.