What Makes Education Partnerships Effective?
This manual helps practitioners evaluate education partnerships.
Outside the Dream
Programme and Partnership Objective
Preparing signing deaf people to use their sign language to assist deaf infants and toddlers learn and participate fully within their family.
Project Strategy
- Tap a hidden asset—local deaf people and their sign language—as a resource for families with young deaf children. Provide deaf children the language and cognitive stimulation all children need. Prepare them for success in school.
- Develop the capacity for deaf professionals and organizations to collaborate in providing a critical education service.
- Strengthen the mechanisms of transmission of the indigenous sign language.
- Create jobs for deaf people in rural areas.
Partners
Partners:
- Thai Sign Language Teachers Association (TSLTA)
- Royal Thai Ministry of Education
- Special Education Centers in Nakhon Sri Thammarat and Khon Kaen
- Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.
Technical management:
- Dr. Charles Reilly, Research Scientist, Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.
- Working group of experts and Thai students at Gallaudet University.
Training:
- Mr. Samuel Weber, Instructor, Dept. of Family and Child Development, Gallaudet University.
- Mrs. Nipapon Wannuwin Reilly, Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet University.
Program and Research Assistance:
- Mrs. Somanat Nakornjarupong
- Ampapan Tanpaibool
- Hilary Cote
- Arunee Limmanee
Partnership Background and Justification
Severely and profoundly deaf children ages 0-3 are often delayed in their development, especially in language and communication. Over 90% of deaf children have hearing-speaking parents, and their use of spoken language in the home raises serious obstacles for communication. In Thailand, as in most nations, screening and diagnosis of infants and toddlers for hearing impairment is rarely done; many children are not diagnosed until much older. The deaf child loses out on vital information and rapport during their formative years. When the child is diagnosed as deaf, medical personnel often lack useful information for parents. Rarely is early education service available for the family with a young deaf child. Facing severe communication obstacles, the deaf child miss out on the full and rich interactions with his or her family during daily activities that are a key to a child’s learning in the home. The deaf child often suffers delays in cognitive and social development because of their isolation from caregivers. The consequence is a profound impact on their chances for success in school and career.
Programme Outcomes
The university’s scholarship will benefit through incoming case study material and videotape of use to linguistics, education, and international development studies. The creation of a trans-cultural curriculum and course of study in young deaf child’s language and cognitive development, as well as teaching the course overseas, is a professional development opportunity for participants in the campus working group. This broadening experience will help enrich their teaching of Gallaudet students. Also, several graduate students will be involved in the transcribing and literature review aspects of the project. One student from Thailand will participate as assistant trainer in the July-August workshop in southern Thailand.
To the developing nations, the activity will provide a set of materials that will enable their signing deaf citizens to become valuable assets in the human development of deaf children. With few early childhood programs for deaf children, the developing nations will benefit when local deaf people are seen as skilled models of language and learning for isolated deaf children and families.
Thailand’s efforts to promote early language and cognitive learning among deaf and disabled infants and toddlers will be advanced by the project. Specifically, a corps of trainers of (deaf) Family Mentors for families with young deaf children will be produced. The government has pledged to certify the curriculum and course as a basis for qualifications of deaf people to work in the community-based Special Education Centers throughout Thailand. Thus, the project creates jobs for deaf people, as well as providing needed educational services for isolated deaf children and their families. Finally, the Thai Sign Language Teacher’s Club will evolve into a legal association that embodies the interests and the high standards of the emerging Deaf professional corps of sign language teachers.
Partnership Outcomes
Thailand is at a stage in which true working partnerships of deaf and hearing people can be formed to focus on the critical programmes that will ready children to learn in school. Given that deaf children are typically overlooked in early and regular schooling, only partnerships that tap the linguistic resources of the deaf people, the legitimacy of government, and the vigor of dedicated community outreach to homes with deaf children can bring these children the rich early learning experience needed by any child.
Lessons Learnt and Recommendations
The funding from CIN/UNESCO was indispensable to the survival of this innovative approach. A literature review shows that this Family Mentor approach is unique in the developing nations, given its commitment to deep training and engagement of local deaf people, its use of indigenous sign language to enable child development and family participation, and basis in government-community partnership. A community-based program using deaf people as local assets for the family has been proven by this project to be affordable and effective. It is possible to provide isolated deaf children a rich and stimulating communication within their families and support their human development and readiness for school. The expert working group will continue to actively analyze the collected videotapes from the Thai homes to continue to develop mentoring techniques that are acceptable and useful to families. However, we must now find new financial resources to push for full adoption and sustainability of the Family Mentor scheme within Thailand, i.e., by a training-the-trainers program and lobbying to create new positions. It is also necessary to replicate the Family Mentor model in another country in the Mekong region so we can develop a widely applicable, culturally flexible model.
Tools and Methodology
Outputs:
- Provision of direct services to isolated deaf children and youth, increasing the number of previously-excluded children ready to learn and into schools;
- The first cadre of deaf trainers of deaf mentors for families with deaf children—unique in the Mekong region.
- Design of a one-year course of training to a group of deaf people to become Royal Thai Government-certified Family Mentors.
- Model curriculum materials for developing language and cognition of young deaf children, using videotape, outlined for expanding EFA in neighboring nations;
- Expansion of government and institutionally-based services;
- Creation of new formal career tracks for deaf people as early educators.
Replicability and Sustainability
Interest in our community-based, family-centered model of early education for deaf children is growing. Several special education centers in Thailand have inquired about training of Family Mentors. The Asia-Pacific Center on Disabilities has offered to promote news about our work. A project team travelled to Laos to discuss the project with officials and deaf leaders and explore prospects for replication in Laos.
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