Student seeks certified deaf education program at CMU

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Getting through grade school is tough enough for kids when the student and teachers speak the same language.

But for deaf children who are raised with American Sign Language as their primary language, keeping up with notes, interpretors and regular classroom work bring a whole new set of problems.

Kelly Laatsch would like to help ease that concern for kids who are deaf and hard of hearing. The Freeland senior wants to become a certified deaf educator.

She is deaf herself, with a cochlear implant in her left ear  allowing her to discern speech, though she still uses an ASL interpreter in class to be sure she catches everything.

“I’m kind of stuck right now,” Laatsch said.

That is because Central Michigan University doesn’t have a certified deaf education program.

Although she had accounted for this by planning to pick up her master’s at Michigan State University’s prestigious deaf education program, MSU has decided to discontinue the program starting this year.

Students currently enrolled in the program will have until 2013 to complete it.

“(The e-mail back from MSU) said ‘Oh, sorry, we’re closing the program!’” Laatsch said. “Whoa, this is my future!”

The program was closed partially because of budget concerns, a decision that gave rise to public protests from the deaf community.

Harold Johnson, a professor of special education at MSU and  co-director of the program,  said the more than 40-year-old establishment had a unique role within the country in terms of identifying and implementing innovative enhancements for teaching deaf students.

Creating a similar program at CMU could be possible, he said, but not easy.

“One of the difficulties CMU would have is attracting faculty that would be qualified for the program and able to succeed professionally,” Johnson said.

Laatsch said CMU’s respected programs in education, special education, ASL and audiology all give the school a prime opportunity for a deaf education program.

Renee Papelian, director of Professional Education at CMU, said a marked amount of student interest would be necessary before CMU could begin pursuing such a program.

With enough student support, they could then confer with the Michigan Department of Education in order to ascertain what would be necessary to continue.

“We have to align ourselves with those standards in order for students to be certified in particular areas,” she said.

Unfortunately, Papelian said the current budget crunch in Michigan makes the prospect of adding new programs a particularly laborious one.

Laatsch is remaining optimistic about its future possibilities at CMU.

“I’m sure it’s going to be a long process, but I think it would be really beneficial for students,” she said.