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The U.S. Department of Education (ED), under the Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities program, announced New York grant recipients. Nazareth College of Rochester received $199,999 to improve their speech-language pathologist (SLP) graduate program. Rochester Institute of Technology received $1,000,000 for the Northeast Technical Assistance Center to provide better access to training materials for personnel who work with students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Nazareth College of Rochester will use federal funds to develop a specialty concentration at the graduate level that will increase the quality and quantity of speech-language pathologists who are prepared to work with children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, especially those with cochlear implants.
Rochester Institute of Technology's Northeast Technical Assistance Center (NETAC) will use federal funds to work with secondary and postsecondary programs to explore and expand the options for access and support for students who are deaf or hard of hearing through the use of technology. This program will use state-of-the art technology, such as webcasts and podcasts, to provide training, on an as-needed basis, for postsecondary personnel who teach these students. The Center's Web site will be the home for a multitude of downloadable print materials, PowerPoint presentations and information in user-friendly format to be used immediately. The NETAC, located at the Rochester Institute of Technology, provides outreach and technical assistance to postsecondary programs in the Northeast serving individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.
The Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities program promotes academic achievement and improves results for children with disabilities by supporting technical assistance, model demonstration projects, dissemination of useful information, and implementation activities that are supported by scientifically based research. The program addresses State-identified needs for highly qualified personnel-in special education, related services, early intervention, and regular education-to work with children with disabilities. It ensures that those personnel have the skills and knowledge needed to serve those children. Institutions of higher education, local education agencies, nonprofit organizations, other organizations and/or agencies, and state education agencies (SEAs), are eligible to apply.
For further information on this program, please visit ED's Web site at http://www.ed.gov/programs/oseptad/index.html, or contact Catherine D. Clarke, ASHA's Director of Education and Regulatory Advocacy, via e-mail at cclarke@asha.org or by phone at 800-498-2071, ext. 4159.
In a related matter, ED has also announced the award of $11.6 million in grants to help develop highly qualified teachers for students with disabilities, especially in areas where chronic shortages exist. A total of 59 grants averaging $196,500 will be provided to higher education institutions in 25 states and the District of Columbia under the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services' Personnel Preparation to Improve Services and Results for Children With Disabilities program.
Projects being funded under the Personnel Preparation to Improve Services and Results for Children With Disabilities include Wichita State University's, "Recruiting, Supporting, Retaining, and Preparing Three Special Groups of Trainees Who Will Serve Children With Speech-Language and Hearing Disabilities in Rural, Often Remote Communities of Kansas and Eastern Colorado: A Cost Sharing Approach," in the amount of $199,914.
Awards are made to train personnel in the following areas: leadership; early intervention and early childhood; low-incidence; high-incidence; related services, speech/language, adapted physical education; and programs in minority institutions. Individual projects will last up to 48 months with grant recipients addressing state-identified needs for developing highly qualified personnel and ensuring that the people who work with students with disabilities have the skills found to be successful through research and experience. For more information on projects funded, view ED's press release at http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2006/10/10052006.html.
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