Local teachers of deaf, blind unhappy with state proposal to relax licensing

In Illinois, there is a proposal on the table allowing already-licensed teachers to earn a special endorsement for deaf, hard of hearing, or vision impaired teaching without having to go through an approved program and take a mandated test. How? Ideas include suspension of taking a basic skills test prior to licensure, completing 18 hours of college coursework, or by passing a multiple-choice test tailored to the types of students such teachers will serve.

“You have to understand the hearing loss. You have to understand the kind of troubles hearing loss causes. Then you have to know how to put accommodations in place to remediate that. You have to understand hearing science and sounds,” Champaign itinerant teacher Dana Lamkin explains.

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