Research

Studies performed through NTID's Department of Communication Research, as well as our Department of Educational Research and Development and Office of Postsecondary Career Studies and Institutional Research, benefit deaf students and adults throughout the country. In addition to fulfilling their primary mission-providing information that can lead to better teaching, training, and curriculum development at NTID--research findings can have an even greater impact when they are applied on a national and international basis. The research activities of these departments are guided and organized according to six general priorities for research described in our Framework for Considering Educational and Non-Educational Influences on the Attainments of Deaf Persons.

The Framework defines six priority areas related to persons who are

deaf:

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economic and occupational assimilation;

academic and technical skills;

communication skills;

personal/social skills;

effective instruction; and

institutional planning, evaluation, and change.

While these priorities are not mutually exclusive, they do provide NTID a rationale for grouping research activities. The model for research proposed in the Framework is used with the above six priorities to shape NTID's long-range research agenda to ensure that it has a constructive influence on educational practices and policies affecting persons who are deaf. Some highlights of this year's accomplishments are listed below:

Efforts were continued to further develop and refine the
Sign Communication Proficiency Interview, a tool that
assesses sign communication skills of faculty and staff.
Information regarding this proficiency measure was
shared with school administrators at programs for deaf
students in Alabama, Florida, and New Jersey.

Researchers this year intensified their study of the linguistic structure of American Sign Language in an attempt to improve the quality of NTID's sign language

courses.

The NTID Computer-Aided Speech to Print Transcription
System (C-Print) will be tested in classroom settings in
fiscal year 1991 and, if feasible, will be offered as a
support service in one class by the end of academic year
1990-91. This system offers the potential for an
alternative to the expensive Real-Time Graphic Display
system. Its advantages are that it is easily portable,
relatively inexpensive, and may require only a moderate
amount of operator training time--four to six months, as
opposed to two years for a courtroom stenographer.
new system uses a standard keyboard and IBM or
compatible computer and employs a dictionary of
abbreviations that may enable the typist to save enough
key strokes to reach real-time recording.

The

An important focus of efforts this year was on the
numbers and characteristics of future deaf students,
interactions of those students in college social life,
and factors affecting retention of deaf college
students. For example, NTID research revealed that the
pool of deaf people between the ages of 18 and 21 is
changing. While the total number of deaf people in that
age group is decreasing, the number of minority students
in that pool grew from 29 percent in 1982 to 35 percent
in 1990 and is expected to reach 39 percent by the year
2000.

Educational Outreach

NTID has a long history of providing outreach services to deaf people, educators of persons who are deaf, and other interested parties as evidenced by its various interpreter and notetaker training programs, the "Explore Your Future" summer program for high school juniors, the Educational Specialist Graduate Program for math and science teachers, and the Intern Program where graduate students and professionals in the field of deafness serve under the mentorship of NTID professionals.

About six years ago, the Senate subcommittee on Disability Policy asked NTID to increase its outreach efforts after the rubella students were served. In response to their challenge, NTID created the Educational Development Outreach Project. This project provides technical assistance focused on primary and secondary schools, employers of persons who are deaf, adults who are deaf, parents of individuals who are deaf, and rehabilitation and placement professionals. Currently, we are in the third year of implementation of this project. Most activity to date has centered on employers. Four programs are currently being offered across the country: "Working Together: Deaf and Hearing People," "Getting Your Job Done," which encourages personnel officers to hire persons who are deaf, "Climb the Career Ladder" for alumni and other deaf professionals, and "Training the Trainer," which teaches personnel officers to offer "Working Together" to their own staff. With respect to primary, secondary, and postsecondary educators, 43 math and science educators participated in a program to help them devise better strategies for teaching the deaf learner in mainstream settings.

Endowment Grant

Three hundred and forty two thousand dollars is requested for the endowment matching fund authorized by the Education of the Deaf Act of 1986. NTID will receive these funds as it raises additional endowment funds from non-Federal sources on a dollar for dollar matching basis. The Institute can spend up to fifty percent of the income derived from the investment of the funds for operating purposes. The use of the endowment approach is an important step toward decreasing NTID's dependence on Federal funding in future years. In fiscal year 1990 NTID matched all $322,000 that was appropriated. In all, NTID endowed funds, including federallymatched funds, now total $2,256,528.

Summary

In summary, the 1992 request is designed to continue the National Technical Institute for the Deaf's commitment to the achievement of equal opportunities for handicapped persons. In the Institute's brief history, it has been shown that young deaf adults can overcome the consequences of their handicap, become contributing members of society, and vastly improve the quality of their lives. On the pragmatic side, recent collaborative research between NTID and the Internal Revenue Service indicates that on the average, persons who graduate from NTID pay back the cost of their education in 10 to 13 years and have lifetime earnings that are 2 to 3 times greater than deaf persons with no degree.

Mr. Chairman, I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

POSITION

BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM E. CASTLE

: Vice President of Government Relations,

Rochester Institute of Technology, Director, NTID

: Northern State College, Aberdeen, South Dakota,

EXPERIENCE

PRESENT

Sept. 1979

1977-1979

1969-1977

1968-1969

1965-1968

1963-1965

: Assistant to the Vice President & Director of
Division of Instructional Affairs, NTID

: Associate Secretary for Research and Scientific Affairs, American Speech and Hearing Association

: Assistant Professor, Speech Pathology & Audiology, University of Virginia

Instructor, Speech Correction, Central Washington
State College

Instructor, English, Experimental Phonetics Lab,
Stanford University

1958-1960

1956-1958

: Instructor, Speech Correction, St. Cloud State
College

: Graduate Student at the State University of Iowa
Communications Specialist, United States Air Force

1952-1956

:

Secondary Teacher, English & Speech, Faulkton High
School, Faulkton, South Dakota

Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf,
Inc.

PUBLICATIONS

President)

American Association for the Advancement of
Science

American Association of Community and Junior
Colleges

American Association of Higher Education
American Association of Phonetic Sciences
American Association of School Administrators
American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

American Society for Deaf Children

Association for Equality and Excellence in

Education, Inc.

Association on Handicapped Student Service
Programs

in Postsecondary Education

Conference of Educational Administrators Serving
the Deaf, Inc.

Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf
Council for Exceptional Children

Empire State Association of the Deaf

International Society of Phonetic Sciences

Monroe County Association for Hearing Impaired
National Association of the Deaf

National Organization on Disability
National Rehabilitation Association

New York State Speech & Hearing Association
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc.
World Federation of the Deaf

: Castle, W.E. "Mainstreaming Techniques for
Hearing Impaired Students What Ten Years Have
Taught Us." Presented at the First Annual
Conference of the Massachusetts Office on
Deafness, October 1978.

Castle, W.E. "Road to Independence." Presented at the West Coast Family Outing of the Alexander Graham Bell Association of the Deaf, November 1978.

Castle, W.E. "Recent Developments in Vocational Education for the Deaf in the U.S.A." Presented at the 8th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf, Varna, Bulgaria, June 1979.

AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND

STATEMENT OF TUCK TINSLEY, III, PRESIDENT

BUDGET REQUEST

Senator HARKIN. Next, we will hear from Dr. Tuck Tinsley, president of the American Printing House for the Blind. As I said, their request is for $6.1 million, level funding from last year.

Dr. Tinsley, welcome back. Please proceed.

Dr. TINSLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to appear before your committee this morning.

APH PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The American Printing House for the Blind was charted by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1858 for the nonprofit manufacture of books and other materials used by blind persons.

In 1879, Congress passed the act to promote the education of the blind, which, as amended, now enables the American Printing House to produce and distribute educational materials for all legally blind students in precollege level programs, in the United States, its territories and possessions.

The materials produced by the American Printing House are in four general categories: Textbooks and magazines in braille, large type, and recorded formats; recording and writing equipment; tangible aids for the education of blind students; and special supplies used by blind students and adults served through vocational rehabilitation programs.

The educational materials are distributed to programs serving the blind through proportional allotments based upon the number of blind students in each program. An annual census is conducted by the American Printing House for the Blind to identify blind students in each program and allotments are then provided in the form of credits.

BUDGET REQUEST FOR THE PRINTING HOUSE

The total request for this program for 1992 is $6.136 million, the same as the 1991 appropriation. This amount would provide approximately 35 percent of APH total sales income, the remainder coming from contracts with other Federal agencies, product sales to State and local agencies, and individual purchases. Private donations and investments provide additional revenue.

Of the funds requested for fiscal year 1992, $5,579,000 would be used to supply special educational materials to an estimated 49,750 blind students. Additionally, $166,000 would be used for advisory services and $391,000 for educational and technical research.

PREPARED STATEMENT

APH continues to be committed to meeting the needs of blind students through research, development and provision of educational materials necessary for their growth and development. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator HARKIN. Thank you, Dr. Tinsley.