Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Department of Special Education and Clinical Services is home to three distinct yet collaborative programs: Education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons, Education of Exceptional Persons, and Speech and Language Pathology. The Education of Deaf/Hard of Hearing Persons (EDHL) program began in 1980 and has consistently met or exceeded all required standards throughout its twenty-three year history. The program received Pennsylvania Department of Education approval in October 2003. In March 2003, the program was evaluated for Council on Education of the Deaf (CED) accreditation, and the program was “recommended for full accreditation.” (see documentation materials for the full report)

Students:

The EDHL program includes students from a number of eastern states including: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. However, the majority of our students graduated from schools throughout Pennsylvania. We also have had a number of home-schooled students enter into the program. Every year, we have students who have hearing loss themselves. It is not unusual for many of our students to have dual majors, dual certifications, or minors declared in addition to their EDHL major. Some of our students are members of the Robert E. Cook Honors College who matriculate into our program every year.

Program Description, Philosophy and Mission:

Our program is comprehensive in philosophy. We believe that our mission is to prepare our graduates to be able to communicate with and teach any child who is deaf or hard of hearing in all educational settings. Thus, our coursework and practicum experiences provide the opportunities to interact with all children with hearing loss in all possible academic settings.

We are also proactive in meeting the ever-changing needs of our students. During the 2002-2003 academic year, the EDHL program made several changes, approved by the IUP University Senate on February 25, 2003 which became effective during the 2003-2004 academic year. The changes included the addition of three sign language classes, a second general methods course, and the creation of a senior field experience block, enabling the students to spend more time during their seventh semester in field placement experiences. It also provides an IUP-EDHL faculty member as an on-site collaborator at the field experience site. Thus, they facilitate professional development opportunities for all faculty, staff and students. Other changes included the adjustment of course numbers to more appropriately reflect the level of course materials, name changes for some courses to more closely reflect the content of the course, and a name change for the program to reflect what is currently acceptable terminology in the field of deafness.